Last night in our small group we discussed chapter eight of Francis Chan’s book, ‘Crazy Love’. (Highly recommended: small groups in general, Francis Chan, and the book.)
In it (p. 145), Chan notes that, “The average Christian in the United States spends ten minutes per day with God; meanwhile, the average American spends four hours a day watching television.”
Because it’s not a new or unique insight, it’s easy to blow right past its implications which according to scripture, seem profound. More on that in a moment.
Quibble with the numbers any way you like. He footnotes the claim, but let’s be insanely generous and assume that the average American spends twenty minutes each day truly focused on God (prayer, worship, Bible study, fellowship — whatever) and only two hours watching television. Heck, let’s go even further and triple the God time to thirty minutes and cut the TV estimate by a factor of three as well (to one hour and twenty minutes).
The point stands.
What are the “right” numbers? You tell me. Not all television is bad. And not all time spent in what may look like God-focused activities is necessarily pleasing to Him.
But I do know this: You can’t manage what you can’t measure, and time is our only truly limited resource — an expression of our deepest priorities, including ones we may not have articulated to ourselves and which we may be ashamed to admit.
We talk about “saving” time, but we can never bank it. We cut our sleep hours, but can only cut them so far. We talk about extending our three-score and ten with healthy habits (and that’s a fine thing; our bodies being God’s temple), but we can be surprised by an early call home from unexpected illness or accident and even when we are blessed with more years, the extension beyond the mean is never more than 50-60% at the outside. “I’ll take it!”, you say. That’s all fine and good. It’s still not eternity. Not even close.
Until we get there, we’re on a one-way time train. What we do and don’t do on this short ride will be what we bring to the throne of judgment, determining (among believers) if we go in naked and spiritually destitute, as if through a fire (1Cor 3:15), or whether we’re presented with a substantial inheritance and with it, authority.
As much as each day may seem much like the one before it, we’re each drawing ever closer to our departure station. And, for the average American (and I don’t mean to sleight you non-Americans, but it’s my own frame of reference) we’re filling our eyes, hearts, minds and souls with less-than-nourishing fare.
Is it any wonder then, that we’re spiritually flabby? Do we have any right to complain that, after eating spiritual Twinkies mixed with rat poison day in and day out we’re unable to stand, much less walk, much less run and fight spiritual battles?
In my morning reading, I ran across Psalm 101:3 which in the ESV reads:
I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.
I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.
What are you setting your eyes on today that you know in your heart will not last? That you know is destined to burn, rot or rust? That you know is only pushing you further down the escalator towards the complacency department where satan is more than happy to extend store credit and let you run up a big bill with interest, slowly, gently, easily taking you away from the floor where your money is no good and Christ himself hands out the pure gold of holiness to those who ask Him in a spirit of truth?
What does the world count as productive work that you know will be less-than-worthless in the kingdom? Just asking… of myself first and foremost. Not easy.
[...] New Wineskins [...]
By: Links to Interesting Sites | THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK on October 29, 2009
at 2:34 pm
I felt awhile ago that the spiritual warfare was increasing to new levels. It is more important now than ever to spend that time in God’s word and LISTENING to Him, which often requires us to be still, quiet and wait – 3 things people rarely do these days. I feel God’s call to more quiet time with Him – and as I have obeyed it has been tremendous. We are underestimating the severity of the times. May we all draw ever more closely to Him – we need to abide – deeply abide.
Rachel
By: Rachel on October 29, 2009
at 1:00 pm
In response to the earlier discussion about “quantity vs. quality”, I went back to the “Shema” (Deuteronomy 6:5-9), the commandment which Jesus himself cites in Matthew 22:36-40, Mark 12:28-31 and Luke 10:26-28 as being THE most important of all. It’s a 24/7 obsession (quantity) with extreme focus (quality). It reads (in the ESV):
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Lest anyone dismiss it, God repeats it in Deuteronomy 11:18-20.
Love is an all-out obsession of heart, mind, soul and strength. I’m not “there” by any means, but I can’t shy away from the fact that it is God’s ideal for us. There is no way I can read this and draw from it the idea that a short, highly focused ritual was all that God intended for (and from) us by way of honoring and loving Him.
By: ultraguy on October 29, 2009
at 9:29 am
That’s the “prayer as a way of life” portion. The bottomline is that if God/Jesus is within you, prayer and being God-centered is not “work”, per se. It flows from within… it becomes who we ARE. HE literally takes over and it is manifest in more interior ways. As an example from the every day… I work a secular job to provide for the greater good; my family. Serving my family serves God. Keeping the focus on Him, that service becomes a form of prayer. Maybe in the background, sometimes in the foreground… but HE’S always present, ie OMNIPRESENT. Any challenge accompanied from the work-a-day is viewed from the same lense. I have absolutely no problem doing my job in the secular world with Him in focus. And what do I do for living… essentially I make eye-candy.
“Time with God” takes on many forms as I pointed out via St. Terese, the Mass, private prayer, and monastic style devotion and the only true arbiter of how much one spends that time is God Himself. Frankly… we all fall by that standard.
By: archangel on October 29, 2009
at 10:18 am
Speaking of writing on the doorposts – I’ve got the blessing from the Epiphany on my doorpost. My neighbor has the shema on hers. Similar to the statues and icons hanging on the walls of our homes – reminders to be focused in Christ. Mary is a popular statue in our house – and like any good Jewish mother, she points to her incredible Son.
If you haven’t seen Magnificat, it’s a good little magazine – prayers throughout the day, readings from the old testament, psalms, new testament and spiritual writings.
By: Left Coast Conservative on October 29, 2009
at 11:14 am
You are so right, UG. God doesn’t want a half hour every morning. He wants every day, all day. We’ve been conditioned to separate “holy” time from “secular” time. Holy time is attending a “church service,” maybe a small group, daily devotionals, prayer meeting, whatever. The rest of the time, “secular” time, is ours so long as we don’t do anything all that “unholy.” EEEEEP! Wrong.
When God placed us “in Christ” on the cross, we died to this world and to “our time” as well. There is no separation. Driving to work is sacred; shopping for plumbing supplies is sacred; going to a movie is sacred. We are in Christ and Christ is in us. This doesn’t change because we’re maybe doing something we’d rather He didn’t know about. If we can go through our daily lives with a consciousness of Him being always there, with us and in us, then we can become that “kingdom of priests” where everything from a washpot to a temple implement is “holiness unto the Lord.”
By: cindyinsd on October 29, 2009
at 11:50 am
How “timely” that you post today on time… Just this morning I heard God in an entirely new way that there really is only this moment. The past or future simply don’t exist. For someone who has spent most of her life regretting the past or dreaming about the future, this is monumental. I am on this earth to learn to love…when can I love? Only in “now.” Whom shall I love? The one God is placing in my path, or on my heart. If there is no one there, then I turn my attention to Him. In the eternal now. Every moment is a gift, selected for me with exquisite care by my loving, perfect Father, and I have only to unwrap it. I won’t always like it, or understand it, but if I, an imperfect parent, take such care and delight in giving my children the gifts I think are best, how much more perfect are the moments, the gifts selected for me by my Father. Some of those moments contain unbearable suffering, but if my Father has allowed them, then they are for my best good. How difficult to understand at the time, but someday I will see. And how often i forget to thank Him for every breath He sends me. For the gift of life, for His love, for Life!
By: erica on October 28, 2009
at 8:26 pm
I came across that verse in the Psalms recently, too. I have since quit most TV and feel even a little guilty when I watch Dancing With the Stars or some game show periodically. I am learning, though, and I am spending lots of time in the Bible, listening to the likes of Frances Chan, Paul Washer and others, studying on my own, praying, talking with friends about Jesus, talking about my family, reading Christian blogs, that the more I learn about Christ, the more I want to know and it’s becoming a constant pursuit of mine. I am literally feasting on His Word and those who have more knowledge than I do, and I’m HAVING A GREAT TIME DOING IT.
God is so cool, and I’m loving Him more every day!
Kim
By: Kim on October 28, 2009
at 3:05 pm
My own personal big, very big temptation is the internet. I can read blogs like yours, UG, and the links you include, all day. And then I realize that thinking about God, reading about Him, etc., is not at all the same as spending time with Him. My lust for knowledge is my downfall. I don’t care about television. Not that I’m all virtuous or anything–I just don’t care about it. At all.
[At least we can rest in knowing we've been prophesied! (Daniel 12:4 -- "But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase." -ed.]
I do truly enjoy spending time with God, but there’s always something I want to get done “real quick” first. I try to keep Him in my thoughts always, all day, and am more or less successful at this, but that concentrated time is so important. We need the down time, connect time, snuggle time in order to practice His presence all the time.
Quantifying the time (“I spend a half hour quiet time and 2 hours study” for example) is irrelevant. All of our time–ALL of it–belongs to Him. If He allows us to have a couple of hours leisure to do something that will naturally exclude focusing on Him like maybe watching a movie or reading a relatively mindless novel, well, that’s very nice of Him, but not something we have a right to demand or expect.
So yeah–I’ve had my quiet time, but I suppose I’d better get off here and do something more productive like worship Him while I fold clothes.
Love, Cindy
By: cindyinsd on October 28, 2009
at 2:46 pm
My previous employer, the US Navy, drilled into everyone the importance of training the way that we will fight. The same thing applies equally to the Christian walk. We are told that we do not fight against physical enemies, but against spiritual enemies. Eph. 6:12
If we do not properly train, we will be no better than an armed rabble, and probably much worse. None of us would dream of sending 3 year old kids out onto a baseball field with the Yankees or the Red Sox and having the three year old kids win. They lack the training, skill and muscle memory that consistent practice gives.
In another place we find that the believers are reproved because they have not moved from milk to meat – they need, as do many of us to be weaned from milk and turn in to meat eaters. Heb. 5:12 – 14. The average christian, throughout all time seems to have been content to let the Pastor do it. Content to let others do the thinking, studying and praying.
If we think of the christian walk as a set of skills – meditation, memorization, …. then we know that we need to practice those skills regularly. Going back to baseball – professional players don’t practice hitting the ball out of the park, they practice making contact with the ball, they practice swing speed and weight transfer. The don’t practice making double or triple plays, they break it down – catch / stop the ball – throw the ball with the right power and accuracy – …
Our task as christians is similar – we have our armor Eph. 6 – Helmet, shield, breastplate, shoes, sword. We are to train with those weapons until using them in battle does not take thought, but is a reaction by a trained body and mind. We also need to keep our equipment ready. Sharp edge on the sword, armor clean and rust free – rust can eat holes in it or create weak points.
Most of us probably have trouble finding the corner of the attic that our armor has been rusting away in.
[Great comment, Tigger!! In running circles, the saying is similar: train the way you want to race... and don't expect to race better than you train. -ed.]
By: Tigger23505 on October 28, 2009
at 11:58 am
Here’s the question I am struggling with. I have so many questions about my faith (in a positive sense), so much desire to learn about God’s love, to be inspired by the saints that have gone before me…that I spend a large part of my day reading spiritual material on sites like this one and those listed to the right hand side of this blog. The problem is that I am doing much of this when I am supposed to be working. For the time being, it is not truly stopping me from doing the work I am supposed to be doing and yet I’m quite sure my employers might take a different view if they knew that spiritual questions are on my mind the whole working day.
The evening is pretty much the same; I have to balance my time between my family and God. The television doesn’t get a look in.
[Anthony -- you're not alone!! God likes people who stay true to their commitments, and that means employer and family as well as Him. Balancing them is a daily juggling act. Give to Caesar what is Caesar's... but not more. -ed.]
By: Anthony on October 28, 2009
at 11:08 am
Not to challenge the assertion based on an average which I personally don’t think is quantifiable, a few thoughts came to mind.
1) The admonition made by none other than Christ Himself… do not perform your prayers in public as the hypocrites do. He gave specific instructions on how to pray. Essentially in private. This goes to quatification, even if it comes from a survey.
2) Ones life, work in life, play in life can be a form of prayer. St. Terese and her “little way” comes to mind. IMO, the imagery of 100% devotion and suppication with beating of breasts while thumping of the Bible for public view is far off the mark of what “living in Christ/God” actually entails. It is a way of being.
Essentially prayer (ie communing with God) is a WAY OF LIFE. Thanking Him for the day and for the life of the day. Asking for aid in sorrow or need. Or just looking at the work of His hand and saying “wow”. Its QUALITY not QUANTITY. Its not the burnt offerings wanted (and how many have there been over the ages?). Its our hearts. Our focus. The monastics serve up Morning, Afternoon, and Evening prayers centered on the Psalms. Not all have the time for all or even a smattering of these BUT as Terese points out… EVERYTHING we do can be linked as a prayer.
I think a simple 5 second “thank you” is worth more than a year’s worth of hollow supplications. Think the widow’s mite. Again… QUALITY, not quantity. And only God can judge that, regardless of what the surveys say.
[I don't disagree with the point about quality, but one has to ask: if (hypothetically) 99.99% of one's day is spent focused on things other than God, then what does that say about one's commitment (quality) during the other 0.01%? Quantified or not, we have 24 hours of attention-resources in a day and the free will to choose how to deploy them.
As you point out, the true saints make no distinctions. Their entire lives are one big prayer of ever-increasing quality borne in part of the sheer frequency of and commitment to contact. (One wants to spend as much time as possible with those one truly loves.)
The same debates have been had in the running community for years: quality or quantity? And the answer is: both.
One cannot train for a marathon by running fifty yards for the bus once a day any more than one can run a quality (fast) marathon by never running fast (quality). It's an imperfect analogy, but you get the idea. -ed.]
By: archangel on October 28, 2009
at 10:42 am
Thank you. I found reading was my ‘escape’ from life, yet I should run to Jesus, not run to entertainment and frivolity. I have found it’s true that I need to be girded for spiritual battle, and to do this I must be in the word and in prayer. Fasting and prayer break strongholds. Watching sitcoms dulls the spirit. I love your blog, by the way <: and have been following you for about six months now.
[Thanks, Francie. Re. reading, you raise an interesting point. It's easy to think of reading as "good" compared to TV, but I've realized recently that I have many "junk" books on my shelves which, if I were to die today, I'd not want my kids to waste their time on.
Not necessarily bad, just not worth the time and not representative of where my priorities are today. I'm thinking of paring down (giving away, tossing, selling) the stuff I wouldn't recommend today in my new Christian "clothes". -ed.]
By: Francie on October 28, 2009
at 10:02 am