Give Him The Time That Is His Due

18 Jan

“I always arrive late at the office, but I make up for it by leaving early.”  ~ Charles Lamb

Employers have some workers who are pretty impossible to direct.  They come in late on a regular basis, call off sick on a whim, take vacation days unapproved, and, generally, show that they do not value their jobs.  They are hard to direct, hard to motivate, and, in this day and age of HR rules, hard to terminate.  They always seem to do just enough to skate by.  However, everyone in their organization knows that they are not dependable and they will not go to them for anything important or for anything that needs to be accomplished right away.

In my youth, I worked with many such individuals.  They always seemed to have a knack for avoiding work and avoiding supervision.  They never gave 100% to the job.  For that matter, they barely gave 50% to their job.  The only thing to which they gave 100% was their time off.  They could party and celebrate better than anyone else.  That seemed to be their whole priority in life.

Some of us might pride ourselves in giving 100%.  When our employers ask us to do anything, we are right there and ready to produce.  We turn things in on time, if not early.  We motivate others to produce as well.  We pride ourselves in our ability and willingness to see things through to completion.

At the same time, we often slack in our faith.  I cannot tell you how many times I have heard people say, “I need to pray more,” “I need to volunteer somewhere,” or “I need to give back to the Lord.”  There are oodles of people out there who do the “come to work late and leave early” thing when it comes to practicing their faith.  They do not give enough time to the Lord.

I think it starts with the very basics:  they do not pray enough.  If they have no comfortable, connectable relationship with the Lord, they will not be able to accomplish any of their spiritual goals.  They will always find themselves lacking.

We give ourselves over to a lot of things in this life: sports, entertainment, parties, hobbies and the like.  Imagine how much more we would feel fulfilled if we gave ourselves over to the Lord in the same manner that we give to our personal time.

FAITH ACTION:  However you do it — prayer, reflection, service — make sure to give God a healthy portion of your day today.