Time. Everyone has the exact same amount and yet people seem to get different amounts from it. Every time I sit and start to think about goals I have or dreams I want to pursue, there is one excuse that seems to always come to the forefront: lack of time. Maybe I want to lose weight; I don’t have time to exercise. Maybe I want to write a book; I don’t have time to publish something. Maybe I want to get in the Word more; I don’t have time to read. And yet, I do have time for Facebook, “Survivor,” and “The Masked Singer.”
God has given us the time. The issue is do we use that time most productively. I don’t think that watching a TV show is bad, but is it really just one show? Or do I sit there controlled by the TV as it starts another episode without me moving? Facebook is not inherently bad, but what happens when I get on to see “one thing” and end up wasting 30 minutes scrolling through the feeds and chasing rabbits.
In the gospel of Matthew, the disciple quotes Jesus during the final part of the sermon on the mount as saying,
“But seek first His kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)
We have to put the Kingdom first. It all comes down to priorities. Our priorities must look different for us to be all who God has called us to be. In order to do this, we must be intentional about our time. “Seeking” is not a one-time thing. It is a continuous and repetitive action. We have to seek first His kingdom every single day. We cannot let the days just happen and expect to fulfill spiritual disciplines and grow in our faith. We must make the choice to plan for those things in our day. I always do best at this when I am intentional and make a plan. I have started to plan my nights. Maybe you only allocate one hour of television a night so that when the show finishes you are determined to do something else, such as read. Maybe you commit to exercising three days a week and you look at your calendar at the start of the week to write down when those days will be.
What do you put first? Reflect on your last week or last month. Do you put people, objects, goals, or pleasure first? Maybe you aren’t even aware that you are spending so much time on fruitless things. The devil has become a master at helping people waste time. In order to defeat his tactics, we must plan our lives. We must choose to have time for the things we want to pursue the most. Crazy enough that when we get our priorities right, Christ promises that “all these things will be given to you as well.” We do have time; we just have to make it.
This blog was written by Amy Carrico: Author of Making Moments Matter Blog
Last Updated on November 4, 2024
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