TIMED

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven – Ecclesiastes 3:1

The Ordered Life is TIMED Life. As Time flies, life ebbs! God ordained the Order of Time: “Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years” (Gen.1:14).There can be no ordered life without reckoning with Time. Your life on earth is packaged into times and seasons: “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven” (Eccl.3:1). To make the most of life, you must value time, knowing that every year, month, week, day, hour, minute, and moment of life is vital. David prayed: “So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psa.90:12). Life is a Timed Assignment! Part of your eternal race is against Time!

Our problem is not lthe common complaint of lack of time, but inability to effectively utilise the available hours to achieve all we desire to. God’s word says: “redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Eph.5:16). You must learn to redeem, possess and re-possess Time! Your Time is Your Life (Psa.90:9-12). Wasting time is destroying life! Your Time is Scarce: “But this I say, brethren, the time is short…” (1Cor. 7:29a). A management expert said, “Time is the scarcest resource. Unless it is managed, nothing else can be managed.” Another wrote: “Time cannot be saved for a rainy day, or accumulated like raw materials. People turn machines on and off. They replace workers...not Time. Time continues its march at a fixed rate of sixty minutes per hour, twenty-four hours per day...”

Time is life. It is one of your most valuable assets. Time is costly. Yet, it is no respecter of persons. How you spend Time determines how effectively other resources at your disposal will be used. The thief of gold and gold is not half as destructive as the thief of Time. The great dividing between Success and Failure can be expressed in these words: “I don’t have time.” To a dying man and his relatives, each minute is very precious. God wants you to have scriptural attitudes to time, namely:

• Time is God’s Gift, uniformly and sufficiently given to all. You have enough time everyday to do all that God would have you do. You must learn how to maximize life – do first things first and the right things right (Jh.11:9; 1 Thes. 2:9).

• Learn to Redeem the Time: walk circumspectly and wisely; that is, an intimate walk with God (Eph. 5:15,17; Col. 4:5).

• Learn to Possess and Repossess Time. Fight for time; in so doing, you are fighting for life. Identify where most of your Time goes, and eliminate time wasters. Determine where time should go – non-negotiable Priorities: time with God (Jh. 4: 24); time with family (spouse, children, larger family); time for fellowship and friendship (Heb. 10:25); Time to Think, meditate, study and learn (2 Cor. 13:5); and time for Rest and Refreshing (Ex. 20: 9-11).

• Observe Orderliness and Discipline in Personal Life: Rhythm is required, not Rush! (1 Cor.14:33).

• Cultivate dynamic attitudes to life. Overcome the tendencies to hurry, worry, and become sorry (Rom.13:11, Ecc. 9: 10a)

• Learn the Value of Time like the Centurion (Mt. 8: 5-10). Jesus gave more time to quality-people than to those who did not value His time (e.g. Pharisees). Avoid giving quality-time to non-quality people and events. It is not the time you have, but the time you spend wisely and use effectively that matters. Available time is different from effective time, and the task is to convert available time into effective time. Time Management is essentially Life and Self Management.

Time is the river of Life. You are a creature of eternity passing through time. Your must keep eternity in view. “The great use of one’s life is to spend it for something that will outlast it, for the value of life is computed not by its Duration, but by its donation” (William James). To what purposes are you donating your time? How ordered is your Life in time?