Giving Your Life To What Matters

The Movement Church of San Antonio, James Shupp Lead Pastor

Giving Your Life To What Matters

1. Your Time

If you reach the wonderful age of 80, you will have lived 29,200 days. So what do we do with all that time? Brilliant question! When you factor in the amount we spend sleeping—hopefully a good 8 hours—it comes out to 9,732 of those days. Working a 40 hour week subtracts another 6,933. If you spend 2.5 hours per day doing things like bathing, brushing your teeth, commuting between home and work, and eating, it equals 3,033 days. So it seems that all of our time is already committed, right?

When you add it all up, there are still 9,502 days left. This happens to be your discretionary time. We use this for things like spending time with our spouse, raising a family, texting, Facebook and training to run a marathon. OK, scratch the marathon. Most of us don’t do that.

But what about God? How many days does He get? Let’s say you spend 3 hours per week attending church over an 80 year lifespan. And you never miss once, not even for sickness or playing religious hooky. That would equal 520 days. That’s right, 520 out of a total of 29,200 days.

At The Movement Church of San Antonio, we believe that giving time to God is important. For us, it’s never a mind-numbing, when-will-it-be-over kind of obligation. Time with God and growing His Kingdom equals purpose. It’s the rest that recharges the soul’s batteries. This may sound counterintuitive, but we double-dog dare you to experience this for yourself.


2. Your Talent

Nearly everyone claims to have some kind of talent—“America’s Got Talent” and Miss America claims to have some too. There are talent agencies and talent scouts all across the land. Some people were fortunate enough to grow up in a gifted and talented program. There was a guy on TV years ago whose talent was catching bullets with his teeth. I’m not sure if he’s still around, but sometimes I wonder.

In God’s economy and kingdom, every believer is a member of the body of Christ. Everyone has a unique role to play. For the body to function properly, hands and feet, eyes and ears, muscles and nerves all need to work together. This is where your spiritual gift comes into play. Without it, the body is limited in its capacity to perform. Using your talent to serve God is not just a good idea. It’s a matter of life and death for those who need to see the body of Christ appear in their dark world. Dedicate your talent to God, and His glory will shine through you.


3. Your Treasure

Years ago, Neil Diamond had something important to say about money:

Money talks
But it don’t sing and dance
And it don’t walk
And long as I can have you
Here with me, I’d much rather be
Forever in blue jeans

I really do hope that we can wear blue jeans in heaven, but that’s not really my point. There are so many things more important than money, like “forever.” The Bible says that everyone will live forever somewhere, either in heaven or in hell. Money won’t be of any use then. Gold is so common in heaven that it’s used for pavement. Imagine that.

Why not use your treasure to make a difference right now. The joy is in watching it effect forever today. Money is only a tool. But place it in the right hands and under a powerful vision, and you can see it fix a lot of broken people.

We don’t plead for money. There’s not even a way for non-members of The Movement Church to give online. Before anyone gives to us, we want to tell them the story of what God is doing through us. We trust God to “supply all our needs according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus,” Phil. 4:19.

If you are not giving here, please give somewhere.

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