I have an equation for all of you brilliant of mind out there. What does sleep + wake + eat + drive + work + eat + work + drive + eat + watch + sleep x 24/7 x 365 equal? Let’s wait a moment while the imaginary game show theme music plays in the background. Got the answer?

If not, I’ll clue you in.

The survey says: insanity.

Yes, insanity. To spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year caught in the monotonous routine of sleep, wake, eat, drive, work, eat, work, drive, eat, watch, sleep is enough to push anyone over the edge.

So why do we subject ourselves to that which steals our sanity?

Necessity, perhaps. We feel we need to sleep so we can have energy to work so we can afford the car to drive to work so we can afford the food that fuels our work so we can pay for the large screen TV that lulls us back to sleep after work and launches us into another day of maddening routine.

Or maybe it’s fear that keeps us bound. We’re afraid of not having enough, of being insecure. We prefer the familiar comfort of routine to the unstable terrain of the great unknown.

Yes, we need to work to care for our basic needs. But somewhere in the midst we have to stop and ask ourselves…what’s it all for? We’re not here just to go through the motions of life and spend our fleeting free time plugged in to our TVs, computers and mobile devices. There is more, so much more, to this life.

Take time. Now. Before it’s too late. Consider. Your life has a purpose far greater than your wildest imagination. You’re here for a reason. And it’s not to be a slave to mindless, meaningless routine.

“Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:10)