“You Can’t Fake Time, You Have To Make Time…” ((DTFD, June 8))

(from “Daily Thoughts for Disciples” by Oswald Chambers, June 8th entry)

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“You, when you pray…” — Matthew 6:6

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“But it is so difficult to get time.”

Of course it is, we have to make time, and that means effort, and effort makes us conscious of the need to reorganize our general ways. It will facilitate matters to remember, even if it humbles us, that we take time to eat our breakfast and our dinner, and so on.

Most of the difficulty in forming a special habit is that we will not discipline ourselves…

You say you cannot get up early in the morning; well, a very good thing to do is to get up in order to prove that you cannot! This does not contradict at all the notion that we must not put earnestness in the place of God; it means that we have to understand that our bodily mechanism is made by God, and that when we are regenerated He does not give us other bodies, we have the same bodies, and therefore the way we use our wits in order to learn a secular thing is the way to learn any spiritual thing.

“You, when you pray…” Begin now.

Taken from Daily Thoughts for Disciples, © 1976, 1994 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd., and used by permission of Discovery House Publishers, Grand Rapids MI 49501. All rights reserved.

[[Some words Chambers uses are not used often today — click [here] to look up difficult words.]]

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Brief commentary:
This is one topic that pierces me every time I hear or read about it; not necessarily in regards to prayer — ironically, prayer is one of the things I find myself doing most! — but generally in regards to any worthwhile and effective spiritual activity, be it reaching out to contact brothers or sisters who are having a rough go in life, getting back in the habit of reading the Bible frequently in leisure moments instead of merely as a “daily duty”, or sitting down each day to read, write and post these devotions.

[This also dovetails well with yesterday’s devotion, titled “Can’t, Or Won’t? Man Up Already!”, regarding standing up to fear and being open to God’s leading.]

It’s all about priorities. We all understand the concept that there are some things that are really important and other things that are passing and, in the grand scheme, worthless and unimportant. To effectively assess and organize priorities, however, takes more than just a quick view of what the items on the list are. You have to look at what those items lead to as well.

For instance, if my daughter comes into my office, where I’m in the middle of preparing a Bible study, and says, “Daddy, Daddy! Look! I learned how to snap my fingers!”, that in and of itself is not an earth-shattering, life or death discovery. However it would be foolish for me to dismiss her with an attitude like “Here I am in the midst of the preparation of the gospel of peace, and you dare interrupt me with such inane and unimportant childishness?! Begone, peasant!!”

Why? Because even in the midst of such “grand scheme” trivial events as learning to snap one’s fingers, my daughters are going to draw a sense of value (both in general and specifically from males in their future, which totally freaks me out) from how I treat those discoveries. To them, at their young ages, even those minor discoveries are still discoveries, and their excitement is genuine. For me to squash that in favor of the “after all, more important” is to tell them that they’re not important at all.

In that light, recognizing that assessing priorities is something that actually takes effort and time — not a 3-minute quick shot before moving on to “more important activities of the day” — should lead a person to weigh things carefully. I know I don’t want my priorities to be wrong; I don’t want to short anyone anything, but rather be as close as I can to dispensing my time, talents and treasure the way God desires. That takes effort on my part.

Anytime we undertake such an endeavor though, we can also be sure that the enemy (both directly and in the form of well-intentioned friends) will be waiting to pound on us no matter what we choose. If we choose to place this time and treasure into family, he’ll be there with condemnation regarding not desiring to do enough for God; if we choose to place those talents and treasure into ministry, he’ll be there again with accusations telling you you don’t even love your family enough to spend that with them.

What’s the formula? If there is a specific one, I don’t know what it is; at this point I’m under the impression that since God has different callings on different people, the formula of how much to this, how much  to that for each believer is going to be different. Don’t get down on yourself if you don’t match up to someone else’s idea of the “perfect balance”. It might be perfect for them, but it may or may not be so for you; that’s where leaning upon the Lord for guidance and discernment is valuable.

If God has entrusted you as a steward over a family (i.e. a spouse and kids), you’re responsible for everything relating to them. Don’t take that lightly, a lesson I admit freely I’m still learning. Be careful what you trade away in relation to them; time is a very finite resource, and when soberly assessed, more valuable than anything else you can acquire. Your bills still need to be paid. Your home church still needs what you bring to the fellowship when they gather together. Your friends and family still love to see you and share meals together. But if you can’t take care of the most precious things He’s put under your charge because you’ve chosen to spend your time and energy elsewhere, nothing else will be able to fix that.

Make time to pray alone. Make time to pray with your kids. Make time to pray with your spouse. Make time to read your Bible alone. Make time to read your Bible together. Make time for fellowship. Make time for snuggle time. Make time for tea parties and Lego construction projects and forts made of bed sheets and plastic army men battles. Make time for giving foot rubs and back massages and candlelight bubble baths and surprise picnic lunches. Make time for all of that and dozens of other things. They all start with “make time” precisely because other things will try — and succeed — to “take time” away from all those things.

“Most of the difficulty in forming a special habit is that we will not discipline ourselves…”. Disciplining yourself simply means make the decision and follow through on it. Follow through. Trustworthy. Integrity. Honesty. It all works together.

Begin now.