Spending Time

Eph 5:15-16 “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.”

ATTENTION: CrossWord Supporters

MEMORANDUM: CrossWord Bible Ministries Inc. is conducting an experiment with the first 20 readers today. The first 20 people to sign the attached application will be able to participate in a month long scientific experiment that will pay you $168.00 a week for one month. The only stipulation is that every cent that you spend of the $168.00 will have to be accounted for via receipt and all receipts will be turned in to CrossWord Bible Ministries Inc. for scientific evaluation.

Of course, there is a catch and the catch is that the memorandum above is not true. If it were true, then most everyone would jump at the offer. I know that I would! Even though it is not true, I can pretty much determine the results of the experiment. From an analysis of the receipts I could place people in one of two categories:

Category 1 - those who spent the money wisely
Category 2 - those who squandered the money foolishly

God has given to each one of us 168 hours in every week. Each one of us will fall in one of these categories as to how we are spending our time. We are either wise and “making the most of our time” or foolish and squandering our time. “Making the most” is translated from the Greek word exagorazo. Exagorazo actually means to ransom or rescue from loss. We are to rescue the time that we have been allotted from being lost, because when time is lost, it is lost forever. Listen; there is nothing further away from you than one minute ago. You can never gain time that has already past, once it is gone; it’s gone for good. There is a sense of urgency involved in rescue. When someone needs to be rescued from a burning building, firemen do whatever it takes to rescue that person. Time is of the essence! If the building falls, then the rescue is unsuccessful and the person in need of rescue is lost. The heightened state of urgency during a rescue is the same urgency we should have for the time that God allots for each one of us. We need to do whatever it takes to rescue our time from loss! But how is it that we are to rescue our time? Verses 17 and 18 of Ephesians 5 tell us exactly how we can rescue the time that God gives us each day. A moment-by-moment commitment to “Understanding what the will of the Lord is” and being “filled by the Holy Spirit” is the way to rescue the 168 hours a week with which God has entrusted you.

The only way that you will ever know what the will of the Lord is to get down and dirty in the Word everyday. Everything that God wants you to know about His will is in His Word. If you don’t know what the will of God is then you have not been “making the most of your time” by “accurately handling the Word of truth.”

Apart from walking by the filling ministry of the Holy Spirit, there is no rescuing the time. In 2 Corinthians 5:10, Paul talks about our deeds as being worthwhile or worthless. Anything that we do apart from the filling ministry of the Holy Spirit is worthless, because it is done in the power of the flesh. Time spent in worthlessness is squandered time. On the other hand, anything that we do in the power of the Spirit is worthwhile, profitable, and wisely spent time.

In which category do you place yourself? Do you “make the most of your time” for the Lord? Or do you squander the time that God gives you to fulfill His purpose? It is pretty cut and dry!! You have 168 hours a week to live for the Lord Jesus Christ!!!! You can either walk as a wise person or unwise person!!!! You are either rescuing your time with a sense of urgency because God’s plan is important to you, or you are squandering your time because your plan or someone else’s plan is more important to you!!! Don’t be foolish, “make the most of your time" by "understanding what the will of the Lord is" for your life, and fulfill it by walking in the filling ministry of the Holy Spirit.