I don’t know if you are average or not, but I read today that the Average American will live 28,000 days (75 years). 23 years sleeping. 17 years working. 11 years watching TV (25 hours a week). 6 years traveling. 1 year in church.
I don’t know about you, but I often feel as if I don’t have enough time. The demands of life, family, and ministry run the limit of my time. In reality, we all have the same amount of time. We all have 24 hours in a day. By the way, that comes out to 1,440 minutes per day. It’s the same for all us, but how we spend our time is different for each of us.
If you are like most Christians I know, you recognize the importance of spending time with God. You know that we cannot grow spiritually and be strong in our faith without time with God. Jesus said in John 15…”apart from me you can do nothing.” There is a power and a strength gained when we spend time with God.
But if you are like most Christians, you feel you don’t spend enough time with God. Now, the Bible doesn’t give us a set amount of time we should spend in God’s Word and in prayer each day. So, we’ll leave it up to the Holy Spirit to lead and guide each of us.
In theory, we all know that time with God is important. Having a thriving quiet time is something we aspire to, but why don’t we do it?
Typically, the response we give is that we are busy.
We’re all busy, but truthfully, we could set aside some time. Why don’t we? Here’s an answer I’m wrestling with…maybe, we have lost our first love.
Sometimes, deep down, we lose sight of who God really is. When we view God as anything less than who He is, our hunger and motivation to spend time with Him diminishes.
I believe God longs for us to spend time with him. He is a good father and he wants to have a close relationship with us. God doesn’t have a chart on his wall where he keeps track of your devotional life, but his Holy Spirit is drawing us back to time with God, because it’s there we find everything we need.
So, how does this work? We must set our priorities. If you decided that the first purpose of your life is to know God then you will want to spend time with God every day. So when you get up tomorrow, you set aside some time for God. You put him first. Maybe you close the day with God. You don’t end the day without time with God.
Probably the greatest time management tool ever invented are the two middle letters of the alphabet: NO. You don’t have time for everything. You can’t do to everything. Just because others are, doesn’t mean you have to. You let your priorities win!
Put God first in your schedule. Whatever you want God to bless you put him first in that area. If you want God to bless your marriage, you put God first in your marriage. If you want God to bless your business, you put God first in your business. If you want God to bless your finances, tithe. Put him first in your finances. If you want God to bless your time, give him the first part of your day. Give him the first day of your week.
We are blessed today to have so many options when it comes to spiritual disciplines: We have Bible apps and worship music on our phones. We have podcast that encourage us. We have audio books to inspire us. We even have apps to help us create prayer lists and to memorize scripture.
Time is a gift. Your life is a gift. You and I are managers of the time God has give us. Will you and I choose to use the most valuable resource God has given us for his glory and for his purpose?
Today’s Challenge: Join me in making time with God a priority. Out of all the things you and I must do today, nothing is more important than spending time with God. Even a few minutes with God will provide the strength we need for today’s tasks.
