Faithful Stewardship, Part 1

It is no secret that Christians in the United States suffer from some serious problems, not the least of which is a lack of immersion in the Word of God and a lack of prayer. The average Christian, from many of the statistics that I read, appears to make time for God for an hour or so on Sunday morning, and perhaps another hour on Wednesday night. Beyond this, there is little thought about the things of God. Why is this? We have stopped spending time doing the things that matter. We have become horrible stewards of our time.

Everything that we have is a gift from God. The time that we have is no exception. We have exactly as much time as God allows us to have. It is not something that we can acquire for ourselves. It is purely a gift. Since it is a gift, we should be good stewards of it, as we should be good stewards of everything else that God gives us. The following are some reflections on time:

Time is one of the few things that we can never get back. Once it is spent, it is gone. You cannot get it back. If you choose not to honor God with it, you can never get it back and change that fact. It will always be gone. In this sense, it is also perhaps your most important asset.

You will always give your time toward the goal that matters the most to you. Work may not be your favorite thing, but everyone who works has a reason for working, be it paying bills or saving for retirement or some other similar thing. In the same way, if your relationship with God is at the top of your priority list, you will make time to grow closer to Christ. This means reading Scripture, praying, and practicing spiritual disciplines. To fail to give your time to Christ is likely indicative that he is not a priority in your life. There is no excuse for not giving Christ our time, especially when we have a ton of apps that will help us spend more time in Scripture. In the United States, almost everyone has access to a Bible if they want to read it. If they don't, most local churches would gladly give out one for free. Christian worship music is just as on-demand as any secular music. We have no excuse.

If you think that this short post has come across as harsh, good. It was intended to. You have more time than you realize. Spend your time on God, and don't become part of a statistic that does otherwise.