His Time; Not Mine

Shane Wilson

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Good morning & Welcome to New Hope

Last week we kicked off a new series about everyone’s favorite subject - Me, Myself, & I. When it comes to this topic we never run short on content. It’s what we enjoy spending the majority of our time on. It never seems to get old.

Last week our focus was on talents, gifts, and abilities…trying to make the point that they’re God’s talents; not ours. & 4 dialogue between God & Moses; Moses says, “I don’t speak all that well” and God says, “Who gave you that mouth? Who even gave you the ability to speak? Matter of fact, who gave you those ears, eyes, hands, feet, life? They’re His talents; not mine.

Well…this morning I might have some shocking news for you...

Did you know that each morning your bank credits you with $86,000?

You can do whatever you want with the money but there is only one stipulation

At the end of the day, your account will be zeroed out

Whatever money is left over, that you don’t spend, it will be taken back (you didn’t know & couldn’t spend)

What would you do? You’d do everything you know to do to draw and spend every red cent. You would make sure you put to use; invested; donated; spent every penny!

Well… you do have such an account and it’s called time. Every morning you’re credited with 86,400 seconds. Every night the banker clears any available credits from your account that you failed to withdraw and invest. Your account carries no balance. There are no overdrafts. If you fail to use what you’ve been given, they are lost. There’s no going back. There’s no drawing against tomorrow because that’s not guaranteed.

If you had a bank that credited your account each morning with $86,000 that carried over no balance from day to day...Allowed you to keep no cash in your account, and every evening cancelled whatever part of the amount you failed to use during the day, what would you do? Draw out every cent every day, of course, and use it to your advantage! Well, you have such a bank, and its name is TIME! Every morning it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it rules off as lost whatever of this you failed to invest to good purpose. It carries over no balances, it allows no overdrafts. Each day it opens a new account with you. If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours. There is no going back. There is no drawing against tomorrow.

Our most precious resource is not silver, or gold, or any other type of currency. It’s not our savings, our retirement account, our 401Ks. It’s not our homes, our lake property, our automobiles. Technology is not our most precious resource. And even though time is our most precious resource, it’s probably the most squandered, most neglected, most taken for granted, most under-utilized of all resources.

If I asked for a show of hands...

How many of you would say you manage time well?

How many would say, I have plenty of time in the day to get everything done?

How about, each day I seem to have these extra minutes that I don’t know what to do with?

Seneca the Roman Philosopher is credited with saying… We are always complaining that our days are few, and acting as though there will be no end. We are always acting as though there isn’t enough time, but we live like time is limitless.

Book titled Tyranny of the Urgent there is an illustration of a person with $20 who is going to the store to buy a drill (which costs $17), but on the way they see this really nice set of screw drivers for $3 and a tool box for $4. But when they go to check out with the drill, they don’t have enough money.

Man… our lives are like this. There are these things that we would say are very important - rest, prayer, reading God’s word, family, etc., but yet we find these getting squeezed out because we spend hours on the impulse of unexpected opportunities. “We complain like days are few but we live like time is limitless.”

“We are always complaining that our days are few, and acting as though there will be no end.

I think this thought is captured well in the book of Psalms.

~ Socrates

(NLT)

1Lord, through all the generations you have been our home!

2Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from beginning to end, you are God. (Many translations say, from everlasting to everlasting)

3You turn people back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, you mortals!”

4For you, a thousand years are as a passing day, as brief as a few night hours.

5You sweep people away like dreams that disappear. They are like grass that springs up in the morning.

6In the morning it blooms and flourishes, but by evening it is dry and withered.

7We wither beneath your anger; we are overwhelmed by your fury.

8You spread out our sins before you— our secret sins—and you see them all.

9We live our lives beneath your wrath, ending our years with a groan.

10Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty. But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and we fly away.

11Who can comprehend the power of your anger? Your wrath is as awesome as the fear you deserve.

12Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.

We never get time back. What we do with it is eternal. How we invest our time is more important than how we invest our money. And I believe the best way for us to keep these things in perspective is by understanding that… It’s His time; not mine. He is the creator. He is the author of time. He is the owner. And He is the giver of time. He is sovereign over all things. What God wills, happens. What God chooses comes to pass.

It’s His time; not mine

God is the author of time. He is the owner. He is the giver. He is sovereign over all things. What God wills, happens. What God chooses comes to pass.

(NLT) But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.

(NLT) For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.

(NLT) Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.

(NLT)

That is a sovereign God who’s in control!

So it begs the question… If it truly is His time and not mine, shouldn’t I give back to God what’s rightly his? Shouldn’t I give him my time? Shouldn’t I make Godly things my priority? Shouldn’t He at very least get the first of my time? I believe the answer is - Yes! However, what can happen is a segmented life - this is my God stuff; this is my family stuff; this is my fun stuff; this is my work stuff.

But here’s the thing…I don’t believe that’s exactly what He wants. I believe He wants more than that. I believe what He asks of us isn’t that we segment our lives. I believe He wants it all. But does that mean we should all become pastors? Does that mean we should all join a monastery and do nothing but sit around and meditate day and night?

And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Example: Me as a pastor; I’m in a golf league, kids are very active in sports,

You farm? Fantastic! Do it as a representative of Jesus. Give Him your time.

You work at home? Super! Do it as a representative of Jesus. Give Him your time.

You work in a factory? Beautiful! Do it as a representative of Jesus. Give Him your time.

You retired? Awesome! Do it as a representative of Jesus. Give Him your time.

You in school? That stinks! ;-) Do it as a representative of Jesus. Give Him your time.

What time can you begin giving to God today?

Maybe it’s your work time; family time; fun time