Managing Your Time for the Glory of God

First off, I’d like to thank Zach for allowing me to post on his blog. In my

opinion, it takes a lot of courage to post things online, people aren’t always going to agree with what you have to say, but some might be impacted by the words you speak. I am the latter, and am very glad to have Zach as a close friend and brother in Christ.

While we all had many differing events occur throughout our year, we all had one thing in common: time. We had 365 days, which translates to 8,760 hours, which translates to 525,600 minutes, which translates to 31,536,000 seconds. If you think of the past year as 31.5 million seconds, that seems like a lot of time. We all have to manage our time, and we all can choose to a certain extent how we spend that time. Surely, each and every one of us can think back to some events this year in which our time was very well spent. On the contrary, you can also probably think of some days where you let time slip away. As I write this, I must acknowledge that I am not a great time manager, far from it! But maybe through this article you can relate to ways with which you waste your time and how you might further your walk with God in becoming a better manager of your time. Time is a gift from God and we must use it wisely. Without further ado, let’s look into some common facets of life in which time is wasted and how we can combat this and be more productive for our Lord and Savior.

1. Television

There might be no greater innocent form of wasting one’s time than television. Assuredly, we’ve all had days that have just tired us to the core, we open the door to our house and nothing sounds greater than plopping down on the couch and watching an episode, or two, or twelve of our favorite Netflix series. Let me make this clear, television is not a bad thing. It is a very nice way to relax, maybe even spend time as a family. But when a good thing becomes an ultimate thing, that’s a problem, or as Pastor Ross Shannon appropriately puts it, an idol. From January till October, I watched approximately 3 hours of tv a day. Maybe some of you can relate to this. Keeping that average on a 365 day year, that’s 1,095 hours of tv a year and that number could probably be placed closer to 1200-1300 hours thanks to my kryptonite, college football. I can promise you, I did not spend 1200 hours in the Word of God this past year, I did not spend 1200 hours praying this year, but I managed to spend that much time watching tv, all of which will be irrelevant within 3 years. Most importantly, none of the stuff that was watched is going to matter when I am dead. If an unbeliever were to see this in a pie chart, I don’t think it would take a genius to see when it comes down to it, God is not first in my life. That is convicting, it is not easy to admit, but there is no point in pretending that this is ok. In his book Don’t Waste Your Life, John Piper brilliantly expounds upon television as being a great time waster. He addresses banality as a problem with tv saying: “A mind fed on tv daily diminishes. Your mind was made to know and love God. Its facility for this great calling is ruined by excessive tv. The content is so trivial and so shallow that the capacity of the mind to think worthy thoughts withers and the capacity of the heart to feel deep emotions shrivels.” I think he hit the nail on the head there. Calling tv trivial, of little importance is definitely how it ought to be viewed, but yet we put it on this magnified pedestal where it does not remotely belong. I can’t count how many nights that I’ve been watching tv and I start to feel tired, it always seems at this time I remember that I haven’t spent any time in the Word that day and the battle of Garrett vs laziness takes place (I’m sure many can relate here). How often do I let myself make pitiful excuses to avoid spending time with God and instead watch the last 10 minutes of a basketball game I won’t care about the next morning! Television should not be regarded as important and God as trivial, but this frequently happens within our hearts. I’m not saying to cut your cable. My plea to you is that television be viewed in the proper perspective as it ought to be. Don’t let it be a massive wall between you and your relationship with God, or worse, don’t view it as a pebble in the way when it is that massive wall.

2. Sports

Somewhat synonymous with tv for a lot of us guys, sports is an area where a lot of time is spent in our lives. Watching it, talking it, playing it, coaching it, even dreaming about it, sports plays a big role in my life and a lot of my friends’ lives. Once again sports are great. It gives us a great opportunity to thank God for the bodies He’s given us that allow us to run and throw and kick and jump after a ball. We can glorify God in the way we conduct ourselves in whatever sport we’re playing. Sports are a great way to make friends. In our lives, how often do we let sports drive the conversations we have with our friends though? I could talk about sports all day (many a relative in the Gleason and Beckwith family can testify to this). Most, if not all, the time when I go to church and begin a conversation with my friends it starts with sports, not God. It’s a great aspect to talk on, it allows for easy going comradery, but does it potentially get in the way of our true common bond, our being united by the blood of Jesus Christ. For you, it might not be sports, it might be fashion, family, your kids, a plethora of other things. As believers in Christ we’ve minimized how awesome and encouraging it is to fellowship with one another by talking about the Gospel that has saved us and how Christ is sanctifying us. If we got a call from our favorite celebrity, or the President (highly doubtful he fulfills the aforementioned) we would be telling everybody about it. How come we fall so short in the area of talking about what matters most within our lives?! Perhaps it’s because at the core of our heart and soul, Christ doesn’t the matter the most. Sports, or whatever it is that you enjoy doing most, like tv, must be placed at a proper perspective in our lives, it’s a great thing, but it shouldn’t be where we find our identity.

3. Sleep

Reading this one you probably think I’m crazy, not denying that whatsoever. Sleep, as anyone can tell you, is a wonderful gift from God. I love to sleep. Sleep is great, it is so refreshing, everyday we can awake from our sleep with new hopes and expectation for the day that lies ahead. Sleep is a unique way that God reminds us that we are dependent upon Him, as said by CJ Mahaney in his book Humility: True Greatness. God does not need sleep, He is always watching over us, we, on the other hand, are dependent on sleep. If it were not for this provision of God, we would psychologically go off the deep end. Sleep is something we ought to be thankful to God for, and strangely enough sleep can be a great way to waste time. I’m 17 and at this point in my life, I sleep a lot. Sleeping in feels wonderful, and on the days when I have to wake up early to go to Mott, I come home and take a nap. I can imagine parents reading this right now sighing and saying those were the days. As with the other two things in this list, sleep is a good thing, a very good thing. I’m not chiding sleeping in every once in a while, it can refresh your batteries and maybe as a result you’ll give thanks to God. But we should pay attention to how much we sleep, excessive sleep can be sinful. I’ve had a lot of mornings where I’ve hit the snooze on my alarm to get 10 or 15 extra minutes of sleep because I really don’t want to wake up and spend time in the Bible. 15 minutes of daydreaming later, I open my eyes and tell myself that I’ll do my devotions later that night, only to go downstairs and start watching some tv. Sound familiar? Sleep is a subject that you might not think about when it comes to your spiritual life, and if you don’t agree with me that’s ok. Personally, I’ve found it to be an area where I’m extremely selfish with my time. Often, I crave sleep more than I long to spend time in prayer or reading my Bible. Sleep is a wonderful thing, but it can also be a way in which we waste time and avoid things that need to be accomplished. Proverbs 6 is a great passage to read regarding God’s view of sleep.

In conclusion, this is merely meant to help you think about how you’re spending your time every day and how you could better that time for the furtherance of your walk with God. None of us are perfect time managers, but that shouldn’t stop us from trying to make the most of the time we have on this earth. Tv, sports, sleep; all great things. All things that we can thank God for and use as tools in our ministry for Him, but that’s all they should be. They ought not to be the focus of our lives, for this life is not our own. It is God who dwells in us, and it is for Christ we live. Maybe the best thing to do after reading this is assess your life and how you spend your time, and do this honestly. Maybe this coming year you can start small, cut out 30 minutes of tv a day or wake up 10 minutes earlier to spend time in prayer, normally it takes 3 weeks of daily repetition of doing something in order to form a habit. I encourage you to try for 3 weeks to take a small step towards managing your time better, only you know how that can be applied in your life. The best thing you can do is pray and rely on Christ to help you be a better manager of His time He’s given you on earth. If we come into this with a mentality that we’re going to do this on our will power, rest assured, we will fail. Finally, if you see improvement in your life, thank God for that increase. It was not your doing, it was His. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:10). As this new year comes, let’s be more productive with our time for the kingdom of God which is at hand, and thank Him when He allows us to use our time in a way that glorifies Him.