Sometimes, I delight in my words more than God’s. Maybe you can relate. As a leader you probably spend a considerable amount of time crafting what you’re going to say and practicing how you’re going to say it.

We try to create clear and compelling phrases that will result in life transformation for those we lead.  Sermons, team huddles, whatever it might be, words matter to us. And there is nothing wrong with that.

To an extent.

Where it gets messy is when our words become more delightful to us than God’s. When our heart’s desire is to spend less time listening to God’s voice and spend more time attempting to craft what we want to say. Here’s the difficult truth…

When your heart wants to listen less and speak more, you might delight in your words more than God’s. 

Distinguishing this subtle shift of the heart can be tricky, but crucial to know as you pursue God’s heart. Here are three signs you are beginning to delight in your words more than God’s.

Three Signs Your Delighting in Your words more than God’s.

“But whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who mediates on his law day
and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither-whatever they do prospers.” (Psalms 1:2)

1. You begin speed dating God.

Time with Jesus is amazing. Knowing Him is truly the entire purpose of eternal life (John 17:3). Think about it for a second. The reason Jesus died on the cross was to bridge us back to God. It was a rescue mission to get us to back to Him. Salvation brings us into His presence and allows us the privilege of hearing from Him.

Sadly, once rescued by Jesus, many would rather be used by Him than spend time with Him.

My guess is that you’ve felt this tension at times. If you’re like many productive people, we can get so wrapped up in being used by God that we rush our daily time with Him. We begin to speed date God.
Speed dating is ok if you are simply “trying out” the relationship. But once you commit, once you “put a ring on it”, it’s time to invest into knowing and hearing from the person across the table. You should delight in what the other person has to say and want more when they are absent. As usual, it’s all about the heart.
The answer isn’t making sure our time spent in bible study and prayer always exceeds our service. On the other hand, living a monk mentality, in constant prayer and bible reading, isn’t the best option either. However, it does mean that when we desire MORE of us and LESS of God, then we should pay close attention. Another way of saying this is…

When we’d rather talk about God than hear from God, we might be more in love with making disciples than being a disciple.

2. God is beginning to bore you.

Can I ask you an honest question? Here it comes…

Does God bore you? I know that’s a tough question to answer, well at least honestly. However, if you are starting to realize that the person of Jesus is beginning to bore you, then you’ll start to delight in your words more than His. It’s the reality of our hearts. We don’t really spend consistent time listening to people who bore us. The Presidential race confirms this truth (Lord help us!).

Most followers of Jesus would probably say, “Of course not! Jesus could never bore me.” However, here is my next question.

If we looked at how you spent your time, would it indicate otherwise?

Think about it for a second. How you spend your time indicates what excites you. It reveals what you care about. When was the last time you watched only 15 minutes of your favorite tv show on Netflix? Or stayed for only the 1st quarter at your favorite sporting event? You wouldn’t do that. On the contrary, you would leave wanting more. 

In our relationship with God, we often don’t leave wanting more. Instead we rush out to do something we love more. The reason? God bores us.

I say that with a  broken heart, because that’s what God told me a few months ago. One morning I was in Starbucks spending my First 15 with God and as I was reading, I felt something was emotionally off.

My heart wasn’t excited about what I was reading and mostly doing it in general. I wanted to jump into work mode and get ahead on a few projects. However, in that moment God gave me enough clarity to ask Him this question…

Why is it difficult to spend time with you? His response…

“Because I bore you.”

Ouch. That one hurt a little. However, I pushed passed the pain and asked for clarity. To the best of my knowledge His response was…

“You’ve lost your awe of me and need to find it again.”

Over time I had lost my awe of God. It’s wasn’t a complete loss and I wasn’t having a spiritual crisis. I still loved God and knew He loved me.  It was this small shift in my heart where the pursuit of knowing God was becoming old hat. I needed to awaken the wonder of God within me again. So I spent time repenting, remembering, thanking, praising, and listening.

The result was my heart changed. My heart wanted more of him and not less.

3. Your heart gives more attention to your words.

Sometimes I find myself delighting in the creation of my own words, rather than delighting in God’s. I begin to think I’m so clever, when in reality I am nothing more than a messenger. God can speak through us, but this reality should cause our hearts to seek His voice more, not less.
When what you have to say grabs your emotional attention more than what God has already said, there is a problem.
In your free time do you want to spend more time reading and meditating on God’s word or creating your own? This isn’t a matter of not being able to write a sermon, blog, or book. I would be a hypocrite saying that. However, the question reveals what’s going on in our heart. What our heart gives more attention to indicates what we are falling more in love with.Because…

 What has our attention has our heart .

There is a deep relational parallel to this. It’s like having a conversation with someone and your heart delighting MORE in…
     – giving the advice
     – sharing what’s going on in your life
     – talking about the success your experiencing
     – interrupting to share what you were thinking
     – needing to be the one who has the final say
Often we do this with God. Our heart gives increased attention to what we want and need to communicate, instead of desiring to hear from Him.  The result is a dangerous shift of the heart that leads to horrible ramifications.Because…

When we delight more in our words, God’s voice becomes harder to hear.

Let that sink in for a moment. When we begin to delight more in our words, God’s voice becomes harder and harder to distinguish from our own.  This isn’t punitive. It’s a natural result of our hearts drifting away from him. As the Holy Spirit indwells us, it’s our role to continually give up control, and listen to what He says for our lives.

When our heart gives increased attention to our words, we need to make sure it’s not replacing the joy found in God’s. It’s not either or. It’s simply making sure our delight is found in hearing from the Father above speaking for Him.

What about you?

What would you add to the list? How do you know that your heart is beginning to delight in your word’s more than God’s? Would love to hear your thoughts.