It's Time to Consider Our Time

Mike Hosey, An Elder

All resources on earth are finite. There are no resources that exist naturally on earth that are without measure. Some resources, however, are more limited than others. For instance, just consider one of the resources we put a great deal of value in – money. If you run out of all the money in your bank account, you can make more. Money is replenishable. But only if you have time. And in that sense, it is very finite because eventually everyone runs out of hours, minutes, and seconds. Unlike money, time is not replenishable. You can plant more trees, you can hire more workers, you can dig for more metal, or recycle the metal you have thrown away. But you cannot grow, procure, or recycle time. Once a moment has slipped into the past, it is irretrievable and unreproducible.

The psalmist asks God to teach us to number our days so that we may have a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12). When we realize that time is ultimately and brutally finite, we are more likely to use that time wisely because it forces us to prioritize. Numbering the time helps us to see what is important and what isn't. But unfortunately, we often develop the false sense that we have more time than we do, and because of that, we miss special moments, beautiful experiences, and grand opportunities. When our time is not managed, our lives are not managed, our households are not managed, our walk with God is not managed, and ultimately our hearts are not managed. The truth of the psalmist has a lot of practicality. See how well your day goes when you count your time and reasonably schedule it. When you discipline yourself to do this, you will find that you have time to do many desirable things for which you thought there was no time!

But more importantly, being wise about time helps us to best serve God's purposes and advance his kingdom both in our own personal lives, and along the frontiers he would have us to push. The bible teaches us to make the best use of our time because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:15-17), and you are the warrior God is using to force back that evil!