You will make time for what is important to you. Why don’t people read their Bibles? Why is family time so hard? Why do so many believe they don’t have time for church this week? You have time. The problem is not an issue of time. It’s one of priorities. When you have the right priorities, you seem to have more time to do what is most important.
Where can you find the extra time? Most people can gain more hours with less screen time. The average American spends 10 hours per day in front of a screen, including 5.5 hours on mobile devices. Americans spend about 2.5 hours per day on social media. What more could you do with an extra three, four, or five hours in a day?!
I do not believe the devices themselves are the biggest problem. Our main issue is apathy. Apathy is a sin that expresses itself as restlessness, aimlessness, laziness, and joylessness toward the things of God.
Why do so many people waste away playing video games, mindlessly scrolling on social media, or clicking through pointless YouTube videos? We have not adequately taught what redeeming work looks like. Consider this proverb.
Proverbs 15:19 A lazy person’s way is blocked with briers, but the path of the upright is an open highway. (NLT)
The thorns (or briers) of redeeming work are restlessness and hopelessness. If you are restless, then you’re always chasing something. You tend to overwork on the wrong things. Video games can be exhausting. Social media can drain you. Clicking from one YouTube video to the next is tiresome.
While some are restless, others act from a place of hopelessness. When you feel hopeless, you tend to underwork the right things. You neglect what is good and give up—resigning yourself to do nothing or very little. If the overwork of restlessness is exhausting, then the underwork of hopelessness is defeating. We will cover more on Sunday, but there is a way out of apathy. When we do our work well, the groans of creation become the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 15:58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. (NLT)
God is renewing this world, not destroying it. Your work today will echo in eternity. Your work today has purpose because the gospel gives it purpose.
Onward!