Jump Start # 1862

Ephesians 5:16 “Making the most of your time, because the days are evil.”

Time—that is one element that every person on this planet has in common. We may not speak the same language. We may not eat the same foods. We may not honor the same flag. We may not understand each other’s culture, faith or politics. But we all have the same amount of time in a day. An hour is the same in America as it is in Europe, as it is in Africa. Time is the same for all of us.

The busy President has the same hours in a day as does the bored teenager. The homeless person who sleeps on the park bench, watching the day go by so slowly, has the same number of minutes in a day as the busy doctor who is running down the hospital hallway because he is so behind. The movie that seemed to go by so fast and the sermon that seemed to drag on are the same with time. The clock doesn’t slow down in church and speed up in the movie theatre. It moves at the same pace. Those that have nothing to do and those who can’t get it all done, the clock moves the same.

Time is an interesting element of life. We can’t borrow time. We can’t make time. We can’t even find time. We can, however, waste time. And once time is gone, it’s gone and is never coming back. A person can pull a couple hours out of today and put them into Saturday. It doesn’t work that way. Time moves the same. Time is the same. Time for that little baby that cries in the night is the same as it is for the aged person who sits alone in a nursing home. The time we wait in traffic is the same as the time we spend at a vacation. Time moves the same all over the world. It doesn’t move faster in the city and slower in the country. It doesn’t move faster on summer break and slower when school starts. It doesn’t move faster when you are doing something fun and slower when you are not doing something fun. Time moves the same. It moves the same worldwide.

Another interesting element about time is that it has not changed since creation. God said there was evening and there was morning and that began the clock that we call life. In Jesus’ day, a minute was the same as our minute. An hour was the same as our hour. The Gospels cover the three years of Jesus’ ministry. Three years is the same as our three years. That’s not long. It takes longer to get through high school than three years. Time hasn’t changed. I wonder if the evolutionist has ever thought about that one.

I have noticed that we can be better with our time. Paul is touching upon this in our passage today. Make the most of your time—would be the same as, “don’t waste time.” His reasoning is simple, “the days are evil.” Get about doing what is good and right. Get about doing things now.

Here are some things to consider:

Being organized helps with time. We can spend a lot of time looking for things, such as car keys, wallets, Bibles because we can’t remember where we put them. Put things in the same place. Paper work, files, running errands, going to the store—can all be more efficient and streamlined if we put some thought into it. Preachers can be very guilty of this. Those that do not have good filing systems or organization with their books and sermons can spend long periods of time looking for something that they stuck somewhere. Develop a system that works for you. Stick to it. Time can be your friend if you use it properly.

Use down times to your advantage. So you are waiting for the kids, or, you are stuck in traffic, use that time. Pray. Have paper with you and jot down some things that you need to do. Making lists will help you stay on top of things and keep you focused.

Churches waste a lot of time. This is especially true when it comes to public announcements. Some places have put a lot of thought into it and it moves very smoothly and professionally. Others are so scattered and long that it puts a dark cloud on the worship that is to follow. Why do the same announcements have to be said at the beginning of worship and at the end of worship? Why can’t some announcements be put in the bulletin and left there? Why do long details about someone’s surgery have to be announced every night of a Gospel meeting? Have the person in charge of making the announcements gather all the things he needs, get them in some order and speak up so everyone can hear. What’s the purpose of having announcements if the person can’t pronounce names or can’t read his own writing or mumbles so softly that few can hear him? Get up there. Speak up. Get to the point. And get on with worship. Announcements are for the church family. It’s really not worship.

Make the most of your time. Do things that are going to help you spiritually. Do things that will allow you to help others spiritually. Don’t put off the hard things. Do you need to apologize? Go do it. Do you need to have that hard conversation with someone? Do it. Have you been meaning to talk to someone about the Lord? When are you going to do it?

View activities in terms of your life’s time table. That certainly has a way of putting a new perspective on things. For instance, you sit down at night to watch some TV. You get caught up in watching some dumb movie. You think several times about turning it off, but you don’t. When it’ s all over, you have traded two hours of your life for that movie. Now if you were at a store and the price of that movie was two hours of your life, you might think long and hard about that. We only have so many hours in us. That thinking can help us in many ways. Is it worth my time, the hours of my life, to do these things?

Be an example, especially to your family and your children of how to make the most of your time. Learning to be efficient, organized, and getting things done is something that is practiced at home. Procrastination, putting off what we don’t want to do, is something that has conquered many people.

It is interesting that Jesus viewed His death as a certain hour. Several times in the Gospels He would say, “My hour has not yet come.” He had in mind Calvary. His hour was His death. He was always aware of that hour.

Make the most of your time. Do that at work. Do that at home. Do that in church. Do that in your life. Someday we will be out of time. God will call us home. It is then that we realize what we have done with the hours that He has given us.

Use this day to honor God. Use this day to better yourself. Use this day to make a difference.

Make the most of your time…

Roger