I like numbers. Numbers are fun. Numbers never lie. Numbers are a great way to gain wisdom and understanding.
I like numbers so much… that I even have a minor in statistics! Does that make me a nerd?
So, will you take a few minutes to look at some numbers with me?
There are 52 weeks in a year. That’s 365 days or 8,760 hours every single year.
A “full-time job” requires you to work 40 hours a week. That means most people work around 2,080 hours a year which is just shy of 25% of the total time you have.
I also learned through some research that the average person watches television about 5 hours a day! That comes out to be 1,820 hours a year which is just over 20% of the year.
The last number I want to share with you is about sleep. According to the Mayo Clinic, adults average about 7 hours of sleep a night. That comes out to be 2,548 hours of sleep a year which is a massive 30% of the total time you have in a year.
When we add these three activities together… most people spend approximately 75% of their year either working… watching TV… or sleeping.
That is a staggering amount of time!
I started thinking about this when I was challenged by a question I saw on Twitter the other day. (Yes! Social media can be good for some things!)
The question was this: How much time do you spend with God?
Let’s go back to the numbers. The average church-going person usually spends 1 hour a week at church on Sunday mornings.
That means the average church-going person only spends 52 hours a year at church. If the pastor is long-winded, that time might be closer to 1.5 hours at church on any given Sunday which comes out to be 78 hours a year at church.
But what about those who are involved in a mid-week bible study or go to Sunday school… let’s add another hour just to be safe.
We only spend approximately 104 to 130 hours a year at or “doing” church.
It seems like a lot of time… but is it really?
Doing the quick math… most people only spend at most 1.19% of the year “doing” church.
Say we add in 10-15 minutes a day with a designated quiet time… that only adds about 91 hours a year that people spend time with God if they never miss a single day.
And if you’re honest with yourself… it can struggle to spend time with God EVERY… SINGLE… DAY. Right?
More often than not, it’s a quick “bible time”… meaning while we’re waiting for our lunch to cook during lunch or while we’re sitting on the couch during commercials of a tv show or we try to fit it in right before we fall asleep.
Here is the lesson I want you to get from this: WE NEED TO BE MORE INTENTIONAL ABOUT SPENDING TIME WITH GOD.
I’m not suggesting you start by setting aside the remaining 8 hours of your day to spend with God. If you want to do that… AWESOME!
But setting that as a goal for yourself is not a good idea. You will probably fail at being successful day after day with that goal.
Instead… I challenge you to 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. Start by training for your spiritual marathons with the same mentality.
Start with 10 minutes once a day with God.
Pray. Read a chapter in your Bible. Work through a devotional book.
Eventually, increase your time to 10 minutes a couple times a day. Then 10 minutes 2 times a day. Then 20 minutes a couple times a day.
Challenge yourself to spend more and more time with God and get ready to see what God will teach you in that time.
Peace and Grace.
Trent Fugitt 