Trivial Pursuit or Risk?

Which game most typifies your life — “Trivial Pursuit” or “Risk”? If we were able to take an accurate inventory of how we spend our time each day, we might be rather amazed by our time investments. According to the latest stats in the “American Time Use Survey” from the Bureau of Labor Statistics the average American spends their time in a variety of pursuits including some of these: sleeping (average of 8 hours and 33 minutes); working (for people with full-time jobs average 8 1/2 weekday hours at work); pursuing educational activities (averaged 28 minutes a day — with students considerably more); engaging in household activities (18 minutes house cleaning, 11 minutes a day doing laundry, 34 minutes a day preparing meals and cleaning up); enjoying leisure activities (people spent 5 hours, 16 minutes a day — watching TV 2 hours 48 minutes a day; socializing 38 minutes a day; exercising and sports — men 1 hour 42 minutes working out or playing sports and women exercised 1 hour and 18 minutes); eating and drinking (hour and 11 minutes for meals and snacks); and grooming (51 minutes a day). This summary simply portrays that time is not “squirreled” away; it is spent in small incremental investments that will eventually run out. Everyone has 24 hours per day, 365 days per year – 8,760 hours every year of our lives. What do we do with it all? Too often we use the time in trivial pursuits rather than investing that time in meaningful pursuits that may involve some risks.

      As we approach the upcoming Holy week in the Christian calendar, we see contrasting perspectives between Jesus and his disciples. Jesus was on a mission that involved great risk — to move toward his enemies in Jerusalem who desired to take his life by crucifixion on a cross (Matthew 26:1-4). By contrast the disciples were preoccupied with the trivial issues of life. When Mary risked her precious possession by anointing the feet of Jesus with costly ointment in anticipation of Jesus’ death (John 12:3-8), the disciples saw her action as a waste (Mark 14:4-5). Jesus saw her action as a good work (6) and concluded it was no trivial pursuit but as a risk worth taking (8-9).

     Judas by contrast saw an opportunity to make a profit by betraying Jesus to the religious establishment. He was intent on amassing material wealth and ignored the spiritual bankruptcy reflected in his own life (Matthew 26:14-16). He completely ignored the teaching Jesus had proclaimed earlier, “What does it profit a man. To gain the whole world and forfeit his life” (Mark 8:31-38). Even Peter objected to the risk Jesus was incurring on that occasion and was rebuked by Jesus telling him, “You mind not the things of God but the things of men.” How often are so-called-followers of Jesus risk adverse yet passionate about things that really do not matter where “moth and rust destroy, and thieves break in and steal” (Matthew 6:20).

     When Jesus was finally betrayed by Judas, essentially all the disciples betrayed Him. None expected that they would ever do this even when Jesus announced they would stumble and be scattered (Mark 14:27-31). The most outspoken was Peter who assured Jesus that he would not fail Him. He was up to the risk of standing with the Lord in the face of opposition. All the disciples said the same thing (31). Yet faced with the religious leaders and soldiers that night in the Garden of Gethsemane, “they all forsook Him and fled” (50). The risk to their life in that moment was too great. They were committed to the pursuit of staying alive. Brave declarations are not the same as brave actions. Even Peter’s emotional promise of being more loyal than all the other disciples (14:29) vaporized in the face of a servant girl’s testimony of Peter being a follower of Jesus (14:67, 69, 70-72). Trivial pursuits do not seem as trivial when we are ruled by emotion and fear more than unswerving commitment to what matters most in life.

     Jesus was willing to take the risk required to fulfill the mission he was give by his Heavenly Father. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was faced with the full cost of the risk he was taking as he faced the cross before him. The risk produced sorrow as he moved into the garden, he “began to be very sorrowful and sore troubled. Then he said unto Peter, James, and John, ‘My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death’” (Matthew 26:37-38). Even as Jesus prayed the weight of the risk bore down on him and he asked the Father, “If it be possible, let this cup pass away from me” (39). The statement of submission to doing the Father’s will is stated succinctly, “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” Living a life that is willing to take the risk is not easy but is often necessary to accomplish God’s will.

     The rest of the story involved Jesus’ death on the cross for the sins of the world, a resurrection, and an ascension into heaven to be the advocate for those who are His children. The writer of Hebrews challenges us to “Fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus avoided the trivial pursuits of the world and embraced the risk of obedience that the Father had set before him.

     What are we pursuing in life — trivial things or things that which really will make a difference? Jesus is the example to follow. Use the 8,760 hours you have each year to invest in the eternal. Then you will not be engaged in trivial pursuits.