Which of the things you spend your time on will last the longest? Maybe even after you are gone? Perhaps even into eternity? Asked another way, which of the things your time goes to matter the most to the kingdom of God? Have you stopped recently and considered how you spend your time? If you stopped reading here and answered these questions sincerely, I would already deem this post worthwhile.
According to the American Time Use Survey, the average American spends about 21 hours of their weekday sleeping, working, housekeeping/cleaning, and watching TV. That leaves only about 3 hours a day for socializing, exercising, educating ourselves, enjoying hobbies, and doing errands like shopping. Seems like hardly any time at all! Turns out, simply axing the TV would nearly double the leftover time to 6 hours, but even those who don’t watch TV have other forms of time-consuming leisure.
Now these averages may not accurately reflect the way you personally spend your time. And you may not even be in full-time employment yet. Nevertheless, this begs the question, how do you use your few spare hours every day? As believers, in addition to our worldly affairs, we are obligated to devote time to our family, church, and ministry. Assessing our schedules can quickly leave us daunted and discouraged. It can be shocking to do the math and see how little time we have left over for the things that seem to matter most. The boxes in our calendars start to look too small and the days in the month too few.
I could try encouraging you with the reality that even time spent at secular work can be glorifying to God, but the focus of this post is on the leftover hours. You’ve only got a few spare hours every day. Are you spending those precious minutes on things that won’t burn or rot away? “Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.”
If there’s one thing that lasts for an eternity, it’s the soul of your spouse, your kid, your neighbor, your co-worker, and everyone else you come into contact with. Your investment in the people around you will bear the greatest fruit. Even a small, seemingly insignificant interaction can go a long way, as long as an eternity.
With only 3 hours a day, it may not seem like we have much to offer. But remember, Jesus didn’t care about the amount the poor widow brought when she tithed two small copper coins, He cared about how she spent them.
