Spiritual Stats

I like to track things in my life: time, money, my LEGO collection. I like to see where I am investing my resources and how and to what ends. One might almost feel like I treat my life with a sort of corporate attitude--I monitor my behavior, attempt to live profitably, and take vacation days. I develop strategies, plan to meet them, and budget accordingly. But, of course, I also leave a great many things unmonitored or untracked, and I began to wonder about some of them. Granted, I do not plan to ever begin cataloguing this type of minutae, but I think it was food for thought.

I wonder how much time I spent in prayer over the course of my life. Is it more time than I've spent gossiping or overhearing gossip and doing nothing about it? How bout time I've spent chattering about nonsense?

I wonder how much time I've spent on listening to preaching. Is it more time than I've spent watching movies or TV?

I wonder how much time I've spent reading the Bible and spiritually valuable texts versus how much time I've spent reading comics or graphic novels.

I wonder how much time I've spent in actual service to others. Was it more than the time I spent shopping? How bout the time playing video games?

Ah, one may say, the time is irrelevant. The quality of the time is what matters. What good is reading a Bible without musing on it after, or praying for selfish things, or listening to preaching and doing nothing about it?  Tis not the time but the integrity of the time that matters." In one sense I would agree with them. That's a fine point.

But my point is this: either way I slice it, whether I consider the quantity or the quality of the time, I am still convicted. When I think about these things, something becomes quite clear. On a ledger, anyway, my life would look typically Western, if not wholly worldly--not "in the world" but "of the world". Fortunately, I don't believe God works on such a scale (which is probably the best reason to consider it irrelevant). Jesus Christ covers over all sins and shortcomings before God for those who believe. When God sees one redeemed and justified by the blood of Christ, he sees one with Christ's stats.

And Because of that fact, I think the ledgers do matter or, at the very least, are worth further consideration. If God sees me as pure and pursuing righteousness because of Christ's righteousness, should I not want to use more of my time to pursue God rather than earthly pleasures? Just food for thought (and I need to take a big bite, I think).