Dear Friends,
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. [Ephesians 5:15-16]
Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. [Psalms 90:12]
These two scriptures talk to us about TIME!
As much as we don’t like to think about it, our days on earth are limited. Yes, as Christians, we have the privilege of being saved and the blessing of eternal life – the
guarantee of spending eternity with the Lord. How glorious! However, we have a clock on our lives and with this awareness, God desires us to place great value on
our time.
How do we spend most of our time? Is it school, work, family commitments, taking care of the home, making time for friends, leisure activities? Our busy daily
schedules and routines make it easy to make God just an add-on in our lives. We love Him but somehow, other things are prioritised; they seem more important,
imminent and urgent. “God can wait – He is not demanding like all the other things I have to deal with,” we say to ourselves. That’s the assumption we can make – if we don’t walk closely with God and are not in a relationship with Him.
When you look at your life and schedule, no matter how impossible or challenging spending time with God might seem, you will make time for God if He is important to you. In Matthew 6:33, it says: “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Here, the Lord is saying that you must seek Him first. ‘First’ means ‘coming before all others’ and also ‘foremost in position, rank or importance’. God wants to be at the top of the priority list, not at the bottom, not even in the middle. When we do this, a blessing accompanies it. He says, “And all these things will be added to you,” which includes all our anxieties about our daily needs. God knows what we need; all we need to do is pursue His Kingdom and righteousness. He will take care of everything else. Child of God, trust His word and His promises!
Making this shift is not always easy – it takes discipline and the Holy Spirit’s help. How can we make time for God a habit and embed this time into our already busy
and crammed routines and everyday lives? A big part of this includes learning to bring our time under control. In Jesus, we have the perfect example – He was
exemplary at bringing His time under control. Do you know, there is nowhere in scripture where we find that Jesus was in a hurry, was against time or didn’t have
enough time? Nowhere!
On the contrary, He was very unhurried. What strikes me particularly when I study the life of Jesus is that He was present in every moment – in whatever He was
doing; so much so, in John 11:1-7, He didn’t even allow the death of His close friend Lazarus to change His focus or pace.
Wouldn’t you agree that we need to follow Jesus’ example? We must slow down, control our time, and reorder our priorities. Let’s put God in His rightful place – put Him first and in the centre of our lives. Let’s give Him our love, our time, our attention. He deserves it! As you do so, I pray that God will continue to care for you,
bless, protect and provide for you in Jesus’ Name.
Every blessing,
Pastor Sherry Owolabi