Eph 5:15-16 - “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”
I’ve been challenged by something this week. As usual, when I feel a conviction or challenge and see that it is a good thing, I consider that it might be good for others, as well. Therefore, I am compelled to share. So I offer the following challenge as a gift. “Taste and see that the Lord is good…” (Psalm 34:8) …then pass it on.
This week I have committed to a time of purposeful seeking of the Lord, due to various things in my life. Some very good things, but nevertheless, things that I need to be very near to the Lord through (but shouldn’t this be the case in all things at all times?). In such times, I have found that fasting is a wonderful prescription given by God to those who want to find intimate time with Him, to draw nearest to His face, His very character and being. However, fasting is not appropriate for me this week. I am on vacation with my father, as we take this time every year to enjoy Nascar together, and just spend quality time together in general. (Upon hearing “Nascar,” your view of me may be tainted forever. Yes, I enjoy Nascar very much…there, I’ve admitted it openly!)
This vacation is a time of celebration and a time of fellowship, and to be fasting would be placing myself in an “unequally yoked” position with my father for the weekend. You see, food is something that we share on this trip and it is an integral part. For me to fast from food would be to deprive my dad of a major joy of the trip—the meals that we savor and share. When asked why the disciples were not fasting, Jesus illustrated, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast” (Mark 2:19). Furthermore, Jesus illustrates in Matt 6 that a fast that is pleasing to the Lord is one done in secret…this would be impossible on my trip. Note: There is a time for fasting, and if God reached out and convicted you or me to do so, there would be no excuse good enough to resist Him, no matter how logical.
So I started asking the question this week, “How am I going to give God a special focus? What can I fast from? How can I ensure that I am devoting myself to Him?” The solution that came to mind was very simple and soon it grabbed a hold of me, leading me down the path of conviction that resulted to this blog post. I decided that I would try to replace “idle time” with two things: either prayer or reading the Bible, or both. I decided that step one would be to recognize “idle time,” which it turns out can be a difficult thing to do. I know that I myself have gotten so used to the technology age that I don’t even realize the amount of time I spend with email, that favorite app on the smartphone, seeking entertainment of other kinds, and most shameful of all…Facebook. (To think I was one of the last of my friends to cave in and get on Facebook…and now it is on my list of distractions.) My tone is somewhat facecious in my list of “idle time” distractions above, especially poking fun at Facebook. But at the same time, this is a legitimate concern, especially in the new technology age that is sweeping our cultures and particularly with the youth of today. Go to a public place and just observe the amount of people looking down at their smartphones, etc. I think you’ll find much greater than 50% of people you observe will have their noses buried in them. Of course, I myself do a lot of worthwhile and productive things on my smartphone, as many others do, too…in fact, it has been a blessing from God for increased productivity in my busy life. But at the same time, what if you and I decided to keep a record this coming week of our “idle activities?” Depending on personality, you might make a spreadsheet or you might just ballpark it by feeling at the end of the week. Whatever rigor your personality allows, what if we took a first step and just tried to identify the quantity of time we spend on such “idle” things?
“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” – 2 Cor 10:4-5
So this week, I have tried to “take captive every thought” a little more completely than I’ve ever tried before. I can tell you that I’ve had varied success at best. But the particular level of success is not my point. The point is that I actually have found myself in the Word and prayer more, and I am so thankful for it! Furthermore, I have discovered an opportunity to discard bad habits and in their place construct very good ones. Here was my conviction that led to this post: why is this week any different than others? Why does the attempt to find more and more time with God feel like something special? Shouldn’t that be the norm? Oh my…yes indeed, this should be the norm. What if I took this week and made it the norm going forward?
Think about someone that you care about more than anyone else. Think about someone that you want to spend time with more than anyone else this week. You know that you make time for that person, both because you like spending time with them and because they like spending time with you. Now think about God. What if He was that person every week? What if you desired God to the point that you wanted to spend every spare moment in communication with Him? What if we really loved God, such that time with Him was insatiable and we sought to spend more and more time with Him every week? What if we desired to spend time with Him to the point that we saw every “idle” moment as an opportunity to pray or open the Bible? How might that change our lives? I know it would be a shift in my priorities and I know with 100% certainty that God would bless it.
And that’s just it: priorities. Do your actions and time allocation show God as your number 1 priority? Mine don’t. I might have thought that it did…that is, until a week where I am purposefully filling every opportunistic moment with prayer and Bible study feels special. If that is the exception, then by definition it is not my normal behavior or priority. Though I may be growing in desire for the Lord, which bears fruit of time in the Word and prayer, my “idle” moments show where my priorities lie…and that means that sometimes that smartphone or Facebook or entertainment is a higher priority than God Himself to me. This is convicting. Are you as guilty as me in this?
Let me make a quick note that I don’t believe the most appropriate response to this conviction is to throw out all of our electronics, renounce all entertainment, and lock ourselves in our homes with just a Bible and a water supply. I’m amused at the exaggeration, but my point is that it is just fine to seek times of rest (in fact, rest is an important command from God for us, as well as a blessing) and occasional entertainment. Facebook itself can be a tool for the Lord, and even the silliness of the status update that reads, “Florida is awesome!” is not at all a bad thing in itself. It’s ok to spend some time texting or playing that favorite game on the smartphone occasionally. It’s ok to have a Facebook account. My point is that we can all take stock of our time allocations and at least become purposeful in our time budget decisions. This is something that I think the Lord will bless and replace a heart of stone with a heart of flesh, and with it place in us the desire to spend more “idle” time with Him (Ezekiel 36:25-27).
“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” (Eph 5:15-16)
Using these aforementioned things is one way that we can make “the best use of the time,” the technology age, and glorify the Lord. But to do so, we will have to watch our time and habits closely.
I encourage you to take a couple minutes to do the following exercise. Make a priority list. Start with God and work down from there. List general things, such as family, friends, work…and list specific things (maybe as subcategories) like pro baseball games, running, eating/cooking, and even Facebook. Now, after you’ve made this list, take notes on your time allocation to these things in the next week. I know that much of our time is obligation based, such as a job, but nevertheless, take note of it all. After doing that for a week, list your activities in order of time allocation—highest to lowest. This is your priority list, whether you like it or not. If work is 50 hours per week, perhaps that is right where God wants it to be. But if Facebook is 10 hours per week, perhaps that is not right where God wants it to be. The point of the exercise isn’t to analyze that we’re spending a lot of time sleeping and at work—of course we are, as God seems to have designed us that way. The point is to find those activities that have no place being so high on our list (i.e. “idle time” activities), as well as to identify those activities that have slipped way down our priority list. How much time did you or I spend in the Bible or prayer this week? Where does that fall out on our priority list? I just thought of this excerise and therefore haven’t yet been able to carry it out in my own life, but I’m sure I would be embarrassed to share the results. But guess what—this is our starting point, not our finish line.
Will you step up and take the challenge with me going forward? I write this conviction to you not as one who has conquered it, but as someone who struggles with you. I desire that we would both begin to “take every thought captive,” become aware of our “idle time” habits, and seek to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, sacrificing the selves that we have become, and building up new habits for the Lord. New habits that God will love…new habits that we will love! New habits that will absolutely produce fruit, both in us and in those around us. I am convinced that God has absolutely zero “idle time”—He is working in all things at all times. Therefore, I am confident that God can do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine with an offering such as this (Eph 3:20). My prayer is that you are spurred onward into a deeper relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through such a commitment. May God’s presence amaze you this week and draw you into more quantity and quality time with Him. Amen.
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