My day to day schedule right now:
Wake up and spend time with Jesus, go to ministry (manual labor on the property I live) until lunch or a little after, come inside, work out, shower, relax, spend time with the kids if I have time, eat dinner, have time with my team, go to sleep.
Does anyone notice a problem here? The Lord has been showing me the problem with this schedule lately.
My problem is that the orphans/vulnerable children I live with are getting the leftovers of my time after I’ve done what I need to do and what I want to do.
I have the opportunity of a lifetime to invest myself fully into vulnerable children and pour out the love of Jesus over them and I am only giving them my spare time.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m spending time with them every day. I dance, help with homework, talk about school, talk about the boys they like, or talk about Jesus. Fruit comes from this time, but I’m starting to wonder how much more fruit the Lord would produce if I gave more than just my extra time.
Jesus did not sparingly give himself to us. People constantly approached Jesus while he was going somewhere asking Him for things. I’m sure he was busy, I mean he was God, probably a busy guy. But he stopped for these people because he saw an opportunity to love someone. He saw the opportunity to give himself to others.
Matthew 19:13-14
Then the people brought the little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. Jesus said, “let the little children come to me, and so not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When he had placed hands on them, He went from there.
Jesus prioritized people. He prioritized praying for children.
Galatians 6:10 therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Jesus is telling us that the people we encounter need and deserve more than just the extra few minutes we have after we fulfill all of our own personal desires.
Jesus is our number one priority and Jesus says, “let the little children come to me.” So if you’re prioritizing Jesus, prioritizing people is a natural step two.
People may feel noticed when you give them a couple minutes to say hello. But people feel immeasurably loved and seen when you stop your day to listen and love them.
So as Jesus followers, we need to stop throwing our spare couple of minutes at people. We need to let people come to us and welcome them with open arms regardless of the time required.
I fully understand that time is not an easy thing to give. Time costs something in our lives. Jesus so freely gave his life for you and me though. We can give our time to give Jesus to others.
