Spoiler alert: Next quarter’s Sabbath School lesson is on stewardship. The new lesson books came in yesterday and I read the opening section and the first Sabbath’s lesson. At the Episcopal church where I work, October is stewardship month. This particular year they wanted to emphasize not just a donation of money but also of time and talents. They held a “Ministry Fair” where many of the outreach ministries and committees had small displays describing what they do and why you might want to volunteer. Stewardship is about contributing your “tangible and intangible possessions” to use “for the glory of God” (Stewardship Lesson Book pg 2).
I had never thought about my time and talents as being “possessions.” If everything we have comes from God, then of course our time and our talents come from Him and are His to begin with! “And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day” (Deuteronomy 8:18). He has given us the “power,” the time and the skills to not only get wealth but for ministry and study of His Word. For the sake of simplicity, let’s say that we would like to tithe our time as we do our money. We don’t all make the same amount of money but we do all have the same amount of time. It is only a matter of how we choose to spend it. So one tenth of 24 hours is 2 hours and 24 minutes. Wow that’s a rather big chunk of time!
Out of curiosity I made a list of what I do on a normal day and how long it takes for what I considered to be daily essentials (minus devotion time). I have 4 hours and 15 minutes left. What am I doing during that time? If I even gave God an hour a day I’d still have hours left over (for such non-essentials as laundry and cleaning...!). I realize many people have more demands on their time than me, especially those with children or others that they care for; however, God should still be first in our lives, and He will help us accomplish all our necessary tasks. “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). We all have different priorities but are they all in line with the will of God?
Quite a while ago Bonnie and Carl invited me to a Bible study that is held in Churchville on Wednesday nights. I kept thinking I should go but I was always “too busy… didn’t have time.” Why isn’t a weeknight Bible study more important than me fixing food at home? Would we starve if I didn’t cook for one evening? Surely not, we could just have a simpler meal, maybe a sandwich. Why isn’t going to the Bible study more important than work? One week that I contemplated going I ended up not getting home from work until after 8pm. Why didn’t I plan better throughout the day so that the work essentials got done and I could have gone in early the next morning to finish instead of staying late? Excuses and priorities go hand in hand.
There is a time and a place for the necessary things of life; however, we cannot allow those things to crowd out Jesus after all, Jesus is THE LIFE. “…I am the way, the truth, and the life…” (John 14:6). “Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore, tell her to help me.’ And Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her’” (Luke 10:38-42).
If we truly put God first, then we will live differently. Our priorities will be kept in line. In this day and age, what the world tells us to have as priorities (work, money, power, etc.) are not the priorities that Jesus tells us to have. If something happened and you were on your death bed tomorrow would you say, “Oh how I wish I had been able to go to work just one more day!” Or would you have wished to have spent more time with family? Or even to have spent more time with God?
Earlier I said we all get the same amount of 24-hour time, well tonight we actually get an extra hour as Daylight savings time comes to an end. Why not use that hour for your own spiritual benefit and to the glory of God? Spend some time if not today then this week thinking about your priorities. Maybe even make a quick list of your daily activities and how long they usually take. Do you like how your list looks? Or do your priorities need some realignment? What can you do about it? Maybe a solution isn’t going to happen this week but pray about it, set a goal, and work toward it.