I am not telling you anything new here, but our world has become a hectic place where we are expected to be constantly busy. I am old enough to remember days without computers on every desk. There were no fax machines or even decent copy machines. If you were not in the office or your house when the phone rang, you did not know someone was trying to reach you. (You may think I had to avoid being stepped on by dinosaurs, but I don’t go back quite that far!) As these “conveniences” began to appear, we were told that our lives were going to be simplified. All these things would save time and we could anticipate our workday being shortened and our productivity increased.
This was not the result. In fact, the onset of these tools brought an increase in our business. I now carry a device around with me where I can be accessed in a variety of ways, every moment of every day. I was recently in a conversation with a man who had awakened that morning to 150 text messages that had come in through the night.
Added to this is the expectation of society to be involved, or have our kids involved in activities that will “round out their development”. My wife and I spent many nights at the baseball diamonds eating cold hotdogs from the concession stand. Sometimes running between fields to watch two kids at the same time. Then there were the piano and guitar lessons, gymnastics, marching band, show choir, working the concession stands, etc. Around all this activity, we still had our own “extra-curricular” pursuits.
Here is the point. As men who are pursuing to be passionate disciples of Christ, we are called to be involved in the lives of others. Do we put any margins in our lives that God could use for this purpose? When the Church was getting started in Acts 2, this is what it looked like. All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.
Church was an everyday event. Not sitting in Bible studies and worship services, but actively caring for each other. No one had a need because they loved each other enough to assure those needs were met. In our business, we often do not take the time to know other believers well enough to see their needs. And to admit we have a need we need help with is often considered a weakness. This leaves us with a gap in what it means to be a fully devoted follower of Christ.
The solution we have adopted is to give money to the problem. This is wonderful and God honoring. The Deacons at Murray Church manage a benevolent fund to help those inside and sometimes outside the church. This fund is always well financed, and God is honored by it. Although we can receive God’s favor in giving of our monies, there is an additional blessing to be received in offering our time. You may not be aware of the recipient of benevolent funds. However, when we give our time to someone in hands on service, we can enjoy the fruit of our gift as we see a project completed and can witness the joy of those who received our help.
To be able to serve God be serving others requires two things. First, we must develop a genuine love for people that will encourage us to sacrifice our time for them. Sincere love is not an emotion but involves hands on care. We need to serve people to learn to love them. This will never happen unless we consciously determine to offer God the second expectation. This is to purposely leave enough margin in our schedule to act on the opportunities that God presents. Giving God some of our time to serve others brings blessing to us and honor to him.