Spending time
Thursday, February 09, 2017
You don’t have to be a genius to work out that the world is getting busier –
things that we thought would save us time,
consume it all the more;
things that we thought would make life simpler,
just allow us to cram more in.
In 1953, Ray Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 about a dystopian world where you have to travel above 90km/h so that you can’t see the world around you clearly. It is a blurry, fast-paced society.
Life is imitating art.
We’re forever craving downtime,
craving a chance to escape,
craving a chance to stop and just sit…
on our phones...
mindlessly scrolling.
things that we thought would save us time,
consume it all the more;
things that we thought would make life simpler,
just allow us to cram more in.
In 1953, Ray Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 about a dystopian world where you have to travel above 90km/h so that you can’t see the world around you clearly. It is a blurry, fast-paced society.
Life is imitating art.
We’re forever craving downtime,
craving a chance to escape,
craving a chance to stop and just sit…
on our phones...
mindlessly scrolling.
2000 years ago, Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church to remind them that “the time is short” [1 Cor 7:29] – he didn’t even know the half of it.
How much time do we really have?
How much time do we really have?
There’s a video that has been around for a couple of years, you can watch it above.
You start life with 28,835 jelly beans, one for each day. After sleeping, eating and preparing food,
working, travelling, watching TV,
household chores, bathroom… business,
caring for others, community activities – there’s not much left!
It finishes by asking:
“What are you going to do with this time?
What if you only had half of it?
What if you only had one more day?
What are you going to do today?”
What would I do with today? Well, if it’s a jelly bean, I’m going to eat it.
I think the moral of this video is that life is delicious… or something like that.
Statistically we’ve got 78 years to live, but once we do all the normal things, we’ve only got 9 years left. Maybe Paul was right, maybe the time is short.
But what if we could do more than just work out how to spend our 9 free years...
Imagine what life would feel like if every moment had purpose.
Imagine what you could do.
Imagine that you could. Just. Be.
working, travelling, watching TV,
household chores, bathroom… business,
caring for others, community activities – there’s not much left!
It finishes by asking:
“What are you going to do with this time?
What if you only had half of it?
What if you only had one more day?
What are you going to do today?”
What would I do with today? Well, if it’s a jelly bean, I’m going to eat it.
I think the moral of this video is that life is delicious… or something like that.
Statistically we’ve got 78 years to live, but once we do all the normal things, we’ve only got 9 years left. Maybe Paul was right, maybe the time is short.
But what if we could do more than just work out how to spend our 9 free years...
Imagine what life would feel like if every moment had purpose.
Imagine what you could do.
Imagine that you could. Just. Be.
What if I told you that God could transform the way you spend every moment?
What if God wanted our whole lives,
not just our spare time?
What if God wanted our whole lives,
not just our spare time?
When Paul said the time is short, he wasn't saying that we are running out of time. No, he was declaring that a new way of living is coming and has now come. Have you stopped to notice?
There is a new way to live your life,
not just spend your time.
There is a new way to live your life,
not just spend your time.
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| Photo // David James Photography @davidjames__photography |