Do you have a daily routine? Just about everyone does. You get up at about the same time every day, drink your coffee (or beverage of choice), eat breakfast, take a shower, get dressed and if you aren’t retired as I am, you go to work. What’s missing? Oh, yeah! God!

God does not want to just be part of your daily routine, the devotional you set aside time for every morning or the Bible reading and prayers that you offer to Him. He wants to be the center of everything you do, including your daily routine. I have my devotional each morning because that is part of my routine. But I hope that I don’t leave God behind in my den when I start my errands and get busy doing other things. I take Him with me…He is in my heart, guiding my choices and my activities, if I will let Him.

It’s more important than ever in today’s world to guard your heart. In Biblical times, the people were not assailed by technology and all of the images on screens of all kinds that are meant to tempt us away from a relationship with God. Don’t get me wrong. Technology has its place in a Christian life, but it shouldn’t be in the center of our lives, in the place that God should be occupying. And when we are using technology, we need to ask ourselves if what we are seeing or reading is for the glory of God or just to make us feel good. If Jesus were looking over your shoulder (note that as God, He is always there), what would He see and hear? Does our daily routine make it clear that the Holy Spirit resides inside us, so the ungodly things have no importance to us?

I am working on guarding my heart. It is a struggle daily because of all of the little darts being thrown every time I pick up my phone to check a message or go on Facebook to answer a question from a friend. There is a reason Satan is called the prince of the power of the air, and being aware of that helps me be more aware of what I am allowing into my heart and mind. The GIGO (garbage in, garbage out) principle is not just for technology. It also works the same way for us humans. We are “fearfully and wonderfully made” but what we do with God’s great creation (our minds and bodies) is our choice. Knowing that the course of my life and my relationship with God is affected by what I consume mentally, then I plan to be more consistently careful about my choices. I want God to know that He is welcome to be the center of my daily routine and to live like He is right there all the time, because He is, if I invite Him to be and make Him welcome.