I am a star, not the biggest one, but the one that you care about. Your world revolves around me in a systematic way. If you get to close to me, you will learn what global warming actually is, and then you'll die. If you drift to far from me, you'll learn about global cooling, and then you'll die. If you vary your pace, your calendars will no longer work. Thankfully for you, the Lord installed this routine and so it has been very reliable. I am the sun and I don't really care about you. I just sit here in space while your earth's routine does its' thing. Your earth's routine doesn't care about you either, but again, thankfully for you, the Lord cared for you when He designed this routine.
Living with me, you roll out of bed at 7:50, you rush through your morning to get to work on time. You get home and spend your evenings playing games, with no lasting value. You consume social media, and shallow videos. You have no time left to fellowship with God or prepare good food. Living with me, you are slowly dying, inside and out, and your relationship with God is cooling. I am your daily routine, and I don't really care about you.
Living with me, you get up in good time, to talk with and more importantly, listen to God. You prepare a good healthy meal and make your way to work in good spirits. In the evenings you take time to read and study things of lasting value and exercise. Living with me, you are finding more and more life inside and out, and your relationship with God is growing warm, like a hot summer day. I am your daily routine, and I don't really care about you. Yet, you don't care about me either, If I don't serve your daily needs anymore, you discard me for a new one.
I am why you scurry to a building every morning and sleep through (Sometimes you even physically sleep!) singing and preaching for a couple hours, then leave feeling glad it's over and ready to watch football. I also give you that feeling of piety, like you tithed your time to God for the week. Yet, your relationship with God is cold, so cold, your most remarkable gift comes from the enemy and it is that of hypocrisy, you appear right and yet are so wrong. I am your church routine, and I don't really care about you. Yet, you would be lost without me, for I have become your master, and you serve me.
I am how, not why you actively pursue worshipping God in teaching and music on the weekends. I am how, not why you seek fellowship with other people. You love the church, and the church loves you. You know God as that best friend that walks you through all of life's trials. You would be lost without Him. The church you see as your brothers and sisters in Christ, and you intend to gather with them in whatever way the Lord allows. As for me, I am only your church routine. I don't care about you, and you don't care about me. As soon as I don't serve your spiritual needs, you discard me for another, for I serve you.
Routine: a sequence of actions regularly followed; a fixed program.
So, I submit to you the notion that all our routines should be given to the Lord, and that we only adopt those routines that He gives us or wants us to have. I also believe that when a man made routine devolves into a thing of importance, that it becomes incredibly dangerous. Whenever your routine matters more than people, check with God, something has gone horribly wrong. Do routines serve you, God, and the people in your life, or do you serve it and sacrifice your other relationships on its' altar? I am writing to you as someone who had a trashy routine over the thanksgiving break and am eager to settle into a healthier one again. So, I am not perfect.
This article has been exclusively focused on personal life routines, but, there are applications to be made in other areas, especially, the church. I hope to write more on that later. Here is a question, what would happen if one Sunday you decided to not go to church? What if you decided on that Sunday, you would take a rest day from any religious exercise and just talk with God conversationally? What would happen? Would you feel guilty? If no, Are you sure you wouldn't? If yes, Are you willing to test that theory? If no, Why not? Does it sound like I don't think we should fellowship anymore? I don't mean that at all, but what I am after, is this, let's use routines, but let's not be used by them anymore. The beauty of routine is when they help life flow, the deadly power of routine is when they rule life. How do you know if a routine rules your life or not? One question might be this. Can you do without the routine. For example, can you have a meaningful church life, which I will practically define as, frequent fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ, and worship of God, in prayer, teaching, or music. If you cannot, pray about this. If you can, and haven't tested it then talk to God about when maybe you should test it. I had it tested against my wishes and found out that sadly, I was routine dependent, and now, I am so thankful, and so glad, that I no longer have to be dependent on a church as defined by the world with a building and name for church life as defined by the New Testament ekklesia which is a gathering of God's children. With no dependence on routine, a church life can begin to experience all the fullness God would desire for you, and routines may come and go, but the relational life with God and your brothers and sisters in Him carries on and on and on and on and on..and on......and on..........................
On a personal note, one thing in my daily routine is coffee. Sadly, I might be dependent on it. So, I have not arrived, I am learning with you.
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