Using Our Time Wisely

"So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12)

The following is taken from George B. Duncan's "The Christian's Use of Time" in "The Keswick Week 1965".  If it was true then how much more so today.

"It seems that Christians are having less and less time for the things of God . . . And in some senses the battle area around which victory or defeat will come to the Christian Church will be the use that Christians make of their time.

"Here are three things that we ought to have in mind when we consider the use of our time.

"We need to heed the passing of time.  The psalmist [Moses] reminds us that 'the days of our years are threescore years and ten' [Psalm 90:10].  That seems like a fair span of time for effective Christian living and service.  But the writers of Scripture were absorbed with the brevity of life.  'What is your life' wrote James.  'It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away' [James 4:14].  And in Isaiah we read, 'Mine age is departed, and is removed from me' [Isaiah 38:12].

". . . I want to suggest that when there is little time, and a lot to be done in it, it is more urgent than ever that none must be wasted or lost.  There may be little time left before Christ returns.  The days are unspeakably evil.  The forces of evil are rampant and powerful.  The resources of evil seem limitless.  The followers of evil are numerous.  The task is colossal; the need is vast.  So let us be aware of the passing of time.

"We need to purchase the time.  The phrase 'redeeming the time' [Ephesians 5:16] is the language of the marketplace.  It is simply saying, 'Buy the time.'  This suggests immediately that we need to face the fact of cost.  If we are to purchase time, to use time, then we have to pay for it.

"The will of God will not only determine the use of my time but it will also differ in the use of my time from the use of your time.

"It is like going to a market and finding various times packaged:  time to study, time to teach, time to pray, time to be friendly, time to entertain, time to visit, time to fellowship, time to witness, time to work, time to care for others.  Here it is, the time that I have, all packaged for me, and I have to buy it.

"What is the price that we have to pay for having time for what God wants us to do?  It is a simple price.  If I am to have time to do what God wants me to do, then the price I pay is to have very little time for anything else.

"There is a terrific amount going on in the world; there are many things we can have; there is so much money that we can spend; and the world that confronts us is such a rich, exciting, attractive, alluring, fascinating world that if we wished, we could fill every moment of our time with any number of things.

"Do not misunderstand me; I am not suggesting that we are to live, as it were, in a kind of holy huddle all of our days and every moment of the day.  I am not suggesting that Christians should not exercise and play.

"The will of God is concerned with the whole person:  with our minds, our spirits, and our bodies.  But unless we discipline our lives, we will not be able to buy the time that is available to do what God wants us to do.

"This is exactly what Jesus Christ said, 'If any man will come after me, let him deny himself [say 'no' to himself], . . . and follow me' [Matthew 16:24].

"We need to consider carefully the pathway through time that we will take.  If time is one of the most precious things that we have, then we need to handle it with care.

"We will not drift along haphazardly.  Carefully, accurately, thoroughly, we will consider the time that we have at our disposal, submitting this to the will of God in the whole breadth of its range, for us and through us.

". . . If we go muddling on, without planning, without thought, without care, without accuracy, without diligence, then we will lose our time.

"Someone once wrote that we are to 'live so as to be missed.'  How many of us are Christians like that?  When we find any Christian who matters, any Christian who counts, it is somebody who has treated the use of his time with great pains.

"God's word to us, and to the Church, I believe, is, 'Redeem the time.'  We have not got very much time.  Days are evil, and life is brief.  The time is urgent.  Do not waste it.

"One day we will have to give an account of the use that we have made of our time.  May God help us to be wise, and not foolish, for his name's sake."