10,000 hours of evil

yesterday i was in jeremiah for my daily reading. chapter 4, verse 22 says,

"For my people are foolish;
they know me not;
they are stupid children;
they have no understanding.
They are 'wise'—in doing evil!
But how to do good they know not." (Jeremiah 4:22 ESV)

wise in doing evil. ouch.

i read this book called outliers that said research shows that in order to become an expert in something - like the unusual genius kind - you have to put in at least 10,000 hours into it. that somehow that is the magic number - that much time - is what separates the 'greats' from the rest of us. all the 'greats' have put in the time, from musicians to athletes to software engineers.

and in order to put 10,000 hours into something, i would think your life would show it. like - you would appear obsessed to others. they would see you pouring so much time into something and be like - dude, get a life.

so when i saw where it said they are wise in doing evil, i thought, hmmmm. i wonder if they are so wise in it because they have spent so much time in it. i wonder if they have spent 10,000 hours doing evil and that is how they know it so well in order to be wise in it.

and i thought about my own life. as of today i have lived 14,942 days. that's 358,608 hours. out of those let's say i was awake for 239,072 of them (figuring i slept 8 hours every night).

239,072 hours is plenty of time to put in 10,000 hours of evil (sinning). i am certain i have. does that make mean i am an expert at it? i've put in the time!

my prayer then, is to reverse that horrible damage... to put in the time to become an expert in obedience to God. i want to be wise in righteousness, not in evil.

that means i gotta put in the time, log in those hours. i can't just stuff a prayer into my 15 minute commute every day and say, i'm radically following Christ. no... there's a commitment that is deeper than just living the way we want under the title of Christian.

Father, may i be willing to always put you first over other things that demand my attention and focus. may i pour out myself for you - give you my time, my thoughts, my life. may i learn You and your ways so much that people thing - dang girl, get a life. and i pray they would know that You - YOU! - are my life.