Making Time Count
For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. NLT
Ecclesiastes 3:1
Asking the Time Questions
There are three important questions that a person should ask if they are to take advantage of time. The first question is obvious for the most part and rather simple to remember. How will I spend my time? While this question is forthright, it poses some significant challenges to those who fail to recognize and respect time. First, time is not only precious, but also irreplaceable. You can spend it however you wish but you will not get a refill, refund, nor will you get a retake. When it is done, it is over. As the late Dr. Benjamin Mays (former President of Morehouse College in Atlanta GA) worded it so eloquently in the poem, The Minute.
I have only just a minute, Only sixty seconds in it.
Forced upon me, can’t refuse it. Didn’t seek it, didn’t choose it.
But it’s up to me to use it. I must suffer if I lose it.
Give account if I abuse it.
Just a tiny little minute, but eternity is in it.
So, how you spend your time becomes a critical question that will mark your life as a success or failure. Herein lies the problem and another question. What are my priorities in time? By asking this question, the time user is forced to recognize what really counts. There are a lot of things that may seem to be important, but when you weigh them on the right scale, they fall short of what really matters. This verse in Ecclesiastes helps us understand that life is not a checklist to be completed, but rather an adventure to be experienced. So many people read Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 as if it is some to-do list and miss the whole point of the message. For instance, the meaning of a time to be born and a time to die is not about spending all your time being born nor looking at death your whole life. It is about the time in between. There must be a priority placed on living if we are to make time count.
Let me give you the first example of missing priorities by introducing you to Lot’s wife. Jesus said bluntly in Luke 17:32, remember Lot’s wife. What about Lot’s wife and why is that so important to living? We can guess at what happened to her, but one thing is obvious, she looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt. (Gen. 19:26) Mrs. Lot did not place a high priority on spending her time. While she should have been fleeing the destruction, she thought it was more important to ignore the warning and look back anyway. There are many who are following that same trend of looking back into the past as if something will change by such an endeavor. You are wasting your time if you think you can somehow find your future by looking into your past. While you probably won’t be turned into a pillar of salt, you will become so immobilized that your time will be wasted. The priority of life and time is to live today in anticipation of tomorrow.
Solomon gave us a key to establishing the right priorities by referencing “the seasons.” For everything, there is a season. How does that relate to priorities? If something is in season, then it should become a priority versus something that is not in season. There is a time to grieve and a time to dance, but neither should take up all our time if it is not the season for that. The warning is that we pay attention to life and time because they are constantly changing. You must not do the same thing all the time or you will certainly miss the priority as well as miss the season that God has granted you.
This introduces us to the third question regarding time. What do I have to show for my time? As Steven Covey would say, this is basically your eulogy. What would you want people to say about you and the life you have lived? I’ll take it a step further and ask, what would God say about you and how you have used your time? While considering it as a personal question, it does have eternal implication. Solomon suggests this when he uses the term ‘under heaven.’ What you do in time matters in eternity and it is highly significant in the eyes of God.
Some people make the assumption that if they have material possessions, that will demonstrate a successful use of time. Others assume that it’s the amount of trophies on the wall or victories on the battlefield of life that will account for time. Such thinking can not only cause you to fall out of favor with people if you obtained those things in a dishonest manner but can also cause you to fall out of favor with God. A classic example is the rich man and his barns in Luke 12:16-21.
What do you have to show for you time?
Many of us admire the life of the rich and famous and we often comment, “see how God has blessed them.” That is not always the case. The rich man had plenty when it came to material gain. As a matter of fact, one particular year, his crops were more abundant than they had ever been. Perplexed as to what to do with his crops, the man lost track of his time priorities. All he could think about was finding somewhere to store all his goods. He finally arrived at what he thought was the perfect solution: build bigger barns. Immediately God responded to his suggestion by saying, “You fool, this night your soul shall be required – then who will get those things you have worked for.” Luke 12:21 really gives the reason why God rendered such harsh punishment. The New Living Translation says, “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.” Wow! Let’s get this straight – the guy spent all his TIME making money but made no time for God. He spent his whole life thinking he was winning by getting more and more, but in the end lost it all. He had nothing to show for the life he lived except stuff and barns. I don’t mean to be personal, but is that you? Are you falling into that same time trap of getting more just to lose it all?
Let me contrast that with Jesus Christ. Although he owned everything by virtue of Him being the Lord of Glory, our Lord owned nothing as He ministered for thirty three years on earth. By His own admission, He said, “the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His Head.” In other words, He was homeless. Yet in Heaven, He lived in a mansion.
While He owned nothing on earth, that did not stop Him from using the time that His Father had given Him. Jesus said at the age of twelve, “I’m on the clock.” I must be about My Father’s business. Jesus borrowed the boat belonging to Peter and Andrew in order to teach the masses of people, but then He told them to “launch out into the deep for a great catch.” The catch was so great that their nets began to break. The point is Jesus did not place a priority on owning the boat but building relationships. He then called Peter and Andrew to be His Disciples.
Jesus never boasted of owning things as a way to show how you were using your time. One day while teaching the multitude, the people got hungry and would have fainted if they returned home in that weakened state. What did Jesus do? He borrowed a little boy’s lunch of two fish and five loaves. Having blessed them, our Lord fed a multitude of five thousand plus returned the favor with twelve baskets full of bread and fish. The multitude went home that day with a new understanding of Jesus as the One who works miracles. The little boy went home with a new understanding of how much Jesus can do with his little portion. Time is not about getting but about sharing.
Jesus did not own a horse or donkey, but when He entered Jerusalem as their king, He sent His Disciples to borrow a donkey in fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9. He told His Disciples to tell the owners “The Lord needs it.” Imagine that? The Lord who owned the cattle on a thousand hills plus the hills, now asking to use a donkey. Yet that was Jesus way of teaching us humility. So, my question to you is why are you working yourself sick trying to get rich and then you have to turn around and pay money just to get better. Quit thinking that the more stuff you have is proof of your time. It is not what you get in time, but it is what you give and how you give of yourself to God that really counts.
Not only did Jesus borrow a boat, a lunch, and a donkey, but He also borrowed a tomb. Probably one of the most significant signs of wealth in Biblical times was to have a sepulcher (or grave) to be carved out of a rock. Joseph of Arimathea had purchased this “new tomb” perhaps for his family but used it for Jesus burial. Most commonly, poorer Jews were buried in the ground, but Jesus was royalty and would make His grave with the rich in His death. (Isaiah 53:9). It was borrowed, which meant that Jesus did not plan to stay in the tomb. On that third day morning, the stone was rolled away in order to inform the world that Jesus had risen from the dead. Jesus not only taught us a valuable lesson about borrowed things, but about looking at life past the grave. We too will die, but death is not final for those who trust in the Lord.
So, the question remains, what will you have to show for your time? Silver and gold will not be able to testify in God’s court. Time will be your prosecutor. But if you have trusted in Jesus, He will be able to represent you and vouch that you spent your time with Him. Jesus is really all you need to make your time count.