Scripture tells us to redeem or make the most of our time, but we rarely think of applying that to anything beyond attending church or church activities or carrying out Christian duties. Each person lives for 525, 600 minutes a year. If we spend approximately eight hours of sleep a day, that cuts 175, 200 minutes from our time that we are conscious. That leaves us with 350, 400 minutes of time that we are awake each year. Each two hour movie a person watches, that takes 120 minutes from that total awakening time. If a person drives to rent a movie or to the movie theatre that cuts even deeper. If a person watches a basketball or football game, that takes out even more time. If we watch one basketball game, one football game, and then one movie a week for a year that will costs us (in round figures) about 600 minutes a week or 31, 200 minutes a year. What if a person has a favorite television program to go along with that? How many minutes would be spent a year on that or on those? What if a person spends a lot of time golfing or whatever? The minutes continue to mount up.
How long does it take to read a trashy novel or something that does no real good? How many minutes of our year are spent in mindless activities and recreational things? This is not to deny that some forms of recreation are necessary, but how much time do we really spend on those? What is our motive in spending time doing recreational activities? How much time do we spend each year traveling to and spending time with extended family and so on? How much spare time do we really have? How much of our time belongs to us and not to God? Instead the whole of our minutes belong to God since He has purchased sinners as His property. Can we say we belong to Christ if we spend more time on the things of the world rather than in pursuit of His glory?
It is hard to imagine what God could do through a person that had all of his or her minutes committed to God. It is hard to imagine what God could do through a church that had most of the people that committed all of their minutes to God. If we took one person and said that a person could stop watching television shows, movies, sports, and would be sure that extended family time was limited to necessary things, what would that look like? If all of that time that was wasted on other things could be spent in specific service to the Lord, each person could perhaps easily save 1500 minutes a week which adds up to something like 78000 minutes a year. If a church had 20 people that would do that, that would be 1,560,000 minutes a year more dedicated to the Lord.
What would happen in one church if the people dedicated 1,500,000 minutes a year more to the Lord? It must be admitted that this is not just a mathematical procedure, but it has to do primarily with the heart. But with all of that being true, what would happen if that many more minutes were committed to spending time with God and carrying out the Great Commission? Jesus told us that if we were not with Him we were against Him (Luke 11:23). Could that be applied to the minutes of our lives? What if He told us that if our minutes were not for Him they would be against Him? It is true that all humanity is divided into those that hate God and those that love God. Do the minutes of these lives show that Christ has redeemed us for His purposes and therefore we are to redeem the time? Can it be true that we as individuals waste so much of our time and it is not devoted to the Lord? Does that show us why churches are so weak in our day? If we are not redeeming the time, have we really denied self and taken up our crosses to follow Christ? Is there one moment in the day that we are not accountable to God for and is there one moment of the day that is not to be given in love for Him?
The people and the church must repent of how it spends its time. Jesus Christ is to be submitted to in how we spend our time and not just in how we hold intellectual views and how we spend Sunday’s and a few minutes each day. With each activity and each choice of how to spend minutes we are choosing and spending for self or for Christ. If we belong to Christ, then our time belongs to Him and we are to use His time wisely and for His glory. We are not called to easy lives, but to seek Him with all of our hearts and loves. We wonder how those older preachers and writers could write so much when they had to use quills and ink. It was because they used all of their time doing the necessary things and seeking the Lord.
God Loves... Himself 
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