This is an object lesson you can use to teach children the importance of spending time with God every day. To carry out the lesson, you will need $168.00 in play money. (Many dollar stores have play money.) The suggested Bible verse to use is Psalm 90:12, but there are plenty of others if you want to do some searching.

This is a suggested dialog. Feel free to adjust it according to the children you minister to.

I have here $168.00 in play money. It just so happens that there are 168 hours in each week, so each dollar will represent one hour. How do you spend your time? (Count the bills as you go through the following options.)

Let’s say you sleep about 8 hours each night. Multiply 8 hours by 7 days to get 56 hours. Let’s move $56 out of our stack.

Then comes school. Let’s say that averages out to 7 hours per day. That will equate to another 35 hours taken out of your week. We’ll set aside $35 for that.

Everyone needs to eat, so we have to make time for that. Let’s say you eat 3 meals a day and average 20 minutes per meal. That equates to one hour a day or 7 hours a week. I’ll put aside $7 more.

Homework? Most nights you probably have homework to do. Let’s say you average 5 hours per week; there is another $5.

Watch television. Lots of people do more, but let’s say you watch 2 hours of TV every weekday and overtime on the weekends. That will add another 20 hours, so we’ll set aside another $20.

Play, including video games. Once you start playing, especially a video game, it’s hard to stop. Let’s say you spend an average of 2 hours a day playing video games. That works out to another 14 hours, so I’ll set aside another $14. That only leaves us $31 dollars; not much for a week.

Wasting time is also very easy to do. Let’s say you waste 1 hour a day, which will add another 7 hours, so I’ll set aside another $7. We are now down to $24.

Computer time including Facebook, internet, email, etc. Even if it’s just 30 minutes a day, that works out to another three and a half hours. Let’s round that up to 4 and set aside another $4.

How about sports activities? If you are on a sports team or in a band or choir, you have to practice. Let’s say you add another hour each weekday plus a few hours on the weekend. That adds another $8. Now we have $12 left for the week.

The question is, of all that time you’ve “spent,” how much is spent with God or even thinking about God? God may be a part of the things above, but you have to acknowledge and acknowledge that he is there while you do those things. But let’s look at this from another perspective.

What are some things you can do to “spend” time with God? (Let the children come up with some suggestions. Estimate the number of “dollars” they can represent each week and count the bills.)

– Read the Bible (15 minutes a day = $1.00)

– Pray (15 minutes a day = $1.00)

– Go to Church and Sunday School ($2.00 – $4.00 depending on the number of services you attend).

– Memorize Bible verses (15 minutes a day = $1.00)

– Add others as the children think of them.

Think about how you spend your time. Are you using your time wisely? God says in Psalm 90:12 that it is important to count your days. That means you have to use your time wisely and take the time to get closer to him. As you do so, he promises to get closer to you.

If you find that you are doing something that is a waste of time, consider quitting and spending that time with God. For example, is spending time with God more important than watching TV? If you forgo a thirty-minute television show and spend that time with God, you’ll have a little over two hours ($2) each week, and that’s time well spent.

Will you make a decision this week to spend time with God every day?