I remember reading a leadership/management book or article somewhere to keep a precise hourly record of your daily schedule for a week. I actually never took that challenge to heart but I did a brief exercise on my own this week and recalled my schedule each day of this week to write down everything I did and how long I did it for. Among a few other surprises, what I was most surprised about was the percentage of time I spent in literal “quiet time” with the Lord – this did not include any pastoral day-to-day job requirements, church events, or Christian book reading. I defined “quiet time” as set aside time in communication (prayer) with God, nothing in front of me except for a bible, journal and a pen. Out of a week that consists of 168 hours only 4% of my time (roughly an hour/day) was spent in personal, intimate, alone, quiet time with God. In comparison, 8% of that week was spent watching tv/movies, and over 10% spent with friends hanging out – over DOUBLE the amount that I spent with the Lord. I know many of us reading this have heard of statistics and comparisons like this before, but taking personal inventory of where my time was spent was eye opening for me. If the saying “time is money” is true of how we view the 24 hours of our day, I was only giving the Lord only 4 cents of my dollar… A WEEK. Furthermore, if we apply time spent with the Lord to the traditional 10% of tithing, we should be spending 16.8 hours a week (10% of 168 hours in a week), about 2 hours and 24 minutes per day with the Lord. But I’m busy… right? We’re all busy with daily essentials with work, family, and friends, aren’t we?
In Luke 5, Luke’s account of the calling of the first disciples and healing of the man with leprosy, verse 16 subtly mentions that in the midst of all the healing and teaching that Jesus did, “he often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Now scripture isn’t clear on why he withdrew, but one thing is very clear, because of busy-ness, Jesus withdrew to pray often. His prayer was not the time spent in our cars while driving to work or while cooking a meal or waiting for our children as they finish sports, Kumon, or violin lessons. Jesus’ prayer times were withdrawn from the craziness of life in “lonely” or “deserted” (void of people!) places. How are you all doing with that? How is your time spent with Jesus? In what ways have you compromised or made excuses to avoid spending time with the Lord? Martin Luther, responsible for the Reformation, is often quoted saying “I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” He deeply understood the value of close connection and communication with the Lord. Friends, let’s get our priorities straight. Let’s commit to withdraw from the day-to-day busyness and give the King, who gave His all for us, the most precious commodity in our lives, our time.
From Pastor Keeyoung’s Heart
August 16, 2015