86,400 Seconds

"Time spend alone with God is never a waste of time." -Unknown 

This past Sunday morning at church, Pastor Kevin Blackwell started a 5 weeks series called "One Month to of Live". During these 5 weeks he will teach us about the importance life, time, and what you spend your time doing. He will teach on living with passion, loving with a purpose, loosening our possessions, learning from pain, and leaving a path of righteousness. This week's lesson was about living with a purpose. To put it simply, he explained that the devil will try to destroy you and he wants you to waste your time on things that are meaningless. He wants you to spend your days absorbed in the world, and being conformed by it. He then challenged us to defeat the devil and spend our time on the one thing that will give us fullness of life - Jesus. 

He told us about a friend of his who was diagnosed with cancer and had only a short time to live. Following that story, he asked us this question: "If you were told you only had 30 days to live, what you spend your time doing differently?" Woah. That's a pretty big question. One to think on for sure.

As I sat there and listened, I was hit in the heart after he asked us how many seconds of our day we actually give to God. I've heard this question more times than I can count. And I can county pretty high. But this time was different, it actually caused me stop and think about it. I had to give myself an honest answer. Out of the 86,400 seconds a day, I probably give God about 900. (That's 15 minutes a day out of 1440 just by the way.) That's almost nothing. And once I realized that, I knew that it needed to change. God woke me up this morning, gave me breath to live, and all I give him is 15 minutes a day? Wow. I am so ashamed that I will only give that little amount of time to my Creator and the One who died for me. Not okay. 

So then, I'm all like "Holy cow I have to give him hours and hours a day. As much time as I spend working or with friends or eating, I have to give God that same amount." How overwhelming is that? And that's also way too much calculating and adding and math to do. it was then that I realized we don't have to spend 12 or more hours a day reading the Bible, going to church, etc. and use the remaining hours for sleep, working, socializing, etc. I"M NOT SAYING THAT"S WRONG OR BAD I"M JUST SAYING WE DON"T HAVE TO DO THAT JUST BY THE WAY. Here is what I have learned...

I have found myself getting discouraged that the only time I spend sitting and reading my Bible is right when I wake up and right before I go to bed. Wake up with the truth and fall asleep to it. But I felt that wasn't enough and wasn't "good enough." So I thought I needed to spend WAY more time in the Word and if I didn't, I thought I would be a failure. But you see, the time you spend with God should be constant, all day long, and personal. Talk to God throughout the day; just like you would a friend. You are in a relationships with God so treat it that way. You don't just talk to your closest friends and loved ones for a few minutes in the morning and a few minutes at night or when something great or terrible happens. You talk to them constantly and passionately. Do the same with God. He deserves that and more. How do you talk to him throughout the day? Well it's simple. When something good happens, tell him about it (Even though he already knows) and tell him thank you. When something bad happens, tell him, cry to him, and ask him for help. To be even more realistic and specific think of if like this... When you make it work or school safely, say "Thank you God for protecting me and guarding me." When a friend, employee, or teacher tells your good morning or gives you a smile, thank God for giving your people in your life. When you eat your lunch, whether it's what you wanted or not, tell Him thank you for providing food for you. If you get a good grade, thank Him for preparing you and guiding you. Those are all good things no matter how small they may be. And you know what? Every good and perfect gift comes from God. So tell him thank you every time you smile, laugh, and feel joy. Without him, you wouldn't have those things. 

On the other hand, when something bad happens, you know, we all have those bad days where everything goes wrong and we wanna wring everyone's necks. Talk to him on those days too. If you spill coffee in the car (happens to me about twice a week and it make me so angry), ask him for patience. When you get rear ended on the way to work, ask to give you patience with people and then thank him that it was only that and not a serious wreck. When you have to eat at Burger King instead of Firebirds (or somewhere fancy and expensive idk) cause your budget that week is tight, thank Him that you even had a budget and can eat at all. But also ask him to continue to provide means and money, even if i's less than you want. And when get home after this TERRIBLE day and your house is a mess, the dog dirtied up the carpet, and there's loads of laundry to do, take a breath and say, "God, thank you for a house to come home to. Thank you for clothes that need to be cleaned, thank you for it all." I know this is easier said than done, but if you thank God when blessings happen or ask for help when difficulty comes, you are giving Him your time. Just keep Him in your life more than just when you sit down to read the Bible. He is in all things we just have to take the time to look, see, and find Him.  And just like with people, time helps you get to know each other better and with that, you become closer. God wants that with us and we desperately need it with Him.

 One quote I love goes like this, "The greatest gift you can give someone is your time because you are giving them a portion of your life that you will never get back." With that being said, who better to give your time to than the One who breathes life into you every one of those 86,400 seconds per day? Time with God does not just mean reading the Bible and doing your devotionals. It's not just about how much read about Him, it's about how much you engage with Him day to day. Your time is given through reading his love letters to you, praising Him through the good times and bad, thanking him for every little thing, and asking Him for guidance and help. He is there with open arms and heart that loves you like no other. He won't leave your or forsake you or give up on you. He is waiting patiently for you to give Him your time. Waiting on you to give Him back the gift he has given you. So, learn to give him time even if it's a few seconds here and there. Because in the end, when your life is over, you don't want to regret the moments you wasted on worldly things instead of the infinite and everlasting.