I enjoy finding things secular writers write which are applicable to our Christian journey. It proves Jesus can use anyone at any time to speak to us. Seth Godin recently wrote, “It is possible to spend your entire day moving towards something you seek. Alternatively, you can spend your time running away.” This is true in our Christian walk. We can spend each day in determined and intentional pursuit of Christ, or we can fill it with trivial distractions and run away from Him.
We choose how we will spend each minute, every hour, and every day. No one controls our time except for us. We make the decisions. We choose whether we will spend the next moment thinking of God or thinking of ourselves. We choose what we will look at, listen to, and the activity of our hands.
It’s important to recognize the principle of compound interest is in effect regarding how we spend our time. Sometimes it’s hard to recognize the importance of a momentary distraction. But just as saving a little bit of money consistently will over time build a great fortune, so it is with our time. Choosing to spend time with God consistently, even for only a few moments, will compound over time into a relationship we could never have imagined. The converse is true as well. Choosing to ignore Jesus and sped time chasing our own pursuits will also compound over time, to the point we may wonder why we are no more mature in God today than we were twenty years ago. You can’t get those wasted years back, so the only defense is to not squander them in the first place.
As disciples of Jesus, He should be the only One we seek. Growing to look more like Him should be our overriding desire. Nothing can be more important than serving and following Him. Are we spending our days running after Jesus? If we aren’t running towards Him, we are running away from Him. Jesus said we will either be for Him or against Him (Matthew 12:30). We can’t have it both ways, and we can’t straddle the fence between commitment to God and living for ourselves.
To spend the day running away from Jesus is to waste twenty-four hours of the precious time allotted to us in this life. It is to squander an unrenewable resource. Wasting time always comes with a dose of regret. We know we could and should be doing something else. We could and should be doing more for His Kingdom. Once the time has passed, we will never have the opportunity we missed again. We’ve got to seize each moment as it comes, or we will miss it.
Are you spending your days running toward Christ or running away from Him and toward something you find more valuable? Only Jesus is worthy of our time and attention. Nothing else in this life compares to His unsurpassable beauty and love. We are being far too careless with the time entrusted to us. The choice is ours, right here and right now. Will you spend your time running to or away from Jesus?