Thinking Deeply about God
Unpacking a great JI Packer quote
Forgive me for my lame pun in the subtitle; I felt it was necessary. A wonderful quote from the late JI Packer was circulating through my Facebook and Substack feeds the other day, which reads, “Live slowly enough to think deeply about God.”
Life has been busy lately. On an average morning I am on my couch by 5:50. The goal is to wake up early enough to read, pray, and get alone time with Shale before the kids wake up around 6:15. The reading and praying part certainly isn’t done perfectly, but it’s the goal at least. (Some mornings I’m utterly exhausted and still waking up from the night before.)
I star getting the girls ready for school and daycare around 6:45 while Shale gets ready; lunches are packed, breakfasts made, backpacks prepared—Shale leaves with the kiddos around 7:20. It’s safe to say that our morning are busy and there’s not much time for relaxation. Once they leave, I make my own breakfast, get ready, and leave for work. Usually I listen to some type of worship music or “The Briefing” as I get ready.
I could go on about my whole day, but the point is this: our days our busy. It is very easy to get caught up in the chaos of living our lives, parenting our children, going to school, putting our girls to bed, and everything else that we forget or neglect to “think deeply about God.”
But isn’t that the most important thing each day?
Amid the hustle and bustle of our days, should we not prioritize thinking and meditating on our Lord? Of course, the answer is yes, but too many times we get swept away by other things that grab our attention. This is why we must live slowly enough to think deeply on God. (And everyone said, “Easier said than done!”)
Yes, that is very true. To live our lives slow enough to think deeply on our Lord is easier said than done. But it’s imperative that we do so. It’s that important. We can’t afford to live fast lives and forget about God. We can’t afford to have our lives be so busy that we don’t give time to thinking about the Lord. And yet we are bombarded daily with different things that take our attention away from Christ and cause us to pick up speed.
This is why it’s all the more vital to slow down, to think deeply on God, to contemplate the infinite excellencies of Christ. Are we going to be busy? Certainly. But we can still slow down amid our business and ponder the glories of God in Christ. We can make time. Whenever it is, give yourself some time each day to ponder the depths of God’s love for you, to meditate on Christ’s finished work, to think about your walk with Jesus. You’ll be glad you did, and God will be glorified.
So, Christian, think deeply on the perfect life of Jesus; think deeply on his substitutionary death; think deeply on his victorious resurrection; think deeply on his glorious ascension; think deeply on his marvelous intercession. Think deeply on who God is, not merely what he did for us!