Using Time Wisely

​Stewardship 2                                                                                                             LSB #’s 901, 903, 411
Text – Psalms 31:15
 
Using Time Wisely
 
 
This is the second message in our stewardship emphasis, Living Wisely in an Unwise World.  Last week we heard about “Following God’s Wisdom,” & today we’ll hear about using our time wisely.  The text for today reads: “My times   are in Your hand…” 
Let’s pray:  Heavenly Father, we thank You for the gift of time.  Help us to use our time wisely.  Enable us to keep You first in all areas of our lives & to find our rest in You.   In the name of Jesus our Lord.  Amen. 
John & Tracey Taylor were a couple in their early-to mid-30s with children, Stephanie & Anthony, ages 7 & 3.  Both parents worked full time outside the home, & took turns driving the children to school & child care,  in addition to Stephanie’s piano lessons. 
It seemed that the Taylors were always in the car.  They felt they should’ve been born with wheels as they ran from one place to another.   When they had an evening at home, they had to take care of all the things necessary there – laundry, chores, shopping, the yard. 
Both wished they could spend more time with their children, but, if they have time when they came home in the evening, they’re too tired to enjoy it.   John teaches Sunday School, & Tracey is a Stephen’s Minister at the church they attend.  They both want to be more active in their church, but it’s more & more difficult to find time. 
Each of us has our own variation of that story.  Over a lifetime, we spend an average of one week sitting at traffic lights waiting for them to change.  Some days it seems like all of that all at once.   We will spend the equivalent of a few days of our lifetime opening junk mail.   We’ll spend weeks at meetings. 
And the busier we are, the more we’re tempted to imagine how important we are.   The
busier we are, the more important we think we are to other people.   It can be tempting to believe that if we’re so busy, we are unavailable, that is a sign of our success & our importance.  And there are many good things competing for our time. 
Of all the gifts God has given, time is one of the most valuable.   It’s an investment that our Creator makes in us, to use in loving Him & in serving others.  He created time in the very beginning, as we hear in Genesis, “…there was evening & there was morning – the first day.”  (1:5b ESV)   Yahweh still rules over time even now. 
We are given 24 hours or 1440 minutes every day.   Each moment that the heavenly Father gives to us is to be used to honor Him with our thoughts our words & our deeds.  When we recognize that Jesus has erased our debt to God, then we recognize the value of the time we’re given.  Then we use it to serve our Lord & to serve our fellow man. 
Choosing how to use time is not easy.  There are so many godly opportunities staring us in the face.  There are so many options, so many possibilities.   In this materialistic culture, it’s easy to spend our time on things & activities rather than on people. 
God gives us freedom to choose how we spend the time He gives.   We can abuse it, we can waste it, we can misuse it, or we can spend it accomplishing God’s purpose for us.  Every single day is a gift.  In fact, someone said, “That’s why it’s called the present; because it’s a gift.”  When someone gives you a present, it’s yours to enjoy, to appreciate & to use. 
St. Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:15, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”  Since the days are evil, we want our time to make this world a better place to live.   We want to give our time to God, to our fellowman, to our families, to our friends, & to ourselves. 
The Psalmist said that, as long as he had life & breath, he would use his time to praise
the Lord.  Solomon authored Ecclesiastes & reminds us in chapter three, “For everything there is a season, & a time for every matter under heaven.”  (3:1 ESV)    All of us have the gift of time, right now.  Along with that gift comes the responsibility to budget our time wisely. 
When children are young, parents commonly give them an allowance to help them learn responsibility.  If they see something they like, & it costs more than their allowance, they have to figure out how they’re going to get that item.  It’s called budgeting.  They learn to budget their money in the same way we learn to budget time to accomplish the greatest good. 
If I spend all my time on social media, then I have no time for family & friends or getting things done that really need to be.  If we’re not sure how to budget our time, we might start by making a list.  Make a list of the important people in your life.    Make a list of the important things that you need to do. 
Then list the optional things – the ones that aren’t quite as important – things you would “like” to do.   If we have no guidance we’ll be like a ship without a rudder, bouncing all over the place & not going in any particular direction.  Do you ever wonder where all the time goes?  Maybe you are that ship without a rudder, bouncing all over the reality we call time. 
We so easily become sidetracked by insignificant things.  We can always find a reason for putting off the phone call for later.  We have good intentions about sending a card or a note or messaging someone, but there are other things that seem to have greater urgency.  Doing so many insignificant things gives no time for God, for our families, for ourselves.  
We may be working too many hours, too many days, too many nights, too many weekends.   Then we’re busier than God intended us to be.  Remember the story of Mary & Martha?  Mary was the one who took the time to sit at Jesus’ feet.  She listened to His teaching.  Martha was preoccupied with all the things she thought she had to take care of, because she had such a short period of time in which to do them.  There are many occasions that Jesus would love to have us sit at His feet, just to learn from Him, to have His grace & His mercy exposed to us, but we’re so distracted by all the other things.  Maybe they’re even important things, but as important as Jesus? 
In a book called Margins, the first thing that Dr. Swensen mentions in managing our time is to expect the unexpected.   Do you expect the unexpected when you plan your days   or do you cram them so full that, if something pops up, nothing will work out right?   All of us have days when things don’t work the way we thought. 
If someone was late, the babysitter didn’t arrive on time, you forgot where the keys were or had a flat tire, or the check didn’t come in the mail, you felt more & more stressed.  Maybe we need to take a look at all the commitments that we’ve made.  Could there be too many?  
If God were your appointment secretary, what would He do with your schedule?  Would He book you from morning to night non-stop, or would He include some free time?   What would He take out of your schedule?  What are some of the things He might add?  Jesus knows that, because of sin, we have trouble establishing priorities. 
We know we should have priorities, even what they should be, but, somehow, we struggle to keep them straight.  In fact, we cannot make things happen as they should by ourselves.  That’s exactly why God sent His Son Jesus: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful & just to forgive us our sins & to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  (1 John 1:9 ESV) 
Having received God’s forgiveness, we have time to set our priorities straight.   Every new day is a gift from Him.  When we fail to use our gift, we repent of our failure, & we are covered with the blood of Christ.  Then we start all over again – the next hour or the next day – with His power & His strength, knowing that He’ll be there every step of the way.  He’ll be our companion, our guide, our friend each day along the way.   Of course, Satan tempts us to think Jesus doesn’t have anything to do with this, or He can’t relate to all that we struggle with.  However, that’s exactly why Jesus became a human being – to experience the same problems that we do.  His days were so crowded sometimes that there was no time for Himself. 
People even anticipated where He would go, & they’d get there ahead of Him.  When He got there, they’d want to know more things, they’d have more demands & more needs & more expectations to be met, so much so that He didn’t have time for Himself.  At times the disciples & Jesus were so bombarded with people they didn’t have time to eat. 
You know what those days are like.   Jesus said to His disciples, “Come with Me by yourselves to a quiet place to get some quiet rest.”  (Mark 6:31 NIV)   So, they went away in a boat by themselves, not just to get away from it all  but to get spiritual rest,  rest that comes from God Himself, rest that comes through prayer & from reflecting on Him & His mercy & grace for us. 
To the crowds who were also stretched & hassled & helpless Jesus said, “Come to Me, all who labor & are heavy laden & I will give you rest.”  (Matthew 11:28 ESV)   This is more than just a chance to get away from it all, but true rest, the kind that refreshes, rest that encourages, rest that comes from Christ Jesus Himself. 
In the 3rd commandment, God commands us to set aside time for rest – spiritual rest.  When we find that in His Word & Sacraments, then we are renewed & strengthened to serve Him & those around us.  He is the One who brings true rest to our lives from all the hectic times & all the hassles going on. 
Yahweh offers His grace & His mercy to every single time in our lives, so we are not so stretched, not so bent out of shape.  Even when we’re so busy we don’t have time for Him, He always has time for us.  He’s never too tired, never exhausted, never slumbers or sleeps.  In fact, He gives His very self as He gave Himself for us on the Cross.  He gives strength & courage for every single day.  He gives you & me hope to take on all the things ahead of us & energy for each task along the way.  Using our time wisely begins with God & finding our rest in Him. 
Sometimes we’re so busy doing good things, serving others, working in the church  that we neglect our families, wear ourselves out, become resentful, & find no rest, no peace.  We’ve forgotten about God’s design for the Sabbath Day.   He gives us not only permission, but the command to keep the Sabbath holy, to stop our busyness, to be renewed by the grace of God. 
Jesus died for all of our sins including the mismanagement of time.  It’s not our time, but His.  The Psalmist said, “My times are in Your hand...”  (31:5 ESV)    If they were in our own hands, we’d be in big trouble.  Yes, all of our times are in the hands of God.   Even when going through difficult times in life, we can say along with St. Paul:
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Romans 8:38-39 ESV) 
Knowing that our Savior is always there for us, that He loves us, cares for us, & guides us, that enables you & me to say that we trust in Him.  Yes, my times are in Your hands oh Lord.  May God keep us that way in Christ Jesus.  Amen. 
 
 
Hosanna to the anointed King, to David’s holy Son!  Help us, O Lord; descend & bring salvation from Your throne.    Blessed is He who comes to us with messages of grace; He, in the Lord’s name, comes to us to save our fallen race.   This is the day the Lord has made; He calls the hours His own.   Let heaven rejoice, let earth be glad & praise surround the throne.  Amen.  LSB 903:3-4, 1.