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Commitment to God - The Necessity of Time Spent in Prayer and Bible Study


A cursory glance at marriage statistics tells you that half of marriages end in divorce, including 41% of first marriages. In fact, “approximately every 36 seconds” a couple gets divorced.[1] Sadly, research shows that atheists and agnostics are slightly less likely to be divorced than people of Christian faith.[2] According to an article by Luisa Dillner, couples spend an average of 2-2½ hours together each day, but that is including 54 minutes for the combined activities of watching TV and housework.[3] I’m guessing with the rise of dishwashers that most of these couples aren’t washing and drying dishes together while enjoying a conversation about their respective days, so some days almost half of the average couples' time spent together is passive. With such a lack of quality time spent together, combined with society’s low view of the marriage commitment, it isn’t much of a surprise to see such high divorce rates.

Juxtapose this with a Christian’s commitment to his or her relationship with God. In his book Prayer: The Timeless Secret of High-Impact Leaders, Dave Earley indicates that studies show pastors admit to praying only seven to fifteen minutes on any given day.[4] Another study of over 1500 Christians found respondents said they spend between 10 and 20 minutes studying the Bible (with 90 percent responding that they read the Bible daily), “but only 31 percent said they set aside a substantial period of time each day to pray.”[5]

It is hard to learn how to manage your time wisely so that you can spend quality time with God both praying and studying Scripture. If you are anything like me, you can do it for a few days at a time here and there, but making habits of wise time management and getting your priorities straight is a struggle.

Prayer isn’t easy for everyone. Some people aren’t good at expressing themselves, but we are called to pray in the Spirit (Eph 6:18; Jude 20), thus we are given the Holy Spirit to help us in this life, and one of the aspects in which the Spirit helps us is in prayer. We also know that Scripture is of utmost importance (Ps 1:1-3; 119; 2 Tm 3:16-17). Look to Jesus as the example. He prayed frequently (Mt 14:23; Mk 1:35; 6:46; Lk 3:21; 5:16; 6:12; Jn 17, Heb 5:7), and was well-versed in Scripture (Mt 4:4, 7; 5:21; Lk 4:4, 12 see Dt 5:18; 6:13, 16; 8:3; 20:14). So, prayer and study of Scripture are vital aspects of your faith.

That said, our whole life is lived to honor God. We may not all have the opportunity to work for a non-profit that is helping to heal the broken and feed the hungry, but that doesn’t mean our work isn’t important and honoring to God. Do you work at a dental office? You are honoring God because you are helping to care for the mouths of your fellow man, and thereby loving your neighbor. Do you work at Walmart? You are part of a company that helps provide millions of people with reasonably priced goods that include food and clothing so they can survive. If your work isn’t honoring God in some way, get new work. Otherwise, use every opportunity to worship God through your work. Worship and love God through your treatment of your fellow man, by the way you raise your children and how you cherish your spouse, but also find time to pray and dig into Scripture. Go back to my first post and remember to ask yourself at least one question periodically: “Am I representing Christ well?/Would people recognize that I am a Christian?”[6] Now add to that, do I know God better today and love Him more today than yesterday?

For further reading on Jesus use of Scripture, see the article on Jews for Jesus entitled “Jesus’ References to Old Testament Scriptures,” by Rich Robinson. http://bit.ly/2ASsG9f


[1] “32 Shocking Divorce Statistics,” McKinley Irvin Family Law, October 30, 2012, accessed March 7, 2018, https://www.mckinleyirvin.com/Family-Law-Blog/2012/October/32-Shocking-Divorce-Statistics.aspx.
[2] “New Marriage and Divorce Statistics Released,” Barna, March 31, 2008, accessed March 7, 2018, https://www.barna.com/research/new-marriage-and-divorce-statistics-released/.
[3] Luisa Dillner, “Love by numbers,” The Guardian, June 9, 2007, accessed March 7, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/jun/09/familyandrelationships.
[4] Dave Earley, Prayer: The Timeless Secret of High-Impact Leaders (Chattanooga, Tennessee: Living Ink Books, 2008), 163, Kindle.
[5] Cath Martin, “Evangelicals admit struggling to find time for daily Bible reading and prayer,” Christianity Today, April 14, 2014, accessed March 7, 2018, https://www.christiantoday.com/article/daily-bible-reading-and-prayer-is-a-struggle-for-many-evangelicals/36765.htm.
[6] Samantha DeVoir, “Living with Purpose,” Prayer and Purpose, February 22, 2018, accessed March 7, 2018, http://prayerandpurpose.blogspot.com/2018/02/starting-out.html.

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