We all live in time. But we must learn how to become friends with time, and not enemies of time. The ability to befriend time is called patience. The ability to use your time well is called efficiency. We need both.
Jesus was efficient. He made the most of every day. He taught, he healed, he cast out demons, he raised the dead, he loved people. Sometimes he travelled, sometimes he stayed in the same place. Sometimes he preached to crowds, sometimes he sent the crowds away and ministered to a handful of people. Before Jesus spent three years of intense ministry, He spent decades as a carpenter, but that was also time well spent.
Time is not measured in years, Methusaleh lived to be 969 years old and only got 4 verses, Jesus lived to 33, and got four books! Time is measured in accomplishments. So a big secret of success is to learn how to use time well. You cannot change the past, but you can change what you do right now and change your tomorrow.
I have a reputation of being able to get things done, so I am fairly regularly asked to speak at pastor’s conferences and Bible Colleges on time management. I always find that phrase strange – time management – because you cannot manage time. No one has ever prayed so hard they got 25 hours in a day, or even 62 second in a minute. I would love to be able to manage time – just give myself an extra 2-3 days a week, and that would be a game changer! No, you do not manage time, you are given time as a gift, you manage what you do in that time.
You know what wastes time in our house – choosing what film to watch! Ever spent more than thirty-forty minutes trying to decide what film to watch – you could be half-way through a film, but you are still watching advert after advert of what is in each film, trying to decide from that which one is best! That’s fine, but many Christians live their life like that – they are telling themselves when I finish uni I will serve God, when I get married I will be happy, when I own my own home I will give to the kingdom. Rather than starting watching the film of their destiny and doing what God told them, they are watching preview after preview and never doing God’s will.
That attitude will not lead to success – you are not doing because you don’t think your time has come. Jesus told his disciples that there is no time to come, it’s time right now (John 7.6). You do not have to wait for an event before you start living for God. You can live for God right now. It’s your time – it’s your go – so do something.
We used to have a plum tree in our back garden when I was growing up – sometimes I would pick a plum from the tree before it was ripe. If I did that, it will never ripen. I broke the power of ripening through impatience. If I had waited, that plum would have been good, but it wasn’t, it was sour. We sour things God has for us by pulling them off the tree too early. Abraham had a promise of a child, but Ishmael was obviously not the way, and became a very sour event in Abraham’s life. Many of us, including myself, have started ministry or businesses or plans too early, and it became sour because we were not ready. We did not wait for the Lord to promote us, we promoted ourselves and it all went wrong.
Meanwhile, others are letting the plums over-ripen and fall off the tree to the ground, never to be eaten either. So we need God’s wisdom when it comes to timing. If what God is calling you to do is clearly beyond your reach, don’t sit on your hands waiting for a miracle – prepare. Spend hours with the Lord praying in tongues, studying His Word, stand against satan, support others who are doing what you are dreaming of doing. Then when your time comes you will not fall apart. Time like this is always preparation time – can you go get education, can you serve God in a certain way, can you use some of that time honouring your father and mother, can you serve another ministry, can you start tithing, giving, saving, can you train others, can you just say thank you to some people.
The biggest key to becoming a friend of time is developing good priorities – put family above work, put church above your rest time, entertainment and hobbies – and conferences and fixing your house and your car and boat and whatever else it is It is easy to forget what is important, so leave time for prayer and meditation to help you remind yourself over and over again.
Another key is know the destination. I was in a town once, and I found out a friend of mine happened to be in the same town. We agreed to meet for lunch, and discussed restaurants, and decided on one called Bobby’s. I got there early and waited and waited and waited, finally my friend called and said where are you – I said in Bobby’s, he said no you are not. After some back and forth, we found out there were two restaurants in different parts of the town with the same name, and very similar logos! What we thought was the right destination was not. We must have a clear dream of the future, a clear scheme to get to that dream, so that time is not wasted on things that do not somehow bring us into that dream.
Now don’t feel condemned if you have wasted time, but ask the Lord how to help you be more patient and more efficient. If you are reading this, you are alive, so there is still more time for you. Jesus did not enter ministry until he was 30, Moses when he was 80. Zechariah and Elizabeth thought their ministry was over, until she got pregnant – and they were very old! Make a step today to befriend time, and get something done.
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