Making the Most of Your Time
They say that time is our most precious commodity. This saying is true because we cannot get more of it nor can we get it back if we’ve already spent it. In that light David gives us some wisdom stating:
So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:12 ESV
We all have a finite number of seconds, minutes, hours, and days that the Lord grants us. They are a stewardship from him–a gift we are to spend wisely. Each of us has an appointed date with death. We do not know when that will be. Until then, God wants us to use our days for his glory.
Is that how you see your time?
Do you see it as a gift for which you are a steward?
How do you spend your minutes? Where is your focus?
Do you invest time in worship, making disciples, and seeking to advance the Kingdom of Christ?
Where we spend our time indicates our priorities in life. If our priority is our relationship with Christ and following Him in a way that honors God, then we will invest most of our time in that relationship. This pursuit of Christ involves avoiding distractions that take away our time and focus upon Him.
Sometimes our worry burns precious hours that we could use to focus upon following Christ and advancing the gospel. We might also immerse ourselves in fruitless quarrels and controversies with other believers. If you want any examples of this time bandit simply take a look at your Twitter or Facebook account. It’s not always easy to see when we are wasting time. We can make the mistake of focusing our time and energy on good things when God wants us to pursue the best things. Tasks in the day can also become so urgent that we neglect our time with the Lord in Scripture reading and prayer.
So, it’s essential that we exercise wisdom and discernment in how we spend our most precious commodity.
One Puritan put it this way
What will your account of days look like when you stand before the Lord? Will it show wise investments that reflect a Kingdom vision and mindset? Or will you see countless examples where you wasted hours on things that don’t really matter in the scope of eternity?
Use your time wisely today.
Blessings!
Tim McKnight is the founder and President of McKnight Ministries©, the nonprofit parent of Engage Every Generation. He is an Associate Professor of Missions and Youth Ministry and Director of the Great Commission Center at Anderson University. Tim is on the speaking team for Clayton King Ministries. Also, he is the lead pastor and planter of a new church plant, Mosaic Church of Anderson. Tim is the author of No Better Gospel (2017), Engaging Generation Z (Kregel 2021), and editor of Navigating Youth Ministry (B&H Academic 2022).
Tim started ministry in 1991 and has served churches in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama, North Carolina, and South Carolina as a youth pastor, associate pastor, and lead pastor. He holds a B.S. in Criminal Justice from Bluefield College, and a M.Div. and Ph.D. from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. His primary field of study for the Ph.D. was in evangelism, with additional studies in missions and church history. His dissertation was on The Theology and Methodology of Evangelism of George Whitefield.
He served as a US Army Chaplain in the Kentucky Army National Guard, deploying on Operation Noble Eagle (2001) and Operation Enduring Freedom (2002). He is a recipient of the Kentucky Army National Guard Distinguished Service Medal.
He is a husband to Angela, father to Micah, Noah, Karissa, and MaryAnna. The most important thing he would want you to know about himself is that he is a follower of Jesus Christ.
