“For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.” (Ecclesiastes: 3:1 NLT)
With a few exceptions, every person who has ever lived or ever will live has and will be bound by the constraints of time…until time is no more! There will be an end to time and its stranglehold on humanity, but until then, especially as children of the living God, we must not simply use, but invest wisely the moments of breath the Lord is giving us…but how? As a believer in Jesus, how do we manage anything?
Stewardship is a theme that runs throughout the Bible and teaches that as followers of the living Christ, we are not owners of anything, even our own bodies. We’re to love God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and body, withholding nothing from His sacred use. Time is our most precious gift and to waste it is to slap the Lord in His holy face.
When we have guests, my wife goes into “cleaning mode.” As a rule, our house stays clean because of her (mostly ☹) diligence. I do help, but my estimation of “clean” doesn’t always match hers. Couple that with the fact we have two of the most precious puppies on the planet who both shed like there’s no tomorrow. What’s my point? We may tend to spend an inordinate amount of time cleaning.
While that isn’t necessarily bad it can become an obsession, like so many other things, that can rob us of time doing what the Lord has called and clearly equipped us to do. In my wife’s defense, she’s the most caring and attentive person to the needs of others I’ve ever known. If someone’s in need, she’ll drop everything to offer help in any way she can.
She’s a retired Nurse, so she’s like a walking medical encyclopedia, a great resource for anyone who knows her, but while that can be a good thing it can also be a challenge. Our job as children of God is to be about our Father’s business, which for my wife, helping others IS HIS Business, so it’s a delicate balance. How does that translate? We only have 24 hours a day to invest in God’s Kingdom. Break it down anyway you choose, but if we don’t plan intentionally and carefully those few hours will escape us before we blink.
Prayer is the best resource we can have to get “orders from Headquarters”! If early morning prayer isn’t your priority, you’re likely misusing a lot of your time before you even ask the Lord how it should be managed. As stewards, we’re to manage what we’ve been given, with time as the greatest gift with which the Lord has entrusted us. You can spend money and earn more, but when our precious minutes are gone, there’s no getting them back.
Perhaps that’s one of the reasons Brian Dye wrote: “Making the best use of our time is as much of a biblical command as not stealing, fornicating, lying, murdering, etc. How you use your time is a holiness issue.” According to the writer of the Hebrew letter: “Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.” Holiness demands priorities and priorities demand the right investment of the time we’re given.
The Psalmist must have understood the dilemma in which we find ourselves but also knew the source of the answer when he wrote: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” As we listen to the Lord more attentively, we’ll learn to invest our time more wisely; thus, seeing greater levels of success in our individual ministries to the Lord’s honor and to the good of those we’re seeking to reach for Him.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
