“Be Careful How You Live”
Ephesians 5:15-17
You may have noticed that many of the major news magazines put out a special issue at this time of year to recall the highlights of the previous year. Some of these include articles written by experts who make predictions about what they expect to see happening in the future. Some of these have been accurate while others couldn’t have been more wrong.
For example, one of those predictions was that at the turn of the century, technology would have taken over so much of the work we do that the average work week would only be 22 hours and that we would only need to work for 6 months out of the year. The prediction was that as a result, our biggest problem would be trying to figure out what to do with all of our leisure time. As Dr. Phil would ask, how’s that working for you?
Most of the men and women I talk to are working more hours than ever and have very little leisure time. In fact, most of us are too busy. We are always in a hurry. We walk fast, we talk fast, we eat fast and then when we finish we stand up and say, excuse me, I gotta run.
So today we stand at the beginning if a brand new year, January 1st 2012 and I wonder how we will do this year. Will we be as busy? Will we make better use of our time? Paul gives us some advice in this passage. Listen. Ephesians 5:15-17. The first thing Paul tells us is this: we must be very careful how we live because our time on this earth is limited. Brief.
Psalm 39:4 "Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered, and that my life is fleeing away.
Psalm 90:10 The length of our days is seventy years-- or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
I realize for some this morning that 70 or 80 years sounds like a long time. When I was in my 30’s I remember I thought my Father was ancient. After all he was 64 and then he died that year and I realized he was actually very young. It’s all relative. The psalmist tells us to number our days and then he gives us a reason…so that we will always develop a heart of wisdom.
I read an article this week titled “Dead Ahead.” It tells about a new clock that keeps track of how much time you have to live. You enter your information, DOB, height, weight, whether you smoke or not and then it calculates how many seconds you have left to live. Mine said I have about 472 million seconds. That is about 15 years. Doesn’t sound like very much and then I had another thought…you and I are not guaranteed even one more day. Our time of this earth is brief. It is limited. The 2nd thing Paul tells us is this. Because our time on this earth is brief we must make the most of every opportunity. Again he gives us a reason. Make the most of every opportunity because the days are evil.
Jesus said that Satan is a robber and a thief and trust me now one of the things he loves to rob us of is our time. Because time is a very precious possession. So he tempts us, he distracts us and we lose time. So we should never waste it.
One of the things that happen to all of us is that too often we get too caught up in the here and now and we forget about the things in life that really matter. Life makes a lot of demands. Even good things can be very demanding.
In the gospels we find the story of Mary and Martha. Their brother was Lazarus. They lived in the town of Bethany. When Jesus passed through that area he would sometimes stop and stay with them. On one of those occasions Jesus was in their home. He sat down to teach and Mary was sitting at His feet just soaking in every word. Meanwhile Martha gets upset because Mary isn’t in the kitchen helping. So Martha complains to Jesus and says Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself. Tell her to help me! Jesus responds by saying Martha, you are worried and upset about many things but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her. This is what I believe this passage says to us. There are many good things in life. We can choose to focus on them. However, many of them are still a waste of time. We must learn to focus on the best things. It wasn’t wrong for Martha to be in the kitchen making a meal. In fact that was a good thing. It just wasn’t the best thing. The problem was that Martha was so preoccupied with what she was doing that she forgot that God was in her Living room. And that’s the same mistake you and I make almost every day. We get so caught up in the now that we forget about the eternal.
Dr. Richard Swenson wrote a book called Overload. I highly recommend it. In the book he discusses one of the main reasons our lives have too much anxiety and stress. He says that most of us are just plain overloaded. Think about it. (1) We are overloaded with commitments. We don’t know how to say no. And as a result we meet ourselves coming and going. (2) We’re overloaded with possessions. Our garage is full, our closets are full. We’ve gone into debt to pay for all of those things we must simply have. (3) We have an overload in the area of work. But we have to work to pay for our possessions. (4) There is an information overload. Dr. Swanson says that as a medical doctor he has to read 220 articles a month just to keep up with all the changes in his field. So we are overloaded with work as well. You get the picture???
Paul gives us a final word of advice. Time is limited. Make the most of it. (3) Understand what the Lord’s will is. Let me give you 4 things to think about in this new year.
1. Establish some priorities. One of the primary reasons most of us waste time is that we spend too much time deciding where to start. Let your #1 priority be your relationship with Christ. That’s going to affect everything… your decisions, your schedule, your whole outlook on life. For instance decide today that on Sunday mornings you will get up and be here for worship. Because you will not make the right choice if you wait till Sunday morning to decide.
2. Schedule some time every day to pray and read the scripture. Set a time and do it.
3. Spend more time with your family and close friends. Put away the computer, cell phones, TV and spend some quality time together.
4. Give your employer an honest day’s work. Christians ought to have the strongest work ethic of anyone.
Finally, Paul gives us one more piece of advice. 3. Learn how to live for today. Don’t worry about the past. Don’t worry about the future! Live for things that are eternal, right now!
Someone said, “Life is what happens to us while we are making plans to do something else.” Unfortunately it’s true. The writer Gary Freeman tells about a girl who went to college and she just hated it. But she told herself, "If I can ever get out of college, get married and have children, I know I’ll finally be able to enjoy life."
So she stuck with it. She went to classes every day and finally graduated from college. Then she got married and settled down, and discovered that children are a lot of work. So she told herself, "If I can just get these kids raised, then I’ll be able to relax and really enjoy life."But about the time the kids were entering college, her husband said, "Guess what? We don’t have enough money to send our kids to college. I guess you’ll have to get a job."
Well, she didn’t want to, but she knew he was right and they needed the money, so she went to work. She did not enjoy it but she told herself, "When these kids get
out of college, and the bills get paid, then I can quit work and really enjoy life." Finally, the last child graduated from college, and all the bills were paid. So she walked into her employer’s office and said, "I quit." He said, "Oh, you don’t want to quit now. If you stay with us just another 5 years you’ll have a pension for the rest of your life."
She thought, "Well, I don’t want to work another 5 years, but that’s a lot of money there. I really can’t turn down the opportunity." So she worked for another 5 years.
Finally, she and her husband retired at the same time. They sold their home and bought a little retirement cottage. They sat down on the swing in their front porch
and looked at the family picture album and dreamed about the good old days.
Someone said, "Life is what happens to you while you’re making plans to do something else." True, isn’t it? Another year has come and gone. A new year is right before us. What will you do with it?
