“Stewardship of Time”
Stewardship of
Time
In the fast paced
world that we live in today, one area of stewardship that is often overlooked
is the stewardship of time. Each day we
are given 24 hours. Many times days,
weeks and months fly by us while we wonder in amazement where the time
went. The thing about time is that we
cannot save some of it for the next day or put it in the bank and collect
interest on it for a later date.
With the increase of
technological inventions, we have become accustomed to being on the go every
waking minute. The idea that we are not
being productive if we are not busy every second of the day has been subtly and
quietly implanted in our minds.
Sometimes we may
compare ourselves to the ant, or we may identify ourselves as busy bees or
worker bees. But the bee and the ant
move with purpose. There are times when
we are constantly doing things but accomplishing nothing. Relationships are not nurtured and
strengthened because we do not take the time to enjoy people. There is a feeling of laziness if we cannot
validate every waking minute with a specific task. We believe that if we take time to sit on the
couch without a specific task to account for, we must be lazy, but it is
important for us to implement balance in every area of our lives. There are 3 areas regarding time that we need
to be diligent in managing well: time
with God, time with family, and time with others.
Time with God
Throughout the years,
some believed that if they were not in church every day, they were short
changing God. However, nothing could be further
from the truth. God expects us to make
the most of the time He has allotted to us.
He is looking for a balanced quality of time, not quantity of time. God wants the biggest bang for His buck, so
to speak.
It is essential that
we are consistent in allocating time in order to spend regular time with
God. This is crucial to the process of
establishing an intimate relationship with Him.
Many preachers will study Scripture in order to develop a sermon to
preach, but God is looking for us to study His Word to discover the essence of
who He is so that we will be motivated to pursue Him and EXPERIENCE who God
is. In Mark 6:30-32, the Apostles of
Jesus were so enthralled with the WORK that they were doing that they did not
even take the time to eat. Jesus invited
them to come away with Him so that they could enjoy some much needed rest. God wants us to cultivate a desire to KNOW
Him and not simply know OF Him.
There should be times
when we have quiet time where we can be still and undistracted by things. When we manage our time with Him, we learn
how to make the most and best use of our time.
With the proper time management, we can accomplish more in one day with
precise and purposeful actions than we could in 7 days of busyness. Sometimes God is simply calling us away with
Him so that WE can rest.
