by Pastor James Lee

Ever since I was 17, I’m grateful to have always had some type of job. During undergrad and graduate school, a few seasons I had up to 3 part-time jobs to make ends meet. But in hindsight, it gets amped up exponentially when you have people depending on you, and it’s not just you, that you have to take care of. It’s a totally different ball game. As a UCLA student, it didn’t seem to affect others if I played basketball all night till 5am or foolishly ran up my credit card debt. But when I became a Christian, my outlook on what I thought was mine began to change. When I became a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the sobering weight of that responsibility changed the practical course of my life forever. When I became a husband and father, those very gifts altered my choices even more, so that I was forced in a good way to be confronted with my selfishness and embrace those new joys in ways I was not used to. Brushing your teeth on a daily basis matters, studying diligently at school makes a difference, loving the church as an active member is loving Christ and not doing so is not loving Him. God is sovereign. That’s a comfort; that’s an assurance. But we’re responsible for all that we’ve been given. We don’t control who the next President will be; God does. But we do have a responsibility to discern the need of the times and to vote with an informed Christian conscience. We don’t control the size of our underground aquifers, but we can better control our own water consumption and not run up our utility bills so that the Lord’s money is better managed. We don’t control whether others will be saved or not, but we are commanded to preach the gospel to all.

J. Oswald Sanders in his book on leadership wrote,

“The way we employ our time will determine if we develop into mediocre or powerful people. Leisure is a glorious opportunity and a subtle danger. Each moment of the day is a gift from God that deserves care, for by any measure, our time is short and the work is great… William James affirmed that the best use of one’s life is to spend it for something that will outlast it. Life’s value is not its duration but its donation – not how long we live, but how fully and how well. Time is precious, but we squander it thoughtlessly… ‘I don’t have the time.’ Such an excuse is usually the refuge of a small-minded and inefficient person. We do not have time to do all we want, but each of us has all the time we need to do the whole will of God for our lives… Our problem is not little time, but making better use of the time we have. Be it the President of the United States, you, or me. Each of us has the same 24 hours as anyone else. Others may surpass our abilities, influence, or money, but no one has more time.”

I want us to consider two common ways we mock God in neglecting our stewardship of our short time here on the earth, two principles in which we need forgiveness as much as we find so much grace and fresh opportunity.

1. Complaining About Time is Complaining About God

We must, as Paul wrote in Ephesians, “Redeem the time.” We must maximize our life direction, ponder and prioritize a prayerful manner of life priorities. We must be intentional, because if we are not intentional with our use of time, someone else will do so for us. If you don’t attack life, it will attack you. Jesus said that no one can serve two masters, that one will either serve one or the other. As believers, we are not to be mastered by anyone except the Lord – not circumstances, not peer pressure, not career pursuits, not our children. Therefore, we don’t find time to pray; we make time to pray. We don’t find time to fellowship with other Christians; we prioritize it. It is a commitment to make first things first without compromise, deciding well beforehand what boundary will not be crossed, and what treasure will not be forfeited.
So rightly understood, there are no valid excuses for not praying, not reading the Bible daily, not serving others in church ministry consistently and sacrificially, so that it hurts our wallets significantly, sometimes our health, infringes on our leisure time and vacation destinations, as much as we embrace godly rest and gospel freedom. Even our rest and vacations aren’t always utilized to the glory of God, and sometimes I’m more tired than refreshed from my vacations. Not saying that it’s always a bad thing at all when we want to see all the sights and have a schedule to maximize our vacation trip, so that’s not the issue. But do we prayerfully and intentionally steward that time for God’s glory? As I get older and more beat down, I realize that sometimes, not always, the best use of my vacation, is not to see new things, but to go to one place and spend extended quality time with my wife and children… and really get some rest, get some sleep, have my physical body get a healthy dose of restoration and joy for life and ministry. Is godly wisdom directing those things, or are we simply trying to escape and be entertained? There is no excuse for not caring for our families, not growing in our knowledge of His Word and His character – God simply makes no allowance for neglecting them on the basis of allotment of time or circumstances. He expects us to do those things in the time that He gives us or to strip away the stuff that is peripheral and idolatrous and distracting – it is not a matter of getting a magical 36 hour day that would only add to many people’s wastefulness; it is a matter of wisely using the 24 hours and gifts we already have. Ephesians 5:15-17 urges, “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

Our time is precious and irretrievable. Once it is gone, it is lost forever. It cannot be hoarded or stored up, only spent frivolously or invested well. One pastor wrote, “If we progress in the economy of time, we are learning to live. If we fail here, we fail everywhere.” The investment or waste of our time is crucial to our worship of God and to our discipleship, a manifestation of our hearts. What kind of legacy will you leave for God’s glory? What will the epitaph on your life say one day? What impact have you made thus far?

I’ve always been inspired and challenged by former Angels pitcher Jim Abbot who, despite not having a right hand and learning to pitch and catch the ball with only his left, enjoyed a long successful major league baseball career. He said, “I’ve learned that it’s not the disability that defines you, it’s how you deal with the challenges the disability presents you with. And I’ve learned that we have an obligation to the abilities we DO have, not the disability… The Bible tells us to be grateful in every situation. I am grateful for mine.”

How about you and I? Do you remember that spiritually, we were all born in a far worse situation? Born separated from God, we were born foolish, ungrateful, rebellious, facing His wrath. 1 Cor 2:14 says the natural man is spiritually appraised. The natural man has the most important things in life exactly reversed: he thinks foolishness is wisdom and wisdom is foolishness. And the way of the fool is that he is right in his own eyes (Prov 12:15). The ultimate destiny of fools, 2 Tim 3:7 says is that they are “always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” But it is not to be so with God’s people! At salvation every believer has been made wise by God’s Word and Spirit. By God’s grace, Christ Jesus became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor 1:30). The Scriptures make us wise unto salvation (2 Tim 3:15). In Christ, the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Him and therefore also in us (Col 2:3). The Holy Spirit is our resident truth teacher. We are born again with all provision for wisdom to live for our Lord, yet we must grow in wisdom, and pray for it (James 1:5).

Paul writes, “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise.” The word “careful” in Greek has the basic meaning of “accurate” and “exact with alertness.” We are to walk wisely as those living in the light. We are to avoid Satan’s traps, and not revert to the practices of our old lives. As Christians, we are not immune from reverting back to foolishness. One way, you and I, sometimes are guilty of that, is by not believing God completely. Jesus said to the men on the Emmaus road, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken.” (Luke 24:25). To the extent that we do not accept any part of God’s Word, we are foolish. When we place our hope and priorities in making money, keeping up with the Joneses, instead of healthy communion with the Lord and obeying His will by faith – then we are reverting to foolishness, rather than feasting on the riches of eternal kingdom living. What genuine Christian in his or her right mind would ever give up their salvation for all the riches of this world? Not one. And yet in our practical lives, we forfeit our true treasures for things that rust and moths destroy.

In verse 16, Paul writes, “making the most of your time, because the days are evil.” For many people, life is a series of unfinished symphonies, delayed constructions, and half-baked resolutions. No one can turn dream into reality unless he makes the most of his time. Paul here did not use the Greek word chronos, the term for clock time, the continuous time that is measured in hours, minutes, and seconds, but rather kairos which denotes a measured, allocated, fixed season. The word time is also preceded by the definite article, “the” time. God already predetermines the length of our lives. We can achieve our potential in His Service only as we maximize the time He’s set for us. Making the most in Greek is the idea of buying back or buying out. It implies redemption, to redeem the time, buy it all up, and devote it to the Lord. One pastor wrote, “The most foolish thing a Christian can do is to waste time and opportunity, to fritter away his life in trivia and half-hearted service of the Lord.” We must take full advantage of every opportunity to follow God, redeeming our time. Recall the people who hadn’t heeded Noah’s warnings as the Ark door was closed, or the five foolish virgins who let their oil run out before the bridegroom arrived and were then shut out of the wedding feast. Jesus lamented over Jerusalem who He longed to gather like a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and instead, Jerusalem rebelled and killed the prophets. Judas Iscariot, a tragic example of wasted opportunity, spent 3 years with Jesus, loved by Him, only to betray Him for 30 pieces of silver.

Instead let us, by His grace and enablement, strive to fight the good fight and finish our course, keeping the faith. Not only because our days are numbered, but because the days are evil. As we make the most of our opportunities for God, the world will continually and increasingly oppose us. Things will get worse and not better, but God will work to His glory. John MacArthur wrote,

When we have opportunity to do something for His name’s sake and for His glory, we should do so with all that we have. How God’s heart must be broken to see His children ignore or half-heartedly take up opportunity after opportunity that He sends to them. Every moment of every day should be filled with things good, things righteous, things glorifying to God… When our priorities are God’s priorities, He is free to work in us and through us to accomplish great things; but when our priorities are not His priorities, He can do little with us because He has little of us.