Anyone who knows me will be aware I like to plan things, I like to be organised and most of all I like to be punctual. Some people may criticise me over this, some may joke about it and say I have OCD...but it comes back to the fact that time so valuable and we must make the most of the time we have! You actually hear that all the time...we must not waste our lives...for we are only here for a short time...so again we must be organised and not waste the time we have got!
So then how do you spend that free time you have? Do you spend it watching TV? Doing some form of exercise? Reading? Or do you give that time to others? When you think about how little time we have...you could almost use that as an excuse to do your own thing whenever you get the opportunity.
But thats not how we are called to live our lives. For it says in Philippians 2:4-5 the following -
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ JesusWe are called to value others above ourselves, to put the needs of other above ourselves. On the surface, it may sound easy, but when you reflect on how little time we have for ourselves...it does appear a lot harder.
But does that make it justified to reject others when they are in need? If someone needs your help, they are in trouble, or they simply need your skills to assist them...would you be there for them? I think most people would say a definite yes.
But what about under simpler circumstances...just spending time with another person, talking with that person, listening to that person. Do we get wrapped up in the busyness of life, that at times we dont stop and give people the time of day?
There is a friend of mine, and this friend is always too busy to meet up. Whenever I contact them to meet, they will tell me there too busy, despite their longing to catchup. Or when we finally find a time that we are both free, I can rest assured that a few hours before our scheduled time to meet I will get a message stating that they cannot make it for some reason or another. Putting yourself in this situation, it is not a good feeling. Is there time more valuable than your own?
But then when I continued to reflect on this...I realised that there are times that I am guilty of similiar things. One example of this is with an elderly man in the gym I go to. This man is one of the kindest people I know, he always stops to have a chat to me, he is always interested in what has been going on in my life. He will ask me questions about my job, about my workouts and even my non-existent love life. But no matter what time of the day...he enjoys taking the time to chat to me! But there are times when Im in a hurry, rushing to my next appointment, that I dont just stop and give this man the time he deserves. Is my time more precious than his? Is my time more valuable? Of course not!
But this is also true with God. How much quality time do you give God? God is no different to us...He longs for relationship with us...He longs for time with us...because He loves us. That is why God also feels pain when we neglect that relationship. When we make ourselves too busy with the goings on our simple lives. God wants to spend time with us...he wants us to enter his presense.
But you can even think of it another way...has there been times when you have needed a friend...you have called them only to discover they are too busy for you? This must have happened at very least once to all of us. But is there ever a time when we call on the Lord and we get the engaged tone? Is there ever a time that the Lord allows us prayers to go through to the message bank? Do we even consider the possibility that God is busy when we call on Him in our times of need? Of course not!! The very thought is preposterous! But it should highlight one important thing...that being the fact that where others may be unavailable to us in our time of need...our loving Father in Heaven is always with us and never unavailable!
Therefore we must never take the time we have with God for granted, instead we should rejoice in the fact that our Lord and Savior is always with us. In all situations He goes before us. There is one particular verse that I like in relation to this from Psalm 62:6 -
Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.But we must also realise the significance of spending time with others. We know that time is precious and that is why it means so much when someone gives us there time. We must learn to slow down and appreciate the time we have. Ultimately the reason people give their time to you is because they care about you, because you mean something to them! Thinking about that...how can you help but feel moved when someone asks to spend time with you?
I reflect on my time in China on the mission trip. I took a large amount of supplies with me to deliver to the Welfare center, which included toys of various descriptions. But after spending two weeks in China with those beautiful children, I realised that its not the toys that made them smile, its not the specific games we played with them...but instead it was simply the fact that we were giving them our time, we were giving them our attention. The perfect example of this was when we went for our day trip to the zoo. The boy who I was taking care of for the day, FuRui, it turned out he totally disliked animals and was actually quite afraid. But that didnt stop him from smiling...all he wanted was for me to hold his hand. Thats all! Just having me with him for the day...thats all he wanted...and that made him for of joy and happiness.
Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
(Psalm 34:8)
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