Is your time God’s?
What does it mean to “Give your life
to Christ”? This is a strange
saying. Christ is the one with abundant
eternal life. Shouldn’t you rather get
your life from Him? The purpose of this
document is to explain how you can go about doing that, and it’s ramifications
for how you manage your time (your life).
After all,
what is your life? Your time and money?
Your money will disappear, but you will always have time. You will live eternally either in heaven or
hell. You have plenty of time. The question is what you do with your time in
this life.
Eph 5:15-17
15 Be very
careful, then, how you live-- not as
unwise but as wise,
16 making the
most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
17 Therefore do
not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's
will is. (NIV)
Colossians 4:4-6
(KJV)
…Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be
always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer
every man.
Your time and God’s will
Eph 5:15-17
15 See then
that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
16 Redeeming the time, because the days
are evil.
17 Wherefore be
ye not unwise, but understanding what the
will of the Lord is.
(KJV)
Time
management, or time stewardship, is referred to in the King James Bible as
“redeeming the time”. Notice the
conceptual link between it and understanding what the Lord’s will is. You need to redeem the time, so that you can
understand His will.
The world is busy. They do not make time for Jesus’ life to
overtake and replace their own. They do
not make time to seek him by reading his word and hearing his voice.
Romans
12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by
the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.
(Whole Chapter: Romans
12 In context: Romans
12:1-3)
An atheist
who decides to read the Bible could read about God’s will, in the general sense
of God’s will (i.e. “do this and don’t do that”). What about his “perfect will”? This is something only a person with a
transformed mind can test and approve (Romans
12:2).
Ephesians 2
10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in
advance for us to do.
Which works? The ones he “prepared in advance for us to do”. This is the positive aspect of
God’s will for your life. If you focus
on doing His perfect will, you will not have time to sin.
The will
of the Father
Understanding
the Lord’s will for your life/time is important unto salvation. Jesus said:
Matthew
7:21
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom
of heaven, but only he who does
the will of my Father who is in heaven.
(Whole Chapter: Matthew
7 In context: Matthew
7:20-22)
Matthew
12:50
For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven
is my brother and sister and
mother."
(Whole Chapter: Matthew
12 In context: Matthew
12:49-51)
I have
divided understanding the Lord’s will for your time (or life) management into four
component parts that will be explored in this document:
Questions:
1.
What
is “your life”?
2.
What
is the Lord’s will for your life?
3.
Time
Stewardship
4.
Are
you scattered?
1. Your Life?
Dying to live
Matt 10:37-39
37 "Anyone
who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who
loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
38 and
anyone who does not take his cross
and follow me is not worthy of me.
39 Whoever
finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses
his life for my sake will find it.
(NIV)
Side Note: If you lose your
life, you are dead. Here is the same
phrase above, “loses his life” used elsewhere
in the Bible of physical death: Judg
18:25 And the children of Dan said unto
him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows run upon thee, and
thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy household. (KJV)
Dying for Christ?
We usually talk about “Living for Christ”. However, He wants you to die first. He does not want partial followers. He can only take over a life that has room to
be taken over. Making room for Christ to
dwell in you requires dying to your own life.
A man is either dead or alive, and no points in between. Now read this similar passage with death in
mind:
Matt 16:24-26
24 Then
Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny
himself and take up his cross and follow me.
25 For
whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
26 What
good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?
Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? (NIV)
Is this death a one time event? What
are dying to? Evil deeds only, or everything—our
entire life? Now read this similar
passage with death to the self-life
in mind:
2 Cor
(
Mark 8:34-37
34 Then
he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone
would come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me.
35 For
whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for
the gospel will save it.
36 What
good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?
37 Or
what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
(NIV)
So, dying to the bad and keeping the
good parts of our life (or selves) is not what Christ is talking about. He’s talking about continually trading your
life in for His: by dying to your
self-life. His call is beyond religious
self-improvement: Deciding for yourself what is good
and bad—and trying to avoid the bad. He
calls us to literally follow Him.
The Christ-Directed Life:
John 12:24-26
24 I
tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.
But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
25 The
man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this
world will keep it for eternal life.
26 Whoever serves me must follow me;
and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who
serves me. (NIV)
The Christ-directed life can only follow
the death of a participant. This is not
a symbolic death. Wouldn’t that make it
easy if it was? Christ clarifies how
real, behavioral, and daily this
death is for His followers.
Luke 9:23-25
23 Then
he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
24 For
whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me
will save it.
25 What
good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? (NIV)
With this command comes the offer of
daily direction:
Matt 6:9-11
9 "This,
then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your
name,
10 your
kingdom come, your will be
done on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give
us today our daily bread. (NIV)
Notice what verse 26 of the passage
above does and does not say:
26 Whoever serves me must follow me;
and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who
serves me. (NIV)
It does not say, “where my servant is,
I will also be”. This is to emphasize
that only Christ directs the new life.
Many have the idea that they have Jesus in their pocket and He’s there
to help them do what ever they want—as long as they decide that it’s a “good
thing”. They are trying to please God from
far away. Many refer to this
human-centered approach of pleasing God as “Religion”. However, Jesus died to live through us—but only
if we die daily and receive his life in exchange. This is true life, and a true loving relationship with God.
The
only good thing: the Christ-Directed Life
Christ places no confidence in our
ability to decide what is good:
Ps 53:1-3
1 The
fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, and
their ways are vile; there is no one who
does good.
2 God
looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who
understand, any who seek God.
3 Everyone
has turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. (NIV)
Christ does not want us to decide what is good, and take our pick from thousands
of options. Why trust the self when
Christ Himself is available for daily direction? Besides, everything that is good is not God’s
will for your life. You can’t live a
thousand years. The question should not
be “is this good?” or “what is good?” The question should be “What is God’s will for me today, or right
now?”.
Matt 6:9-11
10 your
kingdom come, your will be
done on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give
us today our daily bread. (NIV)
In fact, below Christ does not even
care to answer about what is good.
Matt 19:16-22
16 Now
a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"
17 "Why do you ask me about what is good?"
Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life,
obey the commandments."
18 "Which
ones?" the man inquired. Jesus replied, "'Do not murder, do not commit
adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony,
19 honor
your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'"
20 "All
these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"
21 Jesus
answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give
to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
22 When
the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. (NIV)
He instead directed the questioner
back to the real issue: Leaving his
self-life and following Christ.
Mark 10:17-23
17 As
Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him.
"Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal
life?"
18 "Why
do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good-- except God alone.
19 You
know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do
not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'"
20 "Teacher,"
he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."
21 Jesus
looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go,
sell everything
you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
22 At
this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23 Jesus
looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for the rich to
enter the kingdom of God!" (NIV)
Perhaps the listener interrupts with
his comment, since Christ’s list of commands is conspicuously uninclusive. In His next chance to speak, Christ goes
beyond stating that obedience to God’s moral law is all that is required to
inherit eternal life. He requires the
man to “follow” Him. In addition to the
“do nots”, He offers the positive hope of a “do”.
Once the man’s obedience to God’s commands
is established, Jesus is willing to discuss God’s will for the man’s life
personally. Notice that the following
quote was not the first thing Jesus told him.
It was made clear that the man was responding to the revelation of
Christ that he had the opportunity to receive before Christ gave him more
revelation.
20 "Teacher,"
he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."
21 Jesus
looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go,
sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven. Then come, follow me."
Notice that Christ did not say, “no
you have not kept the commandments”. He
said that the man only lacked one
thing. That was a personal command: Christ speaking directly to the man**. He loved the man—the man was obedient to what
he knew—the moral law. He came seeking
more knowledge of God’s will. The Lord
responded as He always will to those seek Him:
With the direction they need to follow Him:
James
1:5-8
If any of you lacks wisdom, he
should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault,
and it will be given to him.
Luke 11:9-13
9 "So
I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock
and the door will be opened to you.
10 For
everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door
will be opened.
11 "Which
of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?
12 Or
if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?
13 If
you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask
“Him!" (NIV)
Notice Christ pattern offering
direction, and how focused it is on the word of God. Christ Himself quoted scripture* to answer
the man. Christ’s answer was essentially
“obey the scriptures”. This man,
however, had already apparently read and obeyed the scripture. Therefore, Christ moved on to offering
direction at a more personal level: A
command for that man specifically**.
These same kind of personalized
commands are available to us today. They
are the basis for the Christ-directed life.
For more on this topic of Hearing God’s voice speak directly to you, you can read my e-book entitled Hearing God’s Voice.
Let’s review Christ’s pattern of
offering personal direction with a diagram:
You should start with number 1, and
go from there. It is not clear whether
the young man in this passage ever followed through to the bull’s-eye (4th
step) of this diagram. It is left
nebulous. I guess it remains to be seen
for all of us whether we will make it to the bulls-eye, or how long we will
stay there. This bull’s eye is the
Christ-Directed life.
This diagram and this teaching of Christ-- is crucial in understanding salvation. The man wanted to know how he could be sure that he would inherit eternal life. This is how Christ responded. How do you respond when someone asks you that type of question? Do you have them repeat a Christian mantra (A “sinner’s prayer” that is not in the Bible) after you-- and then tell them that they saved forever because of it?
2. What is the Lord’s will for your life?
In case the text and the diagram did
not make it clear, let’s look at another passage that explains this link
between time-management and knowing the Lord’s will. [brackets contain my writing]
Luke 14:25-33
25 Large
crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said:
26 "If
anyone comes to me and does not hate [love less than me] his father and mother,
his wife and children, his brothers and sisters-- yes, even his own life-- he
cannot be my disciple.
27 And
anyone who does not carry his cross and
follow me cannot be my disciple.
28 "Suppose
one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the
cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?
29 For
if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it
will ridicule him,
30 saying,
'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'
31 "Or
suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first
sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the
one coming against him with twenty thousand?
32 If
he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way
off and will ask for terms of peace.
33 In
the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
(NIV)
Here Christ encourages potential
followers to count the cost of discipleship—in terms of not only of time
management, but everything management.
However, the link between time and money stewardship are illustrated by this parable of
the tower: One must count the cost of
time and money required to complete a tower, before he even sets out to begin
building a tower.
Christ did not try to trick people
into becoming Christians. He laid the
hard truth out before them and asked them to consider it before they even began
to follow Him. He wanted to let them
know upfront that they would continually devote all their time and money to
Him.
While that command in verse 33 might
seem vague, He provided the general model diagramed above, as well as a whole
bible full of ideas on how to deny yourself and follow Him.
John 10:27
27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know
them, and they follow me. (NIV)
He has also given his Spirit and/or His voice to direct us in this path of
obedience to the Father’s scriptural and personal commands.
3. Time Stewardship
Time-management is a humanistic or
human-centered term which implies that we are the manager of our time. To the disciple, Christ is the manager, and
we are the steward. A steward carries
out their manager’s personal commands only.
They do not invent ways of handling their manager’s resources
independent from Him. I hope this
analogy penetrates the truth of the above scriptures to our daily life. Indeed, we should only spend our time and
money on things Christ has told us to do.
Let me qualify that last statement
with some other scriptures which balance it.
I will address a few necessities of life which may be exceptions to this
rule.
Working for a living
Some respond to the scriptures
presented by quitting their job and reading the bible all the time. This may not be a bad idea—because they are
including their job with the “everything” that they were commanded to leave for
the sake of following Christ. If God
told them personally to do it, I would not question it. However, we must all keep these passages in mind.
Sleeping
Notice
how this scripture balances those immediately above.
Ps 127:1-5
1 Unless the LORD builds
the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.