Looking God in the face …

Are you a busy person?

Sounds like a crazy question in this day and age, but there’s “busy” and then there’s really busy!

Several years ago, while leading a business organization and continuing with a counseling ministry, I was so busy I had to break down my days into 15 minute increments. What that meant was that few people were scheduled for “face time.” A lot of work was done by phone and email. Face-to-face meetings were generally limited to issues of top priorities and needs first, then to maintaining relationships, followed by time for building new relationships.

When you’re busy, face time goes to what’s really important.

When I was last in Arizona, I called the office of a mega church that I had been a part of prior to going into vocational ministry. This church had played a key part in my early spiritual development but it had grown significantly since I was last involved with it. So I hoped to meet with the current Senior Minister to learn about the life of the church as it is today.

The question was, would the Senior Minister of a church pushing 15,000 members make time for me?

He did. We had a great face-to-face meeting, and it was a blessing to learn about what this church is doing around the world in Christ’s name.

There’s a unique value in having “face time” with someone. We understand each other best when we can look each other in the face. The face is where we display our true selves; the subtleties of our thoughts and emotions find their expression on our faces, and that expression deepens our communication and connection with those we have “face time” with.

The Bible has a few hundred references to the word “face.” Often, it refers to a human being who has “fallen on their face” in worship, fear, or reverence of God. Here’s an interesting thing, though. In many of those situations, we see God instruct the person to stand and turn their face toward Him.

God wants face time with us!

Not only does He want to see our faces clearly, He wants us to see Him clearly as well. We understand Him better when we take the time to look Him in the face, and He delights in our putting aside our pretensions and be “real” with Him.

Through Christ, we can raise our faces off the ground and look God in the face, both now and in the future. First John 4:17 states, “And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.”

Are you making face time with God your top priority? Or do you bury your face from His?

Scotty