It’s Just a Matter of Time

            What is the most common reason people give for not attending church?  No, it’s not disbelief, nor being disgruntled with organized religion.  According to a recent poll, the most common reason for not attending church is we claim we don’t have time.

Do we catch the irony here?  We do not gather to worship the God of eternity because we lack the time.

Maybe if we were eternal like God, we could get around to worship.  I doubt it.  Our problem with time is not the amount we have, but how we use it.  It’s a priority issue.  If we had more time, we would simply expend it on our next prioritized interest. If this happens not to be God, we would still not have enough time for Him.

A pastor friend of mine once challenged the families of his church to take the spiritual nurture of their children more seriously.  He suggested that as parents, they should be spending time with their kids, reading the Bible, praying, etc.  A week later, he was approached by one of the ladies from the congregation who informed him that she and a number of other ladies were discussing his suggestions around the swimming pool at their local country club, and they had come to the conclusion that they just did not have the time to provide spiritual training for their kids.  The pastor was amazed that these women had not seen the contradiction in their conclusion.

Finding time to worship God requires making Him a higher priority in our life.  You know, raising him above lounging at the pool, sleeping in on Sunday, recovering from Saturday night’s partying, watching the pre-game shows, reading the Sunday newspaper, or mowing the lawn.

But rearranging priorities can be challenging. It deals more with perceived value than time allotment.  We normally do what we feel benefits us most at any given moment.  But how do we know if our present interests are our best interest?  This subjective call is what gets us into trouble.

So, here’s a suggestion.  Why not allow the God of eternity to determine our priorities.  I could be wrong, but it would seem that the one, who rules over time, might have some helpful insights in how to use it appropriately.  In this we will discover a second twist of irony – God, whom we have no time for, always has time for us.  Not just because He has unlimited amounts of it, but because He has the right priorities.

Pastor Mark