Day Eighty-One

BE GENEROUS WITH YOUR TIME

Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

—ROMANS 12:13 NIV

For many years I was a volunteer leader for the college ministry at my church. Each Sunday night after the service ended, we would head to the gym together and eat cereal. Yep, cereal. College students totally dig it. It’s hilarious. My job for a while was to oversee the cereal table.

This was my favorite time of the Sunday-night events. I got to talk to every student and connect with them week after week. As silly as it sounds, this was a big part of my ministry, and I loved it.

Maybe you’re thinking, Okay, Annie . . . but don’t church tithes go toward paying people to oversee the cereal tables?

Yes, church staff members who give all their time to serving in ministry love the ministry, but they do get paychecks so they can live. But you know why I did it? Because this time I’ve been given is not mine. God trusts me to be brave and to be generous with each day He gives me on this planet.

Could I have used the time I usually spent serving cereal to be doing something for my career or getting a mani-pedi? Sure I could. But I want to use God’s time in a way that shows His love to others.

And it brought me so much joy. Giving my time to show hospitality to people in need . . . there’s just no better way I could think of to spend my spare time.

This time I’ve been given it’s not mine.

God exists outside of time. Isn’t that crazy? He doesn’t exist in our little timeline, and the time He’s given us was created by Him and belongs to Him. So, listen, friend: if God’s been generous to you, be brave enough to be selfless and generous with your time.

I know you can.

The enemy wants you to believe that your time is so precious that you need to conserve it to serve yourself. But serving other people, leading a small group, talking to your neighbor, whatever it is—that time is precious and that time is sacred, and God can love people supernaturally when you give them your time.

It’s not easy to give your time to others. I get that. But when uncomfortable situations show up and keep you from doing what you want to do, are you brave enough to be generous with your time, trusting that God has a purpose in it?

BE BRAVE: Take an hour this week and serve someone else.