I like numbers. Numbers are fun. Numbers hardly ever lie. Numbers are a great way to quickly see certain truths. I even have a minor in statistics… that’s how much I love numbers.
So, let’s take a few minutes to play with some numbers.
There are 52 weeks in a year. We (the average church-going person) usually spend 1 hour a week at church on Sunday mornings. That means we usually only spend 52 hours a year at church. If your pastor is long-winded, maybe we spend 1 1/2 hours at church on a Sunday. That comes out to be 78 hours a year at church.
If we are involved in a mid-week bible study or go to Sunday school, that could be another 30 minutes or so. (And let’s be honest, we can’t possibly wake up that early every Sunday… right?)
So, we are at approximately 104 to 130 hours a year at or “doing” church.
It seems like a lot of time. Let’s add some context.
There are 8,760 hours in a year (8,784 if it’s a leap year). So if we do the quick math… we, on average, spend anywhere from 1.15 to 1.19% of the year “doing” church. It seems to me like we don’t spend nearly as much time “doing” church as we might initially think we do.
So what are we spending our time doing?
A full week of work is 40 hours a week (at least). That comes to the grand total of 2,080 hours a year or 24.74% of our time.
The average person spends 5 hours a DAY watching television. That is 1,820 hours a year or 20.78% of our time.
The average person sleeps about 7 hours a night. That is 2,548 hours a year or 29.09% of our time.
That comes to a total of 74.61% of the total amount of time that we have a year.
What are you doing with the last 25% of our time? How much time are you giving to God every day?
I struggle almost every day to spend time with God. More often then not, it’s a quick “bible time”… meaning while I’m waiting for my food at the fast-food place during lunch or while I’m sitting on my couch between a tv show or right before I fall asleep. Do you do the same?
WE NEED TO BE INTENTIONAL ABOUT SPENDING TIME WITH GOD.
I’m not suggesting you start by setting aside 8 hours every day to spend with God right away. Think of it as a workout routine; a spiritual workout.
By no means am I a workout enthusiast, but I do know that you don’t run a marathon without training first. Try the same mentality with spending time with God.
Start by 10 minutes a couple times a day. Pray. Read a chapter in your Bible. Read a devotional book.
Eventually, increase your time to 20 minutes a couple times a day. Then 30 minutes a couple times a day and continue to increase your time.
When you run out of time in your day, consider your priorities and what you are spending time on. Maybe some less TV time is what you need. Maybe you take half your lunch and read your Bible instead of watching another episode on Netflix.
Challenge yourself to spend more and more time with God. You’ll soon find that 1 hour will fly by and only seem like 10 minutes.
Peace and Grace.
Trent Fugitt 