MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR TIME

I. YOUR TIME IS NOT YOUR OWN.

You have been bought with a price, you are not your own, your life and therefore your treasure, your talents, and yes, your time belongs to Christ to be used for His glory.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Do you not know that you are a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price (the blood of Christ); therefore glorify God with your life.

1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God. And that includes the use of our time.

II. YOUR TIME IS TO BE USED WISELY NOT FOOLISHLY.

Are you growing in wisdom in the use of your time?

Psalm 90:12 Because life is so brief, so passing David asks the Lord to teach us how to number our days (to make the most of our time) that we may get us a heart of wisdom (so that we may grow in wisdom).

Are you using your time wisely or foolishly? Are you making the most of the time God has given you to accomplish His will?

Ephesians 5:15-17 Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

The management of your time is the greatest barometer of your control by the Spirit. 

Only the Holy Spirit’s control of your life and therefore of your time can put things in priority and bring the balance and harmony in your life that God intended.

IV. YOUR USE OF TIME IS TO ACCOMPLISH GOD’S PURPOSE FOR YOUR LIFE FOR HIS GLORY.

We need to quit patterning the use of our time after this world. We need to be transformed by the renewing of our minds in this matter of how we use the time God has given us.

Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and prove what God’s will is for your life.

Are you accomplishing the “good works” you were created in Christ Jesus to accomplish? Are you fulfilling God’s purpose for your life or somebody else’s?

 Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which he has beforehand prepared that we should walk in them.

V. YOU HAVE ALL OF THE TIME IN THE WORLD YOU NEED TO DO THE FATHER’S WILL. IF YOU DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TIME, IT IS FOR ONE OF THREE REASONS.

1. You are doing too much.

It is very easy to become overly busy, almost convinced that God is impressed with how much we are doing and He's not. He is impressed with who we are and what we are accomplishing for His glory.

Our problem is that we confuse activity and accomplishment.

2. You are doing the wrong thing.

Notice I did not say bad thing. There's no decision in Christian experience to differentiate between that which is good and that which is evil. That is not where your hang-up comes. It is pretty clear, this is right, this is wrong.

The real maturity in the Christian life comes in when you have to differentiate between that which is good and that which is better, between that which is better and that which is best.

Doing the wrong thing means doing what God has not called you to do.

3. You are doing things in the wrong way.

Most of us operate under the principle of pressure rather than the principle of priority.

Don't' be controlled by the 'tyranny of the urgent." The urgent is what scuttles the doing of the important, because the urgent I've got to do right now.

You can't measure the full impact of the life of Christ until you see its results.

Don't ask God to give you more time. Ask Him to help you use the time He has given you more productively.

1. Pour eternity into time.

Live each day as if it were your last. Accomplish daily what God has called you to be and to do in the home, in the workplace, and in the church.

2. Plug the leaks.

Evaluate your use of time. Write a journal of your daily activities. It will shock you how much of your time is “non-productive.”

3.  Learn to say no. 

In order to say yes to what God wants you to do, you are going to have to say no to other things, good things, attractive things; things you would certainly enjoy doing.

4. Relaxation, recreation and physical activity is not wasted time.

God has not only given you a soul, He's given you a body. And it is the temple of the Holy Spirit and it needs to be cared for.

5. Pattern your use of time after Jesus Christ.

The pattern for the Christian life is not other Christians, and it certainly is not the world, it's Jesus Christ.