Tuesday: Habit – Use Time Wisely
“For we were born yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow” (Job 8:9, NKJV).
You can stop a clock, but not the movement of time. Time does not wait; it keeps moving forward even if we stand still and do nothing.
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What do the following texts teach us about our time here on earth in this life? James 4:14; Ps. 90:10; Ps. 90:12; Ps. 39:4-5; Eccles. 3:6-8. What is the basic message that we should take from these texts about just how precious our time is here?
With something so limited and nonrenewable as time, it is important that Christians be good stewards of it. Thus we should develop the habit of using time wisely by focusing on what is important in this life and the next. We must manage time based on what the Word of God reveals to us as important, because once time is up, it can’t be renewed. If we lose money we may eventually get it back, maybe even more than what we first lost. Not so with time. A moment lost is a moment lost forever. We can more easily put a broken egg back in its shell than we recapture even a moment of the past. Thus, time is one of the most precious commodities given to us by God. How important, then, that we develop the habit of making the most of every moment we have been given.
“Our time belongs to God. Every moment is His, and we are under the most solemn obligation to improve it to His glory. Of no talent He has given will He require a more strict account than of our time.
The value of time is beyond computation. Christ regarded every moment as precious, and it is thus that we should regard it. Life is too short to be trifled away. We have but a few days of probation in which to prepare for eternity. We have no time to waste, no time to devote to selfish pleasure, no time for the indulgence of sin.” – Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 342.
| “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:15-16, NKJV). What is Paul saying here to us, and how can we apply these words to our present situation? |
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Thanks for the inspiring text regarding time because God is a God of time and our time here on earth is numbered and recorded according to how we use time as an act of worship towards him or to please our personnel desires. After all we all will be accountable for how we use the time. When our time starts at 7:45 it means it is recorded in the book of the lamb and if we come to work at 9:00 am we are accountable for it depending on the nature of our lateness.BUT if we are coming to work everyday and early to work every day then we can make comments after all our own words will find us guilty. Shalom and be blessed.
If you have ever watched "It is Written" John Bradshaw talked about time and how we spend it. I did not realize that taking time to play a game on your phone is wastefulness. I p!ay to relax while eating lunch. Now I am more aware that I should be reading the Word instead. Very interesting thoughts he shared about time.
Taking time to relax is not wasted time and is an essential part of our well-being. Any lifestyle medical professional (including Christian ones) will tell you that. When I was a student and doing long hours of study and research, I would often arrive at the point where I was not making any progress. I found that if I relaxed and did something different for a while, the ideas would start to flow again. Playing a game, listening to music, walking - anything other than reading - was enough to make me more productive. I still play games on my iPad but I am careful in my choices. No they do not replace my Bible reading, nor my exercise program, but they are an important part of relaxation.
As a little side issue, I found that Sabbath was really special during my time as a research student. I would arrive at Friday night totally exhausted, and the change of pace of Sabbath rest gave me the rejuvenation that I needed. The funny thing was that sometimes a bright idea for my research would pop into my head during the church service the next day! I suspect that God has a sense of humour.
I agree that we need to take time to relax. Jesus Himself did that.
But then, may reading the Psalms not be more "relaxing" in a lasting sense than playing a game? Of course, getting outdoors for a brief walk would likely be even better, but that's not always possible.
Something I think is more important than time is the thoughts and feelings God can share with us by His Spirit throughout all our activities. This makes our time more valuable than if we just walk through the day with our own thoughts and feelings.
We're told that thoughts and feelings make up habits and our habits make up our character. God cannot produce His Character in us without our consent to let Him motivate our thoughts and feelings.
More often than not we have robbed God on time consciously or unconsciously.
I think the topic is an awakening call for us and has come to us at the right moment.
Let's be good stewards in time management.
Be blessed
So, how do we redeem the time if once lost it is essentially unredeemable?
Pete, I have always looked at redeeming time like this. Every moment is offered to me in the present. I can either plan to redeem that moment by using it to accomplish God's will for my life, or I can let it slip into the past, wasted by accomplishing my will, or possibly worse, nothing at all. I use the word "plan" deliberately. My experience is that if I do not plan to redeem my moments of time to honour and glorify God, then they will very likely be wasted. This underlines the importance of good habits and planning for a fulfilling life. Looking back on a life whose objective is to do God's will (that is, living a life of loving service to others), cannot help but give a person a satisfying sense of time well spent. I think this is something for which it is worth striving every moment of every day.
I guess that the idea of redeeming something that once lost is unredeemable has a lot to do with ones' choice of words in reference to time itself. All God has given us is today or the present. Yesterday is gone forever and that makes yesterday unredeemable. Tomorrow belongs to God as well as the past and the present, and there is nothing that I can do to redeem tomorrow either. But for us we have only today to deal with. So what I do with today with God is what is important for me with God for salvation for me, and for whoever God puts me in contact with to help towards that person's salvation too. So all we have as far as redeeming the time is only for today----only the present time. The "Present," is the only time we have and that God has given us to do anything for redeeming as far as time goes.
There is time for everything. Let's spend it in the presence of Jesus, always, in all that we do!
James 4:13–15
Boasting About Tomorrow
13 Now listen,you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will,i we will live and do this or that.”
This is an interesting text about managing our time well. So we first have to ask God to guide us as you make out your short and long range goals whether they are daily, monthly, annual, and lifelong time plans. Each one of us is a human being with a schedule, whether we live in Syria or New York. Time management to run from a bomb or run to wall street are of crucial importance. Making and following a good time plan is the best way to get things done, reduce stress, succeed in life and and have time for God.