At the beginning of this year’s Lenten season, I’m reminded of my experience during last year’s. Last year, as I contemplated how to celebrate, honor, and practice Lent, I was drawn to Jesus’ teaching about mammon in the Sermon on the Mount.[1]
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6.24, New International Version)
However, the message for me wasn’t about money, but about time. God seemed to be saying, “You cannot serve both God and Time.”[2]
I’m not saying I don’t struggle with mammon. But, if time and money were in a competition for my worship and allegiance, time would absolutely win. Time is something I hold tightly. It’s something I hoard. It’s a valuable commodity because it’s finite. I’m acutely aware of its limited supply, and thus, it’s something I struggle to share or give freely. In short, time had become my master; it was the source of my devotion; it was what I served.
Embedded in the above warning, however, was an invitation. God was inviting me to give up time, to displace it from its first-place position in my life. In the church, we often tell people that giving money (mammon) is a way to release its hold on their lives. I think the same applies to time—give it and you’re less likely to worship it.
My response to God’s invitation: serve weekly at the Poverello House (one of Fresno’s homeless shelters).
Now, as someone who hoards time, weekly felt sufficient. This is what I felt I could realistically give, while still trusting God to manage my other commitments and obligations. However, when I shared this action step with my husband, he encouraged me to stretch a bit more, to open myself up to possibly serving two times a week, trusting that the same Spirit who convicted me to give my time would sustain me in actually giving it.
I was less than thrilled with my husband’s response (I didn’t have enough time to give more time!). Yet, it seemed like sage advice, so I went with it.
My next post will reflect on what I learned.
[1] μαμμωνᾷ is the Greek word behind the word money.
[2] Time is capitalized to capture its idol-like status in my life.