A new book, called Time for Life, has recently claimed that the average American has 40 hours of leisure time a week. The authors, John Robinson and Geoffrey Godbey, studied 10,000 people who kept detailed hour-by-hour diaries of how they spent their time (Dallas Morning News, 6-5-97, 3A).
Of the 40 hours of leisure time, over one-third of it was taken up by watching television (15 hours). Even watching a couple of movies a week and spending an hour the other days only adds up to nine hours a week. Considering the ungodly and immoral jokes on sitcoms, the corrupt language and sexual content of the dramas, as well as the overall poor quality, ten hours a week seems like more than enough time to spend in this endeavor.
The average American spends less than three hours a week reading. Presumably, that figure includes newspapers, magazines, and novels. This figure really vexes those of us who wish we had ten or twelve hours a day to read for information and entertainment. There is so much that is lost from the novel to the screen; after all, a character can only look perplexed for so long on the screen, but the psychological conflict (and numerous considerations) can be expressed much better on the printed page.
So how much leisure time is spent doing something religious? The average person spends less than one hour per week. Evidently, that includes worshipping, Bible study, Bible reading and meditation, reading important religious materials (such as the book recommended on page one), praying, evangelism, etc.
Of course, Christians probably spend six to ten hours a week at least (which does not qualify as 10% percent of even our waking hours). For every person who spends ten hours a week on religion, there are nine persons who spend no time whatsoever, which explains much about the current state of this nation.
How are we using our time, brethren? We sing about “God’s golden moments”; what are we doing with them? The amount of time we have this side of eternity is indeed limited; will we be able to give a good account of our usage of our leisure time on the day of judgment?
“So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Ps. 90:12).
“See that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Eph. 5:15-17).
*Send comments or questions concerning this article to Gary Summers. Please refer to this article as: “FREE TIME (6/30/97).”