Time

Time.

What do you think of when you hear this word? Is it cliche’ phrases like “time is money,” “how time flies,” “waste of time,” or “running out of time”?

And whose time are you thinking about? Yours or someone else’s?

Something I’ve been personally convicted about lately is my time. Just the nature of that sentence shows you where my priorities. We don’t have time. I don’t have time. It’s all God’s time. He created us and this world we live on and the time we live in. It is not ours and we should not feel as if we can do what we want with it.

In the last blog, we saw that our bodies are an image of Him and we were created to glorify Him with every breath. In this blog I want to show you that time is not your own and every millisecond should be spent glorifying Him, otherwise it is wasted and you are not doing with it what you were solely created for.

Don’t misunderstand. Day to day functions are necessary, I get that. But the point is that when your heart is revolving around the sole purpose of pleasing, glorifying and praising God, all else will fall into place within that. I know that something like washing your hands is not an act of praise to God. Understandable. But the main focus of your energies should be in Him, which will cause all other priorities to be put safely in their place. 

Time we spend doing what we want, rather than what God wants is stolen. What?!?! Am I calling you a thief? Well technically, yes. When we take the life and the time God has given us and use if for anything but His glory, we’re stealing. So many people can be accused of stealing God’s time and they don’t even have a clue they are doing it. Our sinful natures make it so easy to sin.

Exodus 20:15 - You shall not steal.

Most of you just read that robotically and didn’t even think about it. You’ve heard this commandment since you were a child, whether you grew up in church or not. But what we overlook is that there is more to stealing than physical goods. If God created your life for the purpose of glorifying Him and created the time on earth for you to do it in, and then paid the price to purchase your life from hell, then your life and your time is not really your own. It belongs to God. So to take it and use it how you see fit is stealing. 

Stealing can refer to more than things. It’s time, it’s money, it’s effort, it’s energy, it’s desire.

Colossians 1:16 - For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things were created through him and for him.

All things were created by him, through him, and for him. Everything in existence exists because of him and for the glory of him. 

My personal conviction is that I don’t spend enough time studying Him and seeking Him out in the pages of His word. I study and I do my devotions, I read, I listen to sermons in my car regularly, I praise Him and worship Him constantly, but often I’m on my own time schedule - not His. I’m giving Him a time slot in my daily schedule, rather than giving Him all of it and watching what He can do with it.

Don’t fall into the trap of believing you don’t have time each morning for God. It’s a lie from Satan that we are all so quick to believe because it seems valid and because it comes from your own thoughts. God made time to send His son to die in your place; you should be able to find some time each morning to seek Him and learn about Him and grow in Him. 

Give back the time He’s given you.