Distant Memory or Instant Memory

I jotted this down at 1am one night last week after my eyes had been closed for a good twenty minutes and I was just about ready to drift off to sleep. I wish I could stay in that state more often as it seems I get a lot of ideas just about the time I go to sleep. But for me, “Distant memory or Instant Memory” are two phrases that could describe a person’s relationship with God.
For many and I’m sure the majority, God is a distant memory. For some this distance could be measured in days, weeks, months or even years.
Maybe you attend church regularly and were in a Bible study recently and now without a strict schedule you’ve realized you’re not reading and praying every day. And all the sudden you’ve realized your Bible doesn’t move between Sundays. This distance isn’t as noticeable. You still think about God but it’s not a daily thing like it used to be.
Maybe you are a regular church attender and had a child get sick a week or two and you couldn’t go to church and then just got out of the habit. You look up and realize you haven’t been for weeks and you can feel yourself slipping from what you know you should be doing.
Maybe you moved in the past year and just never found a church. You think about God every once in awhile, maybe you even think to pray but generally, God is becoming more of a distant memory than you care to admit.
Or maybe the distance is measured in years. Your grandmother took you as a child but once you hit the teenage years you didn’t go and never looked back. Church and God could be just a distant memory from your childhood.

Whatever the reason distant isn’t what I’m striving for. I desire for God to be in my instant memory. I want church and/or a Bible study to be a regular thing for me. When I have a decision to make I want him and his opinion to be the first thing that pops in my head. When I’m tempted in a situation I want to care that He cares if I turn away.  When I get bad news I want his peace and comfort to instantly come to me. When I can’t take another minute of my kids whining I want God’s compassion and patience to overtake me.   When someone says something hurtful to me, I want to react with a soothing and kind word.  I want Him and His qualities to instantly overtake me whatever I face. In everything I do, I want to remember Him.
But the thing is it’s all up to me whether He’s a distant or instant memory. I find that church attendance DOES matter to how close I am to God. Of course there are many people attending church that are leaving a completely hypocritical life and I’m aware there are some (very dedicated) people that can walk closely to God without attending church weekly. But there’s just something about being in a group of believers and talking together or hearing from a Christian leader that brings you back on track.
Consistent prayer and reading DOES make a difference. Surrounding ourselves with good friends and making sure all of our “inputs” (music, TV, movies, magazines, books) DO make a difference. The more we are dedicated to knowing Him, the more He makes Himself known. We get to the point where we naturally and instantly think about God’s opinion, we think like God would think, and we speak and act like God desires of us.
I’m talking to myself here as much as anyone. The choice is up to us…will He be distant or instant?

I thought of this song Everything by Tim Hughes while writing this. It’s a wonderful worship song.