No one knows what Judgement Day will look like. I have seen Chick Tracts, which I very much love and appreciate for their direct, evangelistic approach, that portray the Judgement Day as a recounting of our lives on a large movie screen for everyone to see (here). I don’t know if this is right, but I do believe God will reward His children.
Jesus made this clear in a series of parables recounted in Matthew 24 and 25. The Parable of the Talents demonstrates clearly to us that God has given each and every one of His Children a gift – our lives, and that one day, we will be asked to account for what we have done with that life.
Many lessons can be learned from this parable An excellent summary of five of those lessons may be found here. Yet, while I have heard many men of God equate this parable to our gifts and talents, and many more who say this parable clearly teaches us to be good stewards of our money, I have heard few – if any – who apply this parable to our time.
How much time do we spend in service to God? I think this is a legitimate question. I don’t mean how much time do we spend in church (less than one out of three Americans attend church in any given week, and those that do so spend an average one hour there. On the other hand, Americans spend approximately 31 hours a week in front of a television, more if one counts computers and video games.). I mean, how much time do we spend with God daily, including prayer, Bible study, devotions, or church… those sort of things?
There are no surveys to completely answer this question. George Barna reports that only one in three Americans read the Bible at least once a week. Half of Americans read the Bible at least once a month.
The Washington Post (here) claims that most Americans spend around eight minutes a day praying, with Montana spending only about two minutes daily on their knees and Southerners spending about 17 minutes each day praying.
The average church-going Christian in America spends over thirty times more time in front of a TV than in front of a pulpit. Will God point this out to us on Judgement Day? I don’t know, but I do know… I feel… we should be as accountable for our time as we are our money.
If we believe in tithing 10 percent, should we not also give to God 10 percent of our time? This, to me, is a no-brainer.
2.4 hours a day spent in communion with or service to God. “It’s about time” I try this.
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Note: I understand that the common conception of Judgement Day is that only those who never accepted Jesus as their Savior will face Judgement. I use the term generically in this devotion to refer to that day when Christian will exchange their works for a crown.
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