Satan Exposed: Our Time

Call me old-fashioned, but I often wonder what life must have been like in the old farming community, where you worked hard for the first half of the day and then relaxed and enjoyed your community the second half of the day. Maybe my visions are a little idealistic, but I think we've come a long way in filling every spare minute of our days with stuff.

While talking about how Satan steals our treasure, I pointed out how Satan pulls on our heart's lust cord and lures us away to wrap all of our income into payments on "must have" items. It's no surprise, then, to see him doing exactly the same thing with our time. And, just as not all the things we buy are inherently sinful, so the things we spend our time doing are not necessarily sinful either. But the problem comes when all of our time is invested back here in this earth — in Satan's kingdom.

Unlike days gone by, families now need two incomes. And not just a main income and a supplemental income, but two big incomes from two career-driven individuals. We need those incomes to support the payments on all of the toys I spoke of in my last article. We need that money because it provides us security in a very shifty world. We need that money to boost our pride in what we have and what we have done.

And because of all this, the web starts to envelope us. Our money and treasure have all been invested into the lusts of our eyes and the lusts of our flesh. Everything our flesh wants, we must give it. It is our master, after all. And now our time also is invested into making the money necessary for fulfilling those desires. And when we run out of things to buy and have money left over, we use the remainder to feed our pride in what we have. And when we have time left over, we enroll ourselves into activities that also feed our pride in what we have done. And what our kids have done. We don't have to work hard to imagine conversations like this:

Busy Mom 1: "I just don't have time to worry about the homeless and the needy. I work eight hours a day, but then have to pick up Timmy from day care and drop Shelly off at soccer practice. Bill's car broke down, so I have to run him to and from work, too!"

Busy Mom 2: "You think THAT'S bad?! I have four kids to cart around! Band practice, soccer practice, ballet rehearsals, hockey games, marching band, play tryouts, cub scouts, and… Oh! Cub scouts! I forgot to pick up Brad!"

We raise kids we don't even know only to send them out into the world full of credit cards and school debt so they can run in the same rat race that devoured us! We don't tell them to love God and love their neighbor, but to love sports and performances and anything else they can brag about being involved with. And if they stay involved in enough things, then parents have that much more to brag about themselves. Why do we need "Proud parent of _________" bumper stickers if not to brag about our accomplishments as parents? Why don't we see any bumper stickers saying, "Humble, poor parent of a kid who loves and obeys Jesus"? Because humble people don't brag about being humble, and proud people don't brag about being humble either!

I realize that I'm intertwining issues with money and time. But I think the two are so interwoven in our minds. As Satan has convinced us, time is something that can be turned into money with a little work and a tiny bit of cheating or deceiving (or lawsuits or whining and begging). And that money is something that can be turned into monthly payments to get stuff. And stuff allows us to brag about what we have and to take great pleasure in this world. And Satan wins another soul.

Jesus' call concerning time is as shockingly different as his call concerning money. He urges us to not get caught up in useless debates and quarrels, but to invest our time in the lives and well-being of others. He commands us to make disciples — something that demands YEARS of our time — not simply to, "Tell others about Jesus" — which takes only moments. He tells us to train up our children, to always abide (be immersed) in the Word of God, never letting it drift away from our conversation or thoughts. He tells us to chase after righteousness, and to abandon this life, and to teach and encourage one another while it is still Today. Jesus warns us that life is just a fleeting vapor that's here one moment and gone the next, so we must take every advantage of every moment, lest it be lost forever.

Satan's message is all over the world. Enjoy your life! You're going to heaven someday, and you can worry about doing what's right then. And God will give you everything you want! And anyone who tells you to give more time than your Sunday morning is legalistic. Don't listen to him! Devote your life to pleasure, because pleasure is all you have! Consider yourself lucky to have such pleasures! Rack up as many things to brag about as you possibly can! He who has the most toys wins! He who has less than his neighbor is a loser!

Which of these lines do you live by? Do you chase after pleasure because you know life is short? Or do you invest every spare moment into others, knowing that your life is eternal? If we are going to have any effect on the Kingdom of God, we absolutely must break away from the world's mindset. We must be renewed by the Word of God and encouraged daily by the Body of Christ. We must forsake those time-stealing activities that don't profit the Kingdom, whether they're evil or just unprofitable. We must lay our lives down for Jesus if we are ever to really live.