How’s everyone spending their time these days?
According to the annual “American Time Use Survey,” the answer to that question might be summed up in three words: not very wisely.
Despite differences in health, income, age and opportunity, time remains a predictable and equal constant across the world. We all receive the same amount each week: 168 hours, to be exact.
Data just in from 2023 reveals Americans are sleeping nine hours per day. Those who work full-time are doing so between seven and nine hours.
That leaves a considerable chunk of time for everything else.
“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us,” wrote J.R.R. Tolkien.
And that is where the great challenge and opportunities begin.
Women spend slightly more time than men on household chores each day (2.7 hours to 2.1 hours), and men spend slightly more time than women when it comes to leisure and sporting activities (5.6 hours versus 4.8 hours). Not surprisingly, women are more likely to serve as the primary caregiver for children.
The decline of the centrality of faith in the culture has been well documented, along with dropping church attendance and a corresponding lack of time for personal worship and Bible reading. But it becomes especially acute and shocking when you see how that disinterest translates and contrasts with how people are otherwise spending the hours and minutes God is gifting them.
The survey revealed that Americans spend 63 times more time watching television than worshiping at church or at home, or even reading their Bible.
Television has long been a wasteland for the bored and the aimless. Not to say it’s harmful to watch the occasional program, but it’s what we’re not doing when we passively plunk ourselves down in front of the big screen.
Imagine the transformation and revival that would come to the world if instead of watching television, Christians spent a large portion of that time talking with the Lord, reading His Word – and then going out in the world to live out their calling.
In raw numbers, Americans spend just 3.6 minutes a day engaged in some religious practice – a low number driven by how few people go to church at all, let alone weekly or read their Bible on a daily basis.
The contrasting time allocation is even more stunning when you consider those surveyed last year report they spent four times as much time caring for their pet each day than they did worshiping or talking with God.
To be fair, even faithful Christians can struggle with establishing a disciplined and regular prayer life.
Max Lucado, the beloved pastor and bestselling author has written prolifically about the benefits of daily time with the Lord – and yet he’s admitted it’s sometimes easier said than done.
“About four days a week, I do pretty good at having a morning prayer time,” he’s said. “But even at that, it’s a rambling sort of thing. What I have learned to do better is to try to keep my mind turned toward God and ear inclined toward God throughout the day, and I think I’m doing better at that, but I’ve got a long way to go.”
Reverend Lucado is advocating for cultivating a Christian worldview that looks at everything thru God’s lens. I knew a pastor who used to say at the concluding prayer each Sunday, “The service never ends – go out and continue to worship as you work!”
The Reverend Richard Halverson offered a similar charge each Sunday. A longtime pastor who also served as chaplain of the United States Senate, he ended each service with this blessing:
You go nowhere by accident.
Wherever you go, God is sending you.
Wherever you are, God has put you there.
God has a purpose in your being there.
Christ lives in you and has something he wants to do through you where you are.
Believe this and go in the grace and love and power of Jesus Christ.
So, put down the remote, pick up your Bible, and put God’s Words into practice.
That will prove to be the very best use of your time.
Original Image from Getty.
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