This week at CATALYST youth, we talked about GENEROSITY—particularly about how we can be generous with the most valuable thing that any of us have or ever will have--- no, it’s not money—it’s TIME! Time is so valuable to us that we get paid by the hour! We often spend money to save time (like avoiding lineups at an amusement park)! Some adults will pay for people to wash their clothes or clean their homes, or do things that they COULD do themselves. People will eat at restaurants and spend more than they would on groceries in a week JUST BECAUSE it saves time and is convenient! People can even become really angry if their time is wasted!
We all have the same amount of time every day! Days can pass by quickly, our time can fill up quickly, and once we spend that hour, DESPITE what AVENGERS: ENDGAME teaches us, we just can’t ever get it back!
My dad recently learned an important lesson about time. He was feeling a bit sick and went to the hospital only to discover that he had a heart attack! They thought it was pretty minor until they ran tests—and they ended up doing a quadruple bypass on him (putting in new tubes so that blood isn’t blocked from getting in/out of your heart). In fact, the doctor said that if he hadn’t gone to the hospital when he did, he could have just DROPPED DEAD at any time!
That’s a pretty scary thing to hear--- and even though teens might not think about it very often, the reality is that WE HAVE NO GUARANTEES how long we have to live. An accident or sickness can happen at any time! Nobody has a guarantee of living for exactly 100 years and in being good health the whole time! Every single day that we have is a gift from God to us! So what are we going to do with that gift?
Psalm 90:12 says, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
This is a prayer that we would remember how precious time is and that we would use our time WISELY—to manage our time well and to spend some of our time on things that REALLY matter. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t play video games or binge-watch Netflix, because it’s super important to relax and unwind and have fun, but IF THAT'S ALL WE DID every night, we might have regrets later on. We might feel that we wasted the time that God gave us. We might feel that we should have invested it more wisely. We might wish that we had spent our time doing things that would have helped others or made our world a better place. Instead of regretting stuff later, it makes A WHOLE LOT OF sense to manage our time well NOW!
This week, I shared from the Bible about two valuable ways that we can spend our time. We looked at a time when two sisters named Mary and Martha invited Jesus over to their house for dinner in Luke 10:38-42.
LOVE GOD WITH YOUR TIME
Martha was angry and annoyed with Mary, but it turns out, Jesus said that she was spending her time wisely. What was she doing? She was listening to his teaching. She was talking to him. She was investing in their friendship.
This reminds us of something really important. The most important thing that any of us can do—the thing that matters more than anything else is that we know Jesus, that we’ve experienced his love and forgiveness, and that we are growing closer to God spiritually!
Jesus, in Matthew 16:26 said, “What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?”
In other words, if you are rich and famous and have everything you ever wanted in life, but are far from God, then all of that other stuff is just empty and meaningless!
We can love God with our time by setting time aside in our schedules to grow in our faith (being a part of CATALYST, singing and listening to worship music, reading the Bible or doing a devotional etc...). Don’t go days, weeks, months or years without investing in your friendship with Jesus!
LOVE OTHERS WITH YOUR TIME!
Martha sometimes gets a bad rap here. She was doing something pretty important. She was doing something that was pretty great! She was showing generosity by spending money on food to prepare an awesome dinner for Jesus who was tired from travelling. She was showing hospitality by turning her home into an AIR BnB for Jesus! She was loving Jesus with her time too!
Of course, the main thing we can learn here is that we can be SUPER BUSY doing all kinds of good things, but if we don’t know and follow Jesus than NONE OF THAT REALLY MATTERS. Knowing God is the most important thing…and then loving others with our time naturally comes from that!
Oftentimes kids or teens might think that because they don’t have a job and don’t have very much money that they can’t really be generous- that generosity is something that only adults can do. But even if they don’t have any money (or very little of it), they can still show GENEROSITY with their time---the most valuable thing they have! We can all be generous with our time by not being too busy to help others (think of the Good Samaritan!). We can be generous with our time by being a help around the house or volunteering in the church or community.
We are encouraged in the Bible to NUMBER OUR DAYS- to think about the time we have, and make wise choices with how we spend our time. Two of the wisest uses of our time is to invest in our friendship with Jesus and to devote some of our time to caring for others.
HOME DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Talk about ways that you (as parents), or as a family, show generosity with your time. Why is it important to you?
2. Talk about how you and your family can be like Mary. Mary hung out with Jesus and listened to his teaching, and Jesus said this was the BEST way she could have spent her time! What are some things that you can do as individuals or as a family to ensure that you're growing in your faith? Is there something new you could start doing?
3. Pray together and thank God for the time he has given you! We are blessed to be alive and every day is a gift! Ask God to help you spend your time wisely and not to neglect carving out time in your schedules to grow closer to God and to make time to help, serve or volunteer in ways that shows others that you care.
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