ARE YOU USING YOUR TIME WISELY?

BIBLE PASSAGE:
Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise,
making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
(Ephesians 5:15-16)

MEDITATION:
Whether we want to admit it or not, everything we have is a gift
from God, isn’t it? Some may dispute that comment by pointing
out the sinful things in the world. Some say that since God created
everything, then He created evil as well. The truth is, God created
and gave us good things, but man chose to misuse some of them,
and as a result, they became sinful. God’s gifts are never sinful.

Whenever we take any of His gifts outside the boundaries God
established for them, we corrupt what He meant for good, and
we use His gifts in ways He never intended when He gave them
to us.

God has many gifts for us such as, talents, physical abilities,
mental capacities, emotions, health and spiritual gifts, just
to name a few. As adopted members of God’s family. we are
expected to be good stewards of all His gifts, and enjoy them
within His boundaries and limitations.

For instance, He expects us to manage our finances well
(including our tithes), and to use them wisely within the
boundaries He established for those who belong to Him
(i.e. those He has saved).

God also expects us to be good stewards of the time He has given
us. Everyone has been given a limited piece of eternity called time,
and we are to use it wisely as one way of glorifying God. Before we
were saved by God, we felt free to abuse His allocation of time in
pursuit of our own selfish desires. Why? Because we didn’t belong
to His family at the time.

However, the danger in using our allocated time in the wrong
manner is, we can consume our time allocation and step into
eternity without ever knowing Him as our Heavenly Father.
And when we do, we will have to suffer the consequences of
our misuse of His gift of time.

But when God saves us, He expects us to keep our time allocation
within the boundaries of His standards and purposes. It means we
should be willing to exchange our will for His will, and we should
have a new desire to do the things which will glorify Him.

As believers, some of us can keep a tight grip on our allocation of
time, as if it belongs to us. When we claim sole ownership of our
time, we will do very little (and possibly nothing) that brings glory
to the Lord and points others to Jesus.

Look at the last part of the Bible Passage which says,
    “the days are evil”
We can see that ‘evil’ not only exists, but it is accelerating.
This could be our final notice that Jesus will be returning 
soon. Look at these scriptures from God’s Word:
    But mark this: There will be terrible times in the
    last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers
    of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to
    their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love,
    unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal,
    not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited,
    lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – having
    a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing
    to do with such people.
    (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

When the scriptures say,
    “Have nothing to do with such people”
It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be praying for evil people. God wants
everyone to receive salvation and as followers of Jesus, we should
want the same thing. However, we are being advised to love and
pray for them from a distance. Why? Because when evil collides
with goodness, evil is usually the winner.

A good example is,
    If we put a rotten apple in a basket with good apples, the rotten
    apple doesn’t get healed, does it? In fact, the good apples near
    the rotten one will start to rot as well. The further away from the
    rotten apple, the less likelihood of the good apples being impacted
    by the bad one.
    Conversely, if we put a good apple in a basket with rotten
    apples, the bad apples continue to rot, and cause the good
    apple to rot as well.

ACTION:
Consider this:
    – How am I using God’s gifts to me?
    – Am I keeping them within His established boundaries?
    – How much time am I dedicating to glorifying His name?
    – How much time am I spending in worship and following Jesus?

When other believers are at church and we are not, we have
made a choice to use our time allocation for ourselves, which
is outside the boundaries God established for using our time
wisely.

There may be times when we can’t attend worship services in
God’s house. We may be sick, taking care of someone, suffering
from a debilitating physical issue, have health risks due to a
chronic (or acute) condition that has compromised our immune
system, etc. However, if we can attend worship but choose instead
to spend that time pleasing ourselves, we are living our life unwisely.

We need to remember that even when we can’t physically attend
church, we have a responsibility to stay ‘connected’ and worship
in other ways (watching church services online, reading the Bible,
praying, submitting our tithes, etc.). We also need to find ways to
remain connected with other believers.

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, thank You for the gift of time You have
given me. Forgive me if I have chosen to use Your gracious
gift selfishly and not as You intended. Make me aware if I am
misusing the time You have given me, and teach me how to use
my time wisely as I look for opportunities to glorify You. I want
to leave a legacy of time spent for You, because it is something
that has an impact on my eternal life, and it shows my genuine
love for You and the blessings You have given me. Take away
any of my procrastination habits and give me a natural desire
of wanting to please You with the time You have given me.”

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