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I haven’t always recognized the value and importance of wisely using my time as a Christian. I remember when I would spend hours mindlessly scrolling on social media and watching movies on Netflix each day. Those were the days when prayer and Bible reading were things to get checked off the list so I was “free” to do the things I enjoyed most. I type this with great sadness, as it was only a couple of years ago that I was unaware of how much my hobbies had controlled so much of my life. As a Christian, I find it embarrassing and pathetic to be quite honest. That’s not to say during that time I didn’t seek to grow in godliness at all(I did), but my misplaced priorities and lack of conviction about those priorities over growing in the Christian faith during that time did not help at all. 

The Holy Spirit has convicted me over the past couple of years(and even more so recently) about the way I use my time. The Lord has used sermons at my Church, His word, and discipleship to help wake me up in this area. I now have greater awareness in the fact that spending too much time on worldly activities will only stunt my growth as a Christian. Besides, there are far more productive things I could usually be doing with my time. 

I think some Christians think of God as having to be “fit” into their daily lives rather than other things being fit around their commitments to Him. This was me at that time during my walk, although I’m not sure I would have admitted it. We shouldn’t have to “make“ time for God in prayer, Bible reading, evangelizing, studying theology, and other spiritual disciplines. These things should be central  to our daily walk, not secondary, since our lives should revolve around serving Christ as Christians. God deserves so much more than the last few drops of water the sponge produces after being fully squeezed. He deserves more than the crumbs left on the plate after the meal has been fully devoured. He shouldn’t be bits and pieces of our daily lives, but the focal point. In other words: God deserves more than your leftovers. The time you have left after spending most of it on worldly pleasures should not be the time you “squeeze in” time for the things of the Lord. 

Making the best use of time should ALWAYS be our aim each day. We shouldn’t be complacent in our walk and content with mediocrity. In fact, a better title for this blog may have been “Yes, God requires so much more of your time”. God did not choose us for salvation to live lives that don’t require any sort of sacrifice. How we utilize our time is one of those sacrifices we must make in order to fulfill  The Great Commission. We were bought with a price(1 Corinthians 6:20) and should always aim to do that which glorifies God(Colossians 3:17). I understand it is possible to get thrown off track every now and then, but if this is what your life looks like more often than not, these are symptoms of a serious spiritual problem within yourself. As the scripture says: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). What you prioritize and delight in most says a lot about your relationship with God, whether you acknowledge it or not. 

Short answer: Absolutely not! One of the things I appreciate the most about my church is the constant, weekly emphasis for us to stay committed to our Bible reading plans and using our time and talents unto the glory of God. Having that reminder each week is a constant way to remain accountable and remember why the Lord called me. Furthermore, when I think about the issue of growing as a Christian and maximizing my time, there are 2 scriptures that come to mind: 1) “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” Philippians‬ ‭1:9-11‬. How much more should we seek to grow? MORE AND MORE! This implies there is no limit to the amount of love, knowledge, and discernment we should seek to abound in as Christians. Well, if we are to abound in these things “more and more”, then we must dedicate “more and more” time to the things of God. 2)“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.” ‭2 Peter‬ ‭1:5-10‬. Peter stated that these qualities should be increasing if we are to be useful with the knowledge we’ve been trusted with about our Lord Jesus Christ. If we are not spending time on spiritual things, we will not grow in these qualities. We will be fruitless, ineffective, and useless vessels if we don’t use our time wisely. Is that something we should be okay with as Christians? I certainly hope not! Peter also stated we should be all the MORE diligent to confirm that we’ve truly been elected by God as His Chosen people by practicing these qualities. Practicing these qualities require time and effort on our part. It’s simply unreasonable to expect to grow in love, knowledge, discernment, virtue, steadfastness, self-control, and godliness without utilizing our time better and putting forth real effort to do so.

The way you get excited for basketball, football, movies, video games, or whatever the interest or hobby may be—that fire should be there even more so for Christ. Those things certainly have their place in our lives and there’s nothing wrong with spending time enjoying hobbies, but it’s most certainly a serious problem if they consume so much of our time that we aren’t doing the things necessary to care for our own souls and doing meaningful things for God’s kingdom. Romans 12:11 says to “not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord”. To be slothful is to be lazy. To be lazy is to be unfruitful. God does not take slothfulness lightly and it’s clearly detested in scripture(see 2 Thessalonians 3:10; Proverbs 6:6; 20:4; 21:25; 24:30-34; Ecclesiastes 10:18). On the other hand, being fervent in spirit is being on fire for the Lord! There should be this desire to live righteously. There should be this desire to learn more about Jesus Christ. There should be this desire to read your Bible. There should be this desire to share your faith with others. There should be this desire to toil for the Lord and prioritize the things of God. Oh, how fruitful is a man with knowledge and zeal! This is the burning fire that should be inside of us as Christians. This is the zeal necessary to be Holy in a dark and fallen world. Ask yourself these questions that I’ve asked myself recently: “If I spent more time in God’s word over this hobby here, how much more will God be glorified? How much more will I learn and grow as a Christian? How much more will the Lord be pleased with me? How much more will the Lord reward me? How much greater will my light shine before others?” 

Time is one of those things we can never get back or add to(Matthew 6:27). As cliche as it is, tomorrow truly is never promised. Our lives here are short-lived compared to eternity. Jesus has commanded people to repent since the Kingdom of heaven is near(Matthew 4:17). That means there’s not much time to waste on fruitless, worldly things that have no eternal purpose. Christ died for you and He is the very reason you have eternal life. Before the foundation of the world, he chose you to be one of His disciples when He owed you nothing(Ephesians 1:4). You could have been a vessel for dishonorable use, destined for hell(Romans 9:22). With that in mind, don’t you want to show your gratitude to the Lord for saving you from eternal damnation? Is it really gonna hurt you to stop scrolling on Facebook more and flip off the television more? Will it kill you to push yourself more in your Bible reading and other areas of the Christian faith? We have all got to do better, and I am no exception. The time for complacency in our work unto to Lord and doing what’s easy and comfortable just won’t suffice if we are truly looking to do worthy things for the kingdom of God. Paul says we should discipline ourselves for the purpose of Godliness(1 Timothy 4:6-10). We are all called to do so. Disciplining yourself means you have to cut back on some other hobbies and pleasures in order to better serve Christ. So, yes, you need to get off social media more, put the joystick down, turn off the tv more, or whatever it is that is keeping you from abounding more in the love, knowledge, and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ—even if it’s initially difficult to do so! I’ve been thinking about this lately: Since I don’t know how much time I have left here on earth, why wouldn’t I want to maximize it? What would my rewards in heaven look like if I were taken up today? Of course it’s not all about eternal rewards, but that should be part of the reason we seek to toil diligently for the Lord(Matthew 6:19). Why not labor for the things that last? 

I’m not here to lay out legalistic chapters of the Bible you should read each day or the amount of time you should pray in order to be “righteous”, but you know how much time you have throughout the day and what you are really spending the bulk of it on. You must wisely judge for yourself if you’re truly spending your time in a way that honors God and pleases Him. You must figure out the sacrifices you must make to continue(or begin) to be fruitful for the kingdom of God. I wholeheartedly believe that anyone reading this, no matter how mature in the faith, should leave thinking “I can still do more”. It shouldn’t be burdensome to do so either(1 John 5:2-4). It’s certainly an issue if you do feel overwhelmed by the idea of sacrificing time spent on your favorite hobbies to spend more of that time on the things of God. You just may be mastered by the very thing you love-which scripture certainly says is a problem(1 Corinthians 6:12). We should seek to do those things that are more profitable more often. Now, I’m not saying that I’ve suddenly mastered the area of optimizing my time for kingdom purposes, but I can say that the more I draw near to God, the more I desire to seek Him. Each year, I have been more practical in some way about seeking the Lord and drawing nearer to him. I’ve certainly seen the effects of God drawing near to me when I draw near to Him (James 4:8). Even when I do drop the ball in the area of time now, it looks nothing like it did a couple of years ago. More importantly, it’s not something I take pleasure in or not look to correct with a sense of urgency. 

So, let us not get tired of doing good. Let us seek to use more of our time for kingdom purposes more and more each day. We should ALWAYS be abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that we will be rewarded for our hard work, and that our labor not only holds value in this life, but in the life to come. We only get one body here on earth and one life on this side of eternity. And for me—that is more of a reason for us to use it to serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with all our hearts. Amen. 

“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” 1 Corinthians 15:58

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