For 34 years Bill and I made special arrangements, at significant cost and entailing a lot of time to be with our AU Tigers and other fan-friends tailgating in sunshine and rain on Saturdays week after week…..My Daddy used to say that we spent our Saturdays with 80,000 of our “very best friends…. “ We were devoted followers of our teams.
A few weeks ago a pastor asked how many of us make even a modestly comparable effort to be in church on Sunday. Do we slip in after services begin, start glancing at our watches or phones if it runs 5 minutes over the allocated hour (although we will sit through long games and 3 overtimes for our sport team!) Do we dart out to get to a restaurant or home ahead of other churches’ traffic?Or to catch a sports event or a favorite show on TV?
To whom or what are we truly devoted? Are we honoring the Lord Our God as an afterthought or out of duty to tradition or family? How sincere is our desire to be in the presence of the Lord Our God and our brothers and sisters in Christ? If we ran an analysis of our use of time in a 24/7 week, including every activity accounted for the entire 168 hours, what percent of our DISCRETIONARY TIME (not including the necessities like sleeping, eating, dressing, commuting, on the work clock, etc.) do we actually spend engaging with God and His people through worship, prayer, study, fellowship, holy conversations, etc.? Compared to entertainment, sports, recreation, hobbies, other activities? If it’s not 10% of your discretionary time, you are likely spending very little time in growing in Christian faith and in intimacy with God. I have a worksheet I have used to challenge my discipleship students in that analysis. How much time did Jesus’ disciples spend with Him? Are you a disciple, a follower, or merely a disengaged believer for whom the Lord Our God is an incidental encounter in your week? 7/27/25)
