GOD - OUR FORETHOUGHT OR AFTERTHOUGHT?

So Much To Do, So Little Time

Whenever I visit my sister in Perth, it always feels to me that the locals have much more time on hand to plan their schedule. People generally have shorter working hours, which gives them the luxury of time to do a grocery run after work to get ingredients to whip up the night’s dinner; not forgetting the blessing of cars to get them from place to place, significantly reducing their travelling time.

On the other hand, in a fast-paced and highly competitive society like Singapore, we always feel like we do not have enough time to do anything because we tend to spend such long hours at work or at school! And as a country where most residents rely heavily on public transportation, we spend a significant amount of time commuting from place to place, leaving us little time to do whatever we want to do.

I don’t know about you, but it takes me about 2 hours in total to travel to and from work via the MRT. By the time I get back home from work, it’s almost 7.30pm. This leaves me with 4 hours to have dinner (thankful to my mum for the home-cooked meal), shower, squeeze in time for Church work, and wind down a little before calling it a night. I have not even talked about setting aside time to keep fit! As a result, my Saturdays are precious times when I get to have my “me” time, and also to catch up on anything that I am falling behind time in (like how I am trying to finish writing this article on a Saturday night, but have failed miserably), while Sundays are generally dedicated to Church. I know for sure that my situation is not the worst, and there are many others who get home from work later than me.

Because we have so much to do but have so little time, how can we spend the 24 hours we have each day wisely? How do we make time for God?

When God is our FIRST THOUGHT

When God is our first thought, we prioritise Him and seek Him in every decision that we make. Matthew 6:33 comes to mind where we seek Him in everything that we do. We plan our schedule around spiritual commitments first (e.g. worship, Bible study, prayers, Bible classes, fellowship activities, spending time with brethren, etc.), while the rest of our responsibilities and obligations will fit around God’s schedule. Do we prioritise worshipping God, serving in His kingdom, devoting ourselves to Bible studies, and spending time with our fellow brethren?

Proverbs 3:5-6 reminds us to always trust in God with all our hearts. If we truly trust in God, we will put Him first in our lives, because we know that all things work together for good, as we are reminded in Romans 8:28.

When God is our AFTERTHOUGHT

When we treat God as an afterthought, we prioritise planning non-spiritual/secular activities (e.g. enrichment/tuition/fitness classes/etc.) first. And with whatever leftover time we have, that’s when we try to squeeze in spiritual commitments that we have time for.

If we often find ourselves saying things like “I can’t attend XXX fellowship because it clashes with my weekly gym/enrichment class” or “I need to leave right after worship as I need to rush off for an enrichment class/workshop”, then perhaps we have been treating God as our afterthought. But is that what God expects from us? Have we dedicated the right amount of time to God? Could we perhaps reschedule these gym/enrichment classes and prioritise attending fellowship and spending time with our fellow brethren instead?

1 Corinthians 10:31 reminds us that our lives as Christians should be one that honour God. Are we really honouring Him if we do not devote our time to Him? Do others see Christ exhibited in us if the only spiritual activity we engage in all week is just Sunday worship?

Have we forgotten how Jesus condemned the scribes and pharisees in Matthew 15:8, where:

These people draw near to Me with their mouth,

And honor Me with their lips,

But their heart is far from Me.

Food for THOUGHT

Have you been treating God as an afterthought? If that’s the case, let’s start by making things right with God and to start putting Him first in our lives. We could start the ball rolling by having fellowship and spending time with faithful brethren to encourage us and keep us in check!

For those who have been striving to seek God first in our lives, you deserve a pat on your back! Let’s continue to encourage those around us to do the same too!

At the end of the day, while there is absolutely nothing wrong in attending those tuition/enrichment/fitness classes that we love (we deserve to keep our bodies healthy and also pursue our hobbies and interests), let’s not forget to include God in our plans first.