I am still learning, but there are certain mistakes I make over and over. Maybe they aren’t “mistakes” in the true sense of the word, maybe they are more like bad thinking modes, or faulty beliefs that I continue to make decisions from that create problems for me. One of them that trips me up again and again is what I spend my time on. It is easy to think that if I spend more time on the organization I am responsible for, that it will be better. If I really work on my leadership and goals and strategy, people will follow in droves. If I spend more time on the articles or messages I write and prepare, they will become the next “must reads”. So it is easy for me to do one more thing, to change a couple of words out, to remove one illustration for a better one, and to put way more time into something that I need to, all to maximize my return on investment (ROI). None of that is bad, but when it becomes the thing that drives me, it winds up being a bumpy ride! In fact, producing good work product and making things the best you can is important, but there is a point when the increased good we get for the time we spend working on something decreases exponentially. And when our focus is trying to build up a business, make more money, develop our career, or when we are driven to be “successful” and that means we will do whatever it takes to put in the work to arrive at some destination that someone somewhere along the lines says is the finish line, we are way, way off. And I have found myself doing just these things again and again over the span of my life, as I am sure you have as well.
On the other hand, there are times I don’t pay attention to what is consuming my time and wind up embarrassed at my screen time usage at the end of the week. It drives me crazy too because non-productive time seems like a misuse of the precious resources I have at my disposal. I could have learned several foreign languages by now if I would have made a habit to only open my Babbel app instead of my Call of Duty app, but one is a heck of a lot more fun for me. I find myself reading a text, and habitually, almost mindlessly, switching to Instagram and purposelessly scrolling when I know I have better things to do. So there is a war over how I invest my time; one side uses it to maximize work or get the most out of the time, the other side blows through it like there is no end in sight. Each and every day I feel the battle; some days I check emails late into the evening, answer texts, research ideas. Other days I doom-scroll, play games with no eternal value, spend way too much researching my next purchase.
Each and every day can become a battle for how we spend or waste time
God is teaching me something about this from an unlikely parable He told when while teaching the disciples and onlookers. Here is what He said: “A man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. (Matthew 25:14–27, ESV)
The rewards don’t come based on how much time these servants work or don’t work, neither was the punishment. And although what they started out with was based on their abilities, the rewards and punishment aren’t based on ability either. The rewards were entirely based on investing the Master’s resources, and the punishment based on unwillingness to invest the Master’s resources. Look how the faithful servants invested the Master’s resources; we aren’t told what they invested them in, just that they had invested them, and when they did they paid off. So if their reward was based on their investing the Master’s resources, and the punishment was based on one not ignoring, even burying the Master’s resources, what we do with the Master’s resources matters!
This parable can be seen in a variety of ways, but it isn’t about an elevated work ethic, or even about laziness, it goes deeper than all that. We weren’t told the faithful servants toiled, worked overtime, or stressed about how to make the Master’s investment grow, just that they went and traded and made more. It doesn’t appear they were breaking their backs, taking precious time away from their families, or trying to maximize their ROI. It just shows that they did what they could with the resources they were given and those resources brought increase, which was returned to the Master anyway. The wicked servant is chastised because he didn’t even invest the Talent at all, not even to receive interest, the lowest return possible.
God has resources available for you, not just wise principles for living, although those are great, but actual things that we can invest in the world around us. He provides His resources through His Word and His Spirit, and gives them to us to invest in the world around us. When we invest those resources in our normal everyday lives, at work or during leisure times, incredible things are produced. For sure it includes financial resources like in the parable, but there are things way more important than just those; we read about the hope of the gospel, then we offer to others the hope He offers us, and hope grows more hope. When we see Jesus in the scripture loving the unloved, we are challenged to love our neighbors, strangers, and the misunderstood, and love is multiplied. When we see forgiveness being lived out in the Bible, we start seeing the offense against us as opportunities to offer forgiveness for, and forgiveness changes the environment of relationship fostering deeper connection.
Instead of focusing on what I am spending time on, thinking about how I spend that time is more important.
God has been showing me that investing in His Word, spending time in prayer, and being more attentive to His Spirit is what really matters, and what has truly provided incredible richness in my daily life. From that investment, I carry with me all the resources He has to offer into the encounters I have with people throughout the day. I carry the wisdom and discernment to make better decisions that will bless Him, me, and the people around me. I get to see how trusting His principles makes a drastic difference in my life, and the world around me.
Start by going to Him for the beautiful resources He offers; read His Word daily, pray often, and listen to the promptings from His Spirit as you go.
Then invest what He gives you in the world around you; and watch how it builds, grows, and multiplies!
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