Loving Well: Quality Time
Various Texts
Quality Time
- Time spent in giving another person one's undivided attention in order to strengthen a relationship
- It is about being present
- Including being a good listener
- Don’t confuse quantity with quality
God as the Lover
- God is shown throughout Scripture spending time with people
- Adam & Eve (Gen. 3:8a)
- It was only after they sinned that they hid from God (Gen. 3:8b)
- Abraham is called “friend of God” and they spoke together often (Gen. 8:17ff, 2 Chron. 20:7; Jas. 2:23)
- As was Moses, spending time in His presence (Ex. 33:11)
- The Tabernacle is often called the Tent of Meeting because it was where Israel would come to be with God
- Overwhelmingly, Scripture speaks to God’s desire to be near His people (Ps. 34:18; 145:17-18)
Our Response of Love
- As God desires to be near to us, we need to desire to be near to Him (Ps. 73:28; Isa. 55:6)
- One the best ways to do this is through Quiet Times
- Time spent in prayer and the Bible alone
- Giving God our undivided attention
Loving One Another
- Make time together a priority
- For couples: Dates, devotions, prayer, daily face time
- For families: Family game night, devotions, prayer, dates with your kids
- For friends: studies, prayer, fun together
- Being present when we are together
- Face time over screen time
- As a Church when we gathered together, Jesus promises to be in our midst (Matt 18:20)
- Worship: Coming before God together (Col. 3:16)
- Fellowship: Small or large events together (Heb. 10:24-25)
- Hospitality: Inviting people into our homes (Rom. 12:13; 1 Pet. 4:9)
- It is about doing life together
Loving Our Community
- Being available to others
- Be a good listener
- Support community events with our presence
Know Yourself to Love Other Better
- God is the master Lover who loves in ways that connects with us
- We are allowed to experience God as He made us
- And we are not going to always thrive in giving and receiving love in each of these ways
- We must strike a balance between speaking our own language well
- While being stretched to speak others’ language too
So What?
- Are we loving through how we use our time?
- Making others a priority in our schedules
- Giving others our undivided attention
Meditation Verse: Hebrews 10:24-25