The to-do list is long—it’s always long—and the day only has so many hours. If we want to maximise our time on this planet, we have to prioritise. We can’t do everything, and it’s important to “make the most of every opportunity”, as the apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:16. But what does this mean? How does it look?
For a Christian, one of the most effective uses of our time is an activity that looks to most people—and maybe quite often to ourselves—like one of the most inefficient. And yet, if we really believe what we say we believe, and if we really trust our Saviour to guide us, then it is indispensable:
Prayer.
Prayer looks inefficient. There’s no getting around that. Spending time bringing our praise and thanks and needs to God feels like a delay. After an hour of prayer, you still won’t be able to tick any items off your list, or progress your agenda for the day. Then again, is your agenda really as good as the plans and promises of your Creator? Will a whole day—or a year, or a decade, or even a whole lifetime of effort and strain with your own little arms and mind and powers—be able to accomplish even a tiny fraction of what the Maker of heaven and earth can do with just one simple command? No. He tells us he loves to answer the requests of his children. He invites us to come before his throne of grace and promises to act on behalf of those who trust him and wait for his salvation. When you think about it that way, there is nothing in the whole world as powerful as bringing our needs, our desires, and ourselves to the One who alone can change everything. If prayer looks inefficient to us, it’s only because we’ve forgotten how small we are, and how big God is.
If you skip time with God and dive straight into your list today, you might get more done in the time and strength that you have. The question is: more of what? Jesus said in John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Nothing that really lasts, anyway. Nothing that ultimately matters. Of course you can do things—the world is always busy, doing things. So many things! And most of those things fade away, quickly or slowly, and most of those things end up being as limited as the people who did them, as finite and bound to time and decay as mortal humanity. But Jesus invites us to join his work—to receive his life, like a branch in a vine, and overflow with it, bearing the fruit that can only come from his power, remaking us from the inside out and remaking the world from the bottom to the top. If you’re a branch, staying close to the vine is never a waste of time. It’s the only way to bear fruit.
“Prayer does not fit us for the greater works; prayer is the greater work.” – Oswald Chambers
This article was originally published at sethlewis.ie