Thought for Thursday
And He cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Matthew 26:40
The average person sleeps eight hours a night, which means that one-third of our entire lives are spent in slumber. That is equivalent to 8,333 days in the average person’s lifetime. Although that sounds like a large amount of time, we really do need the sleep, and without it the other two-thirds of our life won’t be very enjoyable. But there is something that is even more important than sleep for the Christian, and that is time in prayer and meditation on the Word of God. How much of our lifetime is spent doing that? If we presume that each Christian spends an hour a day in prayer and Bible study, that will amount to a total of 1041 days out of an average lifetime of 25,000 days. That doesn’t seem like very much when put that way. But even the disciples, Jesus’ closest companions, couldn’t manage that. Do we?
In His hour of greatest need, the Lord Jesus found His disciples sleeping. True, it was late at night, and they had just eaten a feast. But Jesus had already told them that the situation was critical, and He wanted them to watch with Him. But they failed the first hour. And that was a disappointment to Him. Think of all of the disappointments that He has had since then as Christians have taken their 1041 days designated for devotions to Him and used them for something else. What could possibly be more important than spending time in the presence of our Lord?
In addition to sleeping, we also need to eat, that is for sure. Those of us with children know how much of the day we can use up tending to their needs and enjoying their company. Time with our spouse is also extremely important. Our employment takes up a major chunk of our day, and our household and homestead chores are also time consuming. Then there are hours spent attending Assembly meetings, shopping for groceries and other needs, and running the various errands that are all part of life. But even with all of these demands on our time, there is still a substantial chunk of our day that is available to nourish our souls and enjoy our Lord’s company. How do we use that time?
The main reason why Christians find they have so little time for prayer and Bible study is priorities. We always do those things that are the most important to us. And if we find we are missing out on our prayer and Bible time, we simply have not made it a top priority. If it doesn’t get done, it’s not high enough on our list. The best way to make sure we always have time to spend in the presence of our Lord each day is to make it the number one priority. If we have time to check Facebook, emails, and messages but no time for prayer, our priorities are totally wrong.
If spending an hour with our Lord is the most important part of our day, it will happen. -Jim MacIntosh