Longevity runs in my family. The Gramlings have traditionally been blessed with long lives. I never thought that our family was above average until I was researching for one of my past weekend teachings. I discovered that, on average, people live about 75 years. And while that seems like a long time… let’s break that down. That’s around 3900 weeks… 27,000 days… or about 648,000 hours. Now let’s remove the time we spend sleeping (about 1/3 of that if we’re doing it right…). That leaves us with about 112 hours a week that we are awake. Now back in the day, the human race spent 70 of those 112 hours per week productively working. Today is quite different. In fact, due to some productivity improvements through technology, the average work week is 30 hours.
And what do we do with all of that remaining time? The 82 hours that we are awake and active? Would you believe that the biggest part of that time is squandered in front of a flat screen? It’s true. According to statistics, the majority of people passively watch television 4-5 hours per day… and spend many more hours staring at tablets, smartphones, and laptop screens. YouTube logs in billions of views a day… in fact, the average person watches 15 hours of YouTube videos per week.
What are you doing with your life? All of those hours… those ticks of the clock… are you leveraging them to change the world? Or using them to change the channel?
Did you know that Einstein, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Abraham Lincoln, and your hard-working great-grandparents all had the same 24 hours per day… they all had time management issues… and they all had to decide what they were going to do with their time awake.
Some make a difference… other make excuses…all have the same amount of hours per day.
The Bible addresses this issue of time in the parable of the talents. Three servants are given some money by their master to manage for him. Two make more money… while one buries it to keep it safe. Here’s the master’s reply to the one that squandered his chance:
“But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it'" (Matthew 25:26-27, NLT).
The Bible is clear that we are to maximize our time… to see our lives as something given to us by our Creator to invest in His Kingdom and others. To serve the world… to love those that can do nothing for us in return… to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ… and to enjoy those that God has put around us as friends and family.
Maybe it’s time to take a technology fast. Live in the now. Maybe it’s time to stop seeing the world as photo ops for instagram and maximize your minutes for Christ. We’ve got one chance on this side of Heaven to change the world for God. Let’s take today seriously. There will never be another today. Ever. And there will never be another you. Ever. Get out there and seize the chance to shine God’s light into a world that is blanketed with darkness. You’ve got 24 hours… let’s go make a difference.
