Text: Ephesians 5:15-20
OPEN:
We're continuing our series called "What If?" It's about exploring the possibilities of making significant changes in key areas of your life. We've talked about forgiving others, changing your thoughts, changing the way you talk, getting rid of worry ... and today we'll talk about taking control of your life, which means taking control of your time. The Bible challenges us to do this. In the book of Ephesians, Paul wrote...
"Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." Ephesians 5:15-17
We're talking today about organizing your life so that you spend most of your time doing what matters the most to God, which should be what matters most to you.
All of us, no doubt, have a lot to learn about how to better organize our lives and how to better manage our time.
I. DISORGANIZED PEOPLE ARE UNWISE PEOPLE.
"not as unwise people but as wise.... So do not be foolish."
When you don't take full control of your schedule, you are living unwisely and creating unnecessary problems for yourself:
1. Wasting time is wasting life.
Your life consists of individual days divided into hours and minutes, and when you spend those hours and minutes doing the wrong things, your life takes the wrong direction. If you lose money on an investment you can earn it back later, but you can never get back wasted time.
2. Wasting time causes you to miss opportunities.
3. Wasting time leads to regrets.
It causes us to look back on our lives and realize that we could have made a deeper impact, become a better person, leave a greater mark.
II. DISCIPLINED PEOPLE ORDER THEIR USE OF TIME AROUND GOD'S WILL.
"So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is."
Allow me to offer four steps toward the rightly managing your time/ organizing your life.
First of all...
1. Build Godly Routines Into Your Life.
A routine is not the same thing as a rut.
You don't have to create a regimen for every minute of the day, but it is a good idea to begin developing habits of behavior that enable you to move in the direction of God's heart.
"In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation." Psalm 5:3
The more we build godly routines into our daily lives, the better use we make of the hours and minutes God has given us.
Here's a second thing that will help you make better use of your time...
2. Give the Best Things Your Best Time.
Psalm 90 is one of the Psalms attributed to Moses. In this psalm he talks a lot about the brevity of life. Then in verse 12 he says ...
"Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12
He's not asking that God will tell him how many days he will live. He's asking that God will give him an understanding of how to best use the limited number of days he has. He is asking the same thing that Paul told us to do: Make the best use of your time. And that means give the best things your best time.
- Is your family important to you? Then don't give them your leftover time.
- Is having a dynamic walk with Christ important to you? Then don't wait to pray and read your Bible until you're too sleepy to concentrate.
- Do you have an important project to finish that requires your full concentration? Then don't schedule it for a time when you know you'll be hounded by distractions.
- Remember our learning about spiritual gifts. Advanced stages of leadership come as a person weakens their grip on things outside their gift mix, and focus their attention in areas of their giftedness.
Give the best things your best time.
Here's a third thing that will help you put Paul's words into practice...
3. Choose a Better Way to Waste Time.
The fact is that we are going to "waste time" at various times of the day. We are going to be less than 100% productive at various times of the day. How you choose to "waste time" -- and I'm using quotation marks here -- makes a big difference in how your life develops.
Spend your "down time" with someone else and see it as an opportunity to strengthen that relationship -- spouse, child, grandchild, friend, coworker, etc.
"Wasting" time with someone you care about is never a waste of time.
Another good way to "waste time" is doing something that causes you to be physically active--adding years to your life and enhancing the quality of your life.
4. Make Sure that What You Do Takes You Nearer the Heart of God than Away From It.
This is the most important component of a well organized life.
There are certain things I won't read, certain shows I won't watch, certain places I won't go, certain people I refuse to be around, because to do so would draw me away from the heart of God.
Here's your litmus test: Whatever you do, do all to the glory of Christ.
CLOSE:
God evidently takes seriously organizing our lives in such a way that we spend most of our time doing what matters the most to Him, which should be what matters most to us.
The way you do this is to:
1. Start building godly routines in your daily life, so that you can make sure the most important things are covered everyday.
2. Set priorities for your to do list, so that the best things are done at the best time.
3. Make an effort to use the idle moments of your day in such a way that they strengthen important relationships and enhance the quality of life.
4. Be intentional about allowing into your use of time only that which draws you nearer the heart of God.
What if you were to do this? What if you were to organize your time in such a way that each day takes in the direction God has given you? What would happen? Instead of looking back on your life and saying, "I could have been somebody," you'll be able to look back and say, "God, thank you for all that you've enabled to accomplish with my life. It's all for your glory."
(Dr. Dane Fowlkes)
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