(The following is an edited email correspondence.)

I am having problems focusing on God and doing my devotions. For example, when I am reading a book or listening to a sermon on tape, I would often think about doing other things. Sometimes I would stop so that I can catch a TV episode or do some other stuffs. You can say that I don’t stay still often.

That said, there are times when I can lay aside distractions and become very focused. However, all too often there are distractions or periods of discouragement that often take my attention away from God.

What would you suggest? Is it a lack of devotion and love (or as you put it, an obsession) toward God? If I truly love God, then shouldn’t I always prefer to study the Bible or listen to a sermon?

Love for God first comes with regeneration and conversion. If you are a Christian, then you do love God, but there are still sinful urges and external distractions that hinder you. You are not the only one who feels that he is running upstream when it comes to spiritual exercises.

But God is inherently and irresistibly attractive, and the more you understand him, the more you will become obsessed with knowing him. So, do not become too discouraged by your present performance — not that it is unimportant — but make sure that you are growing in your understanding of God, and then follow through by obeying his commands in everyday life. Eventually, Christian study and contemplation should become both work and rest, so that you will not have to do so many other things for relaxation. That is, entertainment for you will not consist of only those things that distract your attention away from God.

The modern man is very busy, at least partly due to his own choice (as one can always become a hermit), I have been urging [name of common friend] to take time off every weekend to go out by himself for solitude and biblical meditation — this is in addition to the time that he should be spending in prayer and study each day. He can take a walk or sit at a coffee shop, or find any comfortable setting.

During this time of at least 45 to 60 minutes, he should reflect on his relationship with God and his understanding of God. He should reflect on his thought and conduct over the past several days and consider his spiritual progress, as well as how he may improve and become more devoted to God. He should think about life itself — that is, the purpose of his life relative to the general plan of God — instead of letting his focus drift back to work or other things, things that he thinks about for hours everyday.

I started to regularly practice this exercise of spiritual meditation when I was first converted, and it did great things for my spiritual life. I would remind myself of God’s grace, patience, and faithfulness, and gratitude and reverence would freshly well up from my heart. I would also spend this time to resolve any fears, desires, and other internal struggles by carefully weaving the word of God into the fabric of my thinking, and casting down every thought would rise against the knowledge of God. This has been my practice since my conversion. Since almost all my hours are dedicated to spiritual things, I can do this throughout the day, although I wish that I could do it even more consistently. You should start doing something like this also.

This is an enjoyable practical procedure that can yield tremendous spiritual benefits when regularly performed. I should emphasize that it is not enough to allocate only a short time for this each week, but for many people, it is already much more than what they are doing, and so it is a great start for them. It is not too difficult to begin and maintain — any person should certainly be able to cut away one hour from his weekend to spend in solitude and meditation.

Some ministers are very busy. From the time they wake up everyday, they are instantly taken up with administration, travelling, counseling, teaching, and other things. They are constantly interacting with people, and seldom take time away to be alone, and be with God. Very soon, the quality of their ministry suffers; they become mechanical and superficial, and their teachings become narrow and repetitive. You have also heard of those ministers who preach more than 300 times a year. They are destroying themselves, and neglecting many important things along the way.

Now, I am also busy, but I am busy only relative to the time that I allot to ministry work each day. So it is a real "busy," but not a destructive or sinful "busy." Unlike many other busy people, I refuse to allot the whole day to things that take me away from study, solitude, and contemplation, and then only give what time I have left to these necessary spiritual disciplines. Rather, I make my schedule revolve around this spiritual foundation of my life, and allot only a limited amount of time each day to administration, ministry, teaching, interacting with people, and so forth.

Of course, I allot enough hours to these tasks to remain productive in ministry, but I am not going to let ministry take over my personal spiritual life. I would rather shut this whole thing down than to do that. If I fail to pray, read, meditate, and if I do not maintain right fellowship with God and continue to improve in all aspects of my spiritual life, then my usefulness to the kingdom of God will soon plateau, if not diminish.

This affects ministry policy. For example, even if I were to become so in demand one day, I would never allow myself to preach 300 times a year. I am going to take the long-term approach, and have time each day to be alone with God, with my thoughts and my books, and also to spend time loving my wife and raising my children. This in turn affects ministry policy in another way, namely, I would refuse to commit to so many costly ministry projects (TV, radio, etc.) that I will have to preach 300 times a year just to raise enough money to pay the bills.

I understand that things are different when you are working a regular job or running a business, but the same pattern of time management can be implemented — that is, at least don’t let your job or business take over your entire life so that you have no time to be alone with God, your thoughts, and your books.

To start, I suggest assigning a significant block of time each week — and if possible, each day — to be alone in spiritual meditation. For example, spending 45 to 60 minutes on each Saturday or Sunday, and at least 10 to 30 minutes on each of the remaining six days, in solitude and contemplation, will add much depth to your spiritual life. And again, this is time spent in addition to the time that you usually spend in prayer and study.

Recommended:

Vincent Cheung, Prayer and Revelation (PDF, p. 71–76)

Vincent Cheung, Renewing the Mind (PDF, ch. 1 and 2)

Edmund Clowney, Christian Meditation

Nathanael Ranew, Solitude Improved by Divine Meditation

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