Make The Most Of Our Time

Brothers and sisters, are you time-conscious? Some of us are great planners while some of us are more relaxed about how the day goes. Some like to finish their work in advance, while others do their work at the last minute. We all have different ways of dealing with our time. But by nature, we are not time conscious people. That is why when we are young, our parents have to set schedule for us to eat, to study, to play, to get to bedtime. And in school, we have a timetable for the different periods and lessons to attend. And some of this mould us into people who are better at planning our daily schedules while some do not. However, today, the time consciousness we are talking about is not merely that of doing the many tasks and work in life, but knowing the value of what we are spending our time doing. Without truly seeing the value of the time given to us, we may either waste away our time doing nothing, or wasting our time doing some thing needless. And precisely because we cannot turn back time like what we watch in the movies, if we do not value the time we have in our roles and our relationships, that is where regrets, guilt and accusations come in. However, making the most of the time we have is not something we do by our own efforts. It has to come with understanding, testing and affirming God’s timetable. Just as schedules keep us focused and intentional in what we do daily, God’s timetable also helps us regulate what we should value and spend our time in different areas of our lives.

Following God’s timetable brings humility.

God has a time and plan for everything in our lives and He wants us to participate in the journey of it. The truth is, God’s plan may not always be the same as what we want for ourselves. Like Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Sometimes, we may have wait on a prayer for long, but a timetable is not even given. Or the time has come for us to let go of certain hurts and shame but we do not do so, we will not be able to move forward for what God has lay ahead for us. When God tells us to rely on Him or to resist certain inclinations but we just let sin take charge, our spirits will weaken over time and our joy in the Lord, our confidence in prayers and our courage before men will be robbed away. We must know that God works in many different way but He always uses some situations or circumstances through time, to set certain truths deep down into our hearts. Therefore it requires us to really turn to Him, seek His guidance and be humbled down to follow His leading of how He convicts us. Whether to stop, to wait or to act. This is really a matter of our hearts and not what happens or not on the outside. God has timetables set so that we will grow to understand that God’s way is ultimately, the best way, and we can rejoice in obedience. Brothers and sisters, God’s ways are effective and complete. Nothing can be added in or taken away in His plans.

Continue to seek God’s timetable

But at times, we may feel that the time is not here yet, or we have lost our passions with God, so we just wait, focus on our own things instead and let our emotions take charge. However, regardless of what God’s timetable may be, we should continue to seek God’s will to do what is good, if not, it is sin in God’s eyes. As James 4:13-17 says, “Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.” It is not for us to know the exact timetable of end times, but we have to be filled by the power of the Holy Spirit to be a witness to the people around us. We need to pray and move alongside God’s timetable. Now, there was a time in the past where I was lamenting about my numbness towards God. I came to church and I hear the words of the sermon but it does not get in, and I try to pray but it becomes lip service only. I suffered spiritual dryness for a long while, till I realise the cause was my lack of internalising and testing or approving the word all areas of my life. When I started being more intentional about seeking God, I saw how He was vibrantly leading and giving me grace in the littlest of things. So you see, when we do not continue to seek God’s timetable, we will easily just doubt, lament or get disappointed with God. But sometimes, God’s timetable can include some struggles either for God’s glory through our refinement, for testifying God’s grace sustaining us in our distress, or some actual healing to take place.  Later on, I saw my similar struggles being experienced by others around me and I could share messages relating to their woes. When we continue to affirm God’s will in things, we will have hope and spiritual motivation even as we are in our darker seasons, knowing God’s way is the best way and we are walking right on it.

How to seek God’s timetable?

But then you will come to the question, how can I seek God’s timetable then? When I am lost, doubtful and strained from life, how can I still find out what He wants to lead me to do?

Get Your Walk With God Right

Firstly, there is no other way I can emphasize more than to first get your walk with God right. This means to really commit yourself and all your decisions and inclinations to God’s sovereignty. Then, immerse yourself in the right and blessed environment that does not tempt you to rush into your desires or fall into certain recurring weakness. This blessed environment can only come from one that puts you right before the scriptures of God. So, be it devotions, bible reading, quiet time in different time of the day or coming to church and listening to a sermon, do that. When we are always looking the the right “map and following a compass”, we will eventually understand the route and the way forward and beyond.

Relook at your circumstances

Now after being in the presence of God and His truth, we need to re-look and re-understand our struggles and problems in the light of God’s leading. Have we objectively look at the whole situation? How does it truly impact us? What is our focus in the whole matter? There was a time where I had just graduated with my science diploma. I did not do well and I was not sure I want to continue. So I was thinking, “oh no, what are my family and friends going to think of me?”, “what if I can’t get anywhere?” Or “what if I am going to work in a job I hate for the rest of my life?” I had all these worries that seem so big and important and life-changing. But looking back, I was too absorbed by my own ideals and fear of judgment that I did not see how God could lead me better than I could myself. So later, yes, I got out of the science track, but I got into preschool teaching and that paved the way for me to serve in Sunday School and create spiritual contents for the little ones and I am very contented now because I affirm this is exactly where God wants me to be and I want to be. So when we are right with God, when are in sync with His truth, the way we see things around us and all our situations have a meaning, have a plan behind it and we grow in wisdom and discernment to what is happening to and around us.

Counsel from the God-loving

Of course, there will still be times where we are just stuck. We may not know God’s leading and we are unsure if our convictions are of our own or God’s. At these moments, we can also seek advices from the God-loving, like our cell group leader, pastors or spiritual leaders in church. It is often helpful to seek their counsel and maybe get a different angle at seeing a situation. And if not, getting more people to pray for you is always great when we are facing some struggles.

Commit the outcome to the Lord

Finally, we have to ultimately commit and trust the Lord with the outcome. If we have truly understand God’s heart, we will know that His concern is not with the results, but the process we went through. Whether the result is what we had hoped for, if we did it whilst putting up a fight with our flesh and growing in our faith relationship with God, that is victory in spirit. That is a win for us against the forces of darkness. As Proverbs 3:5-6 couldn’t have said it better, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.”

Brothers and sisters, our time in this world is truly limited and instead of seeing it as the world sees, let us be reminded never to outgrow our need to pray, gather and stay firmly planted patiently in the Lord’s work. God bless.