There are 86,400 seconds in a day, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, 365 days in a year (with every fourth year getting a bonus day to keep us on track). In a world filled with inequities, time is an equally distributed resource. No matter who you are or where you live on this planet, you get the same amount of time as everyone else on a daily basis.
Now, of course, we all have different demands on our time. If you’re an hourly worker, you better be at work when you’re scheduled. If you have children in your home, you get the joy of juggling all of their activities in addition to your other work and life commitments. If you’re retired, well, you have all the time in the world! (But I know some of our retired folks volunteer so much that they have lots of demands on their time too, and many of you are busier than those of us still working and raising families.)
I really resonated with today’s question because it is something that I believe we all wrestle with. It’s also something that is broadly applicable to life no matter what season you’re in. Today’s question is: What’s the best way to follow Christ even if I feel like I have no time?
To answer this question, I’m going to dig into both scriptures we heard this morning and make connections between those and how they apply to our lives today. Then, I’ll offer a handful of practical suggestions for ways to start making time to follow Jesus in this crazy, busy world.
Today we heard from two of the central texts of the Bible. The second reading is part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, and the first is known as the “shema,” which is the first word of verse 4 and means “hear.” It’s the text Jesus cites as the first and most important commandment. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”
First, I want to point out that the command is to love God, which is something we’ve grown accustomed to, but which was strange for its time. It would have been more typical to obey or fear God, two other things that, yes, we should do, but all of this is couched in our love for God. That’s the requirement. Love. So, I want us to know this very clearly as we get into today’s topic. It’s all about love. Making time and space for God in our lives isn’t about “doing the right thing” or about how God judges us for how we aren’t always faithful. No, it’s about how we respond in love to the work of God in our lives and in the world.
It is because we love God that we should give our time and attention to our walk with God. Imagine with me that time you fell in love with someone. Didn’t you want to spend time with that person? Didn’t you want to give good attention to them? Didn’t you arrange your schedule so that you could do things with and for them? While we aren’t dating God, there is a similar principle at play here. When we love someone, we find ways to orient our lives around the one we love. When we don’t, the relationship dims; our desire for and knowledge of the other lessens.
So, our passage from Deuteronomy gives some practical words for how to orient our lives around loving God. It continues, “Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Now, there were those who took this literally, like the Pharisees, who would actually bind scriptures to their arms and wear phylacteries on their heads for morning prayers as a physical reminder of keeping the law. Many Jewish households would also have mezuzahs by their doors that contain the words of the shema — more on that later.
The ask for us isn’t to do this exactly, but to take what is at the heart of this seriously. In essence, this is what Deuteronomy is telling us: Surround yourself with faith; don’t cordon it off to a particular time and place. It should be as much a part of your life as walking and breathing.
Back in 17th century France a man entered a monastery and received the name Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection. At age 18, prior to taking religious orders, Brother Lawrence had a remarkable spiritual awakening. A biographer recounts it this way, “God blessed him with an unusual and remarkable measure of his grace. One winter’s day he saw a tree stripped of its leaves, and considered that sometime afterward these leaves would appear again, followed by flowers and fruit. He then received a lofty awareness of the providence and power of God that never left him. This awareness caused him to become entirely detached from the world and gave him such love for God that he could not say whether it had increased during the more than forty years since he had received this gift.”
So, he entered into his monastic life and there he spent much of his time in the kitchen, among the pots and pans. It was a space he didn’t particularly like. In his early days in the monastery, he struggled to pray like the others. They would pray following a schedule, and he just couldn’t make that work for him. He solved this by developing the habit of continual conversation with God. Whatever he was doing — cooking, cleaning, praying, walking — it was his practice to focus his heart and mind on God, “thanking Him, praising Him, and asking for His grace to do whatever had to be done.”
My point here is not that we should all take religious vows and leave the world in order to give time to God. Some are called to do that, but most are not. Rather, my point here is that Brother Lawrence offers us a beautiful example of what it means to surround ourselves with who God is even in the most routine of activities. We can practice the presence of God everywhere — at the store, on the sidelines of another match (instead of yelling at the ref!), on a walk, when we encounter an old friend, when we receive hard news. Everywhere. That’s the great thing about this way of practicing faith — it does not require any additional time. It’s just part of who we are, wherever we are.
So, the first advice I have to following Christ when you feel like you have no time is to allow faith to permeate every aspect of your life, to practice the presence of God in all that you think, say, and do. While you’re at work or play also have the ways of God on your heart and mind.
The second way to think about this connects to Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 6. There, Jesus addresses our inclination to worry. Worry stems from our very real fears that what we have isn’t enough to get by. That fear connects on its most basic level in worry about shelter, food, and clothing, but it also spreads further into spaces like not having the emotional strength to address a hard situation or not having the courage to step forward in faith. I know that I’ve always found tremendous comfort in Jesus’ teaching, particularly his promise that God is taking care of us, just like God clothes the lilies of the field and feeds the birds of the air.
At the root of our worry — particularly about how it seems like we don’t have enough time — is the question, Why do we do what we do? That is, why do we shape our schedules the way we do? Is it out of love of God, self, and neighbor? Is it out of expectations that we place on ourselves or that others have placed on us? Are we simply stuck on the treadmill and have no idea how to get off?
So, my second piece of advice comes straight from Jesus. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. He tells us that when we live with our priorities straight — putting God’s kingdom first — then everything else that occupies our time will get in line.
Seeking first is both creating an environment for faith and also carving out dedicated time and space for it. So, on the one hand, we continue in the vein of Brother Lawrence and how he learned to practice the presence of God even while clattering away in the kitchen. (And, by the way, Brother Lawrence observed that, “Worrying only serves to distract the mind rather than call it back to God,” so there’s that.) But, on the other hand, it is essential to commit dedicated time and space to deepen our walk with God. Think of it this way — just because you sing in the shower every day does not mean you’re on your way to singing at Carnegie Hall. No, if you want to move ahead, you better set aside time for practice and lessons, right?
To put this another way, even Jesus needed time set apart to stay connected to the Father. In Mark’s gospel, Jesus goes off by himself to pray. He does so as his ministry is beginning, setting aside the demands of his world-changing ministry to pray. He does it again after the miraculous feeding of the 5000, sending his disciples out on a boat while he went off by himself to pray. He stops for prayer again at the end, falling to his knees at Gethsemane, seeking God’s will as he faced his darkest night.
Since Jesus needed to set apart time for prayer, I should think it imperative that those of us trying to follow Jesus should do the same.
There’s a story in the gospels about a man who comes to Jesus with one of the most important questions any of us will ever ask. “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”. Jesus reminds him of some of the commandments — don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, and so on. This man has been faithful in observing these things, but Jesus sees what is holding him back. He’s rich, and so he’s in this place where he can rely on his wealth to carry him from day to day. It’s the one thing holding him back from fully trusting Jesus with his life. And Jesus calls him on it, and the man walks away saddened because he’s not sure he’s ready to trust God with everything. And this is not merely a story about riches. It’s a story about priorities. The priority must be seeking first the kingdom of God.
So, what are the things that keep us from fully relying on God? I’m convinced that our lack of time — remember, it’s an equally distributed resource — is most often due to our priorities getting mixed up. When I say this, please don’t hear judgment. We all struggle with this. What I want you to hear is the hope that tomorrow can be different from today, but to make it different, we have to be intentional about how we live, even while we have to be gracious to ourselves and others in this crazy, busy world that consumes time faster than any other resource!
I promised to offer a few practical suggestions for how to devote time to following Jesus, even when it seems like we have no time. These suggestions will not be exhaustive because there are always other good ways to make time for Jesus and because, to be honest, what has worked for me may not be a match for you. I offer these to you in kindness, compassion, and hope, desiring that you might find at least one foothold in your life to deepen faith.
First, find ways to have reminders of faith around you. I mentioned earlier about the mezuzahs that are hung on the doorposts in Jewish homes. I picked one up when I visited Israel, and it hangs on the doorpost of my office. When I’m doing well, I remember to touch it as I pass through my door, and I remind myself of Jesus’ teaching on the greatest commandment — love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength — and its counterpart — love your neighbor as yourself. So, you might consider finding something like a mezuzah to hang in your home or workplace. Another way to handle this is to set a daily alarm on your phone. I know a pastor who sets an alarm for 10:02 a.m. every day to remind him of Luke 10:2, where Jesus says, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” It’s a reminder to pray for God to open doors and hearts to the gospel.
Second, find a friend to share in faith with you. Growing in faith is done far easier in community than it is by yourself. A friend can keep you accountable, can know you, and can pray for you. So, maybe you have a weekly walk scheduled with a friend to talk about what’s bringing you joy or what’s weighing on your heart. Or maybe you meet for coffee. Or you commit to reading Scripture together.
Third, practice keeping a sabbath. I’ve preached on this so much, but I really do think the chief way to hold our schedule in check is to set aside a day each week for an entirely different rhythm of life. It’s a day to lay aside your phone. It’s a day to take that extra long walk on the beach and listen to God. It’s a day to make that extravagant meal that you don’t have enough time to make on the other days.
Fourth, find ways to hear and know scripture. Yes, you do that here, and I am so glad that we have this time and space every Sunday to do so. It’s vital for the soul. But we have so much opportunity to do more with this throughout the week. There are Bible apps. There are apps for devotions. You can listen to the Word of God while exercising. You can come to YogaFaith here at the church for a time to engage your body, mind, and spirit in the Word and prayer. We have more access to God’s Word now than anyone else in human history, so let’s not take it for granted.
Finally, train yourself to see your life and the world as God’s home and a place of purpose for you. You can practice the presence of God anywhere and any time. Live mindfully. Live presently. Be grateful. And do all things for the love of God.