5 Minutes a Day Won'T Cut the Mustard — E.A. Johnston

I remember, years ago, when I was a business man, and I walked by my boss's office, and I saw him standing at his desk, with a sad look on his face. I knocked on his door and asked him if everything was all right.

He told me that he had just returned from being out of town, where he had dropped his daughter off at her new college. He said that, as he stood in her dorm room and hugged her goodbye, he realized he didn't know her, and that's why he was sad.

This came from a man who worked an average 80 hours a week, and he was married to his job. He made a ton of money, but he didn't know his adult daughter. That's a sad story, isn't it, friends? It proves that, if you want a relationship with someone, you need to invest time into that relationship.

Superficial Devotion and Falling Into Sin

Do you agree with me? Now, if that's the case, how in the world can we know Jesus in an intimate love relationship if we only give him five minutes a day? It's morning, and you crack open your Bible and read it a little while and say a few prayers for a few folks, and you ask Jesus for help for your day, and you give him the leftovers of your time, and you wonder why it's so easy to fall on our face in sin.

We cannot tip our hat to him and have a solid walk with him. This is what happened to the believers way back yonder who were members of the church at Ephesus. Jesus commanded these Ephesian believers by acknowledging their hard labor.

The Ephesian Church: Labor Without First Love

In Revelation 2 -2 we read, I know thy works and thy labor. Jesus tells them his eyes had been upon them, he'd been watching them, and he acknowledged that they'd been busy for him. But the risen Lord has a bone of contention between them that they are completely ignorant of.

They were good folks, working hard to serve God, but in the midst of their busyness and activity they forgot something, and that something was a certain someone who rebuked them in verse 4 with the words, nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee.

Because thou hast left thy first love. My boss thought if he slaved away and made millions he could show his daughter his love by buying her things like a new Mercedes, designer handbags, and an expensive Rolex.

But in the process he never spent any time getting to know her, and now it was too late. That's why he had a tear in his eye that day, but it was too late to do anything about it. She was gone. It's impossible to have a solid relationship with anyone if all you do is spend five minutes a day with them.

Martha, Mary, and the One Thing Needful

We have replaced Jesus with many things. In Luke's Gospel we get a sense of this. In the story of Martha and Mary, Mary was occupied with one thing, and Martha was occupied with many things. Martha had a meal to prepare for over a dozen people, and she was busy in the kitchen to a fault while her sister Mary sat at Jesus' feet and was absorbed in the one thing needful.

Knowing Jesus Through Time and Conversation

You get to know someone by spending time with them and talking to them. The more time you spend with them, and the more time you talk to them, the better you get to know them. Five minutes a day won't cut the mustard.

Abiding in Jesus for Victory and God's Glory

Maybe if we're guilty of this, we've been wanting some things from Jesus, but all he wanted from us was us, to spend time with us. Maybe we need to apologize to him for ignoring him. If we want to have a life of victory in Jesus, then we must be absorbed with him in a life of abiding in him, in a close intimate walk with him, for our good and for his glory.

Let us pray.