DEDICATED SERVICE?

DEDICATED SERVICE?
There is not anything in a believers life that does not belong to God. Everything in a believers life should be dedicated to God. The entire life of a Christian should be lived in service to God and ministry to others. In that sense, every Christian is a minister. These are basic facts of the Christian life.

However, I am addressing the issue of DEDICATED SERVICE to God. Here is a crude example of what I am saying.
All computers compute. But some computers are dedicated to specific functions, and they are referred to as DEDICATED COMPUTERS.

All Christians serve God, and each of us should be serving God with our whole life, all the time. We walk in light and love, we resist temptation and turn from sin. We live the exemplary life of Christ daily before our co-workers, neighbors and family. We go about doing good, as Jesus did. We witness to others with our words as well as our lives. This is the life of ministry.

However, most people cannot give every moment of their lives to DEDICATED SERVICE. In other words, specific ministries that are separate from the daily routine of life. Dedicated service is usually a part of body life and part of a corporate effort to serve the Lord and minister to society and fellow believers. This can include music, teaching, administration, helps, evangelism, youth and senior ministries, publishing, office work, property upkeep, writing (and many other ministries as well).

I posted a picture of a calendar. There are 168 hours in a week. All 168 belong to God and should be lived for God. But how much of that time is spent in DEDICATED SERVICE? If we tithe our time (as a starting point) then we will give 16.8 hours a week in dedicated service to God. This can include the time spent in worship, study and other activities (6 hours), but this still leaves 11 hours a week to be invested in DEDICATED SERVICE. (I am not being legalistic about the time, I am trying to make a point).

OK, let's eliminate the hours that are spent in,
Sleeping (56),
Working (40),
Personal care and the transition time at home during the week (5 x 3 = 15).
We all have responsibilities that may take 3 hours a day during the week (15).
Corporate body life, worship, study (6+/-).

This brings us to 132 hours spent each week in basic daily life, leaving thirty six hours for other needs and responsibilities.

Out of those 36 hours, 11 will be used in dedicated service, leaving 25 hours for a variety of other activities and involvements.

OK again, let's not set DEDICATED SERVICE time at 17 hours. But now you see that it is possible. In fact, if you have an active and successful church, you already have people (other than paid staff) who are giving this kind of service to you and to others.

It is possible to spend great amounts of time and still not serve God in spirit and in truth. I am not saying that we can gauge our service to God by the clock or the calendar, but I am saying that if our dedicated service does not occupy a part of our calendar, we probably are not going to have the fullness of life that God wants us to have.

My observation has been that those who give of themselves, from love, are more satisfied and are a greater blessing to their own families than those who guard their time, even if it is in the name of their families. If you don't like my figures, at least try to catch my intention.