I recently came across a concept which resonated deeply with me. The thought, in a nutshell, is to realize we never spend money, only time. What a revolutionary way to think! Most of us work jobs where we spend our time in exchange for money. Every dollar we recirculate is the result of the time we spent beforehand. Charles Spezzano was the originator of this philosophy. He said: “People don’t pay for things with money; they pay for them with time.
If you say to yourself, ‘In five years, I’ll have put away enough to buy that vacation house’, then what you are really saying is that the house will cost you five years – one-twelfth of your adult life.” Wow. What if we weighed all our purchases in what they cost us in time? In fact, let’s make it even more personal in how it relates to how we spend our lives for God.
On pondering this concept, John Maxwell presented the following challenge: “Are the tasks on today’s agenda worthy of your life?” Again, let me make it more pertinent and personal: are the tasks on your agenda worthy of your Lord? The things on which we spend our time reveal how much we think of the life given us by our Creator. Our purpose is to bring the Kingdom of God to earth, to make life here as it is in Heaven. As you reflect on your day, did the things on which you spent your time return a good investment for the Kingdom?
Each of us is allotted the same amount of time for the day. We can choose to invest it or to spend it foolishly. Consciously or not, we make this decision with each tick of the clock. I can already hear the screams of objection: “It isn’t feasible to spend every minute of the day in service to God! It doesn’t make sense! I have to eat, earn a living, commute, shower, etc. No one can spend every second of their day building the Kingdom!” I wonder. Do you believe this to be true? If so, it means you believe it’s possible to spend every minute on something other than building His Kingdom. This means we are making the choice to build our kingdom first. I think that’s a dangerous and risky way to live.
At the same time, I understand the difficulty in learning to live each moment for Him. It’s daunting because we’ve spent so many years conditioning ourselves to live for our own selfish needs and desires. For a primer, try reading Brother Lawrence’s “The Practice of the Presence”. He seemed to have figured it out. I’ll be honest; I haven’t gotten this right yet. I’m still striving. I’m still figuring it out. But I know it’s possible to get much closer than I am right now. Learning to spend our time – all our time – in service to Christ is what each of us is called to do. It is God’s will for your life. No matter how often we fail, we must never cease learning to spend our time on what matters most. Namely, serving God, serving others, and bringing glory to the only One worthy of our honor, praise, and worship.