A few years back, I heard a pastor say most people don’t reject Jesus. They just never get around to following him.

Each day comes and goes, and with it are the “going to dos” of the day. Unless we’re careful, we’ll say day after day, month after month—and finally before the throne of God—“I was going to.”

We don’t forget to go to the concert we’ve been waiting for. We don’t decide to put off the vacation for which we’ve planned and saved. We wait in anticipation for the next season of the show we love to be released. But the Almighty God, who created us; Jesus, who went to a cross on our behalf; and the Holy Spirit, who nudges and reminds us he’s watching us with a loving eye, gets shrugged off with a thought of someday.

Jesus warned us about this. His words were recorded in Matthew 22:1-5

Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

“Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

“But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business.”

If we’re not deliberate, it might be said of us: one to girl’s night out, the other to the conference; one to the hotel for a tournament, the other on the business trip; one to the family reunion, the other camping.

Pastor Adrian Rogers said that Satan will try to make us do bad things, but if that doesn’t work, he’ll make us busy. And busy leaves so little time for God.

The apostle Paul said, “We are not unaware of [Satan’s] schemes” (2 Corinthians 2:11), and Satan’s schemes are to keep us busy and thinking we have more than enough time to take God seriously. Satan’s goal is to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10). He kills our motivation, steals our ambition, and destroys our ardor for time with God because he knows what it will do. Time in the Word and prayer will remind us we are loved and created for a purpose. It will fill us with joy and make us strong enough to resist his temptations. It will fan us to love and good deeds as we contemplate the love of Jesus and the plight of all believers of all time from an eternal perspective.

And that’s why Satan will do just about anything to make you and I forget about the things of God and make us far too busy to be bothered.

I don’t want to give Satan an inch. I’d much rather keep him at bay deliberately, daily, and constantly by making the Word a priority. The apostle Paul says to “rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

Time in the Word, conversations with God, singing, and giving thanks keeps us in relationship with God. Time in the Word reminds us who we are and where we are. Prayer invites us to the throne of God with the assurance that we are heard. Giving thanks and rejoicing is our declaration to Satan and the whole army of evil that we know God is on the throne and Satan and his minions are powerless to take us from the will of God.

Guard against putting God on the “someday going to” list and put him on priority status, where he deserves to be. Nothing in the world compares to walking with God. Don’t wait to experience it.