Time-wasting

We know that time is a gift given by our gracious God.  It is a gift of great value since time is what life consists of.  If we squander time, we waste our life!  We never know how long we will live on earth, but we know that it is limited!  Paul gives this admonition: “Be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15-16).  The ESV has, “making the best use of the time, and the NET Bible has, “taking advantage of every opportunity.”  We are responsible before God to use our very limited time to the greatest possible advantage.

The Lord Jesus knew the value of time.  He must have known that He had only about 33 years to accomplish the work the Father gave to him.  He knew how much time to devote to each of His many tasks. Once the people searched for Him and “tried to keep Him from going away from them” (Luke 4:42).  Christ refused to delay longer, though this could have accomplished much good.  He responded. “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose” (v. 43; cf. Mark 1:35-38).

On another occasion, Jesus said, “We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work” (John 9:4).  The “day” refers to the time Jesus had on earth, while the “night” may refer to His approaching death, when His  preaching and teaching would end.  “Jesus shows an intense awareness of the need to fulfill all that the Father sent him to accomplish during his earthly ministry.”[1]

Moses prays, “Do teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). Since our life is so brief (cf. vv. 9-11), we must use our time well and “make the most of one’s days, since they are so few.”[2]  David prayed, “LORD, make me to know my end and what is the extent of my days; let me know how transient I am” (39:4).  We are all “transient.”[3]  We all are here for a very brief time, thus we must weigh everything we do in light of eternity. Someone expressed the importance of time with these words:

I have only just a minute,
Only sixty seconds in it.
Forced upon me—can’t refuse it.
But it’s up to me to use it.
I must suffer if I lose it,
Give account if I abuse it.
Just a tiny little minute,
But eternity is in it.

This eternal perspective is largely forgotten in our day.  Statistics say that most people spend between 18 and 45 hours a week wasting their time before the evils displayed on the TV screen.  Additional hours are thrown away listening to worthless and even harmful music.  Think also of the computer games, the internet surfing, the reading of the newspaper and magazines and novels.  Then there is worthless sports viewing and participating.

No wonder that fathers and mothers spend so little of their time communicating with their children and doing edifying activities with them.  No wonder that husbands and wives seldom spend time in meaningful communication.  And especially deplorable is the fact that most people fail to honor God by praying to Him, praising Him, reading His Word, studying the truth, having fellowship with fellow-believers, and learning in the public assemblies of saints.

Not only do people waste time on useless sports and entertainment, but they can waste their time on jobs around the house that are not spiritually vital.  Think of the hundreds of hours that people devote to yard work, home work, crafts, and making “things” with no importance.  Think also of sleep.  Sufficient sleep is necessary for our health and we suffer if we obtain too little of it.  The average person in America obtains about 7 to 7 ½ hours a night.  Some may be able to devote less time to sleep and give the extra to the work of the Lord!

On the other hand, some may need 8 hours of sleep a night or more (if one has a medical condition or is recuperating).  But few people ever need more than 9 hours of daily sleep.[4]  Schlink notes: “All of us know how much we long for sleep and comfort.  The bondage to sleep can be so great that we can sacrifice even things essential for life, even our prayer time, just in order to be able to sleep more.”[5]  She continues to discuss a bondage to sleep:

When we go to sleep, we should ask the Lord to wake us at the right time, or set our alarm clock so that we will have time for the Lord and prayer at the beginning of the day, or ask others to help us get up early.  We must ask Jesus to be the Lord of our sleep, the Lord of our food, not we ourselves.[6]

Most people will be ashamed with the way they have misused the valuable gift of time that God has given to each person.  Write a list of all that needs to be done each day and week.  Determine what is the most important in your day and work to accomplish it.[7]  We must seek God’s wisdom to know how to prioritize all that we want to do, so that we can “decide what is best” or “approve the things that are excellent” (Philippians 1:10, NET Bible, NASB) in our use of our time.

Let us totally eliminate the worthless and bad, let us minimize the things that are good, and let us major on the things that are excellent and our priority in life.  Paul wrote, “To me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21), thus let us live for Christ in the way we use our God-given time! If we misuse God’s gracious gift to us, we sin against His love and good intention.

 

[1] ESV Study Bible, note.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Transient means “passing with time; transitory,” and “remaining in a place only a brief time” (The American Heritage College Dictionary).

[4] Solomon writes, “How long will you lie down, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? ‘A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest’” (Proverbs 6:9-10; cf. 24:33).

[5] You Will Never be the Same, p. 85.

[6] You Will Never be the Same, p. 86.

[7] Helpful Hints on Saving Time.