Time Management: The Clock Is Ticking Series

The Clock Is Ticking

10/4/98 Psalm 90 Luke 6 46:-49 Stewardship Of Time

When we hear 10, 9, 8,7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, when we get to zero, we all expect something to happen. It might be an explosion of a bomb going off, or it might be the final seconds of a game before we burst out in joy over our victory. There is the end of something and the beginning of something else. From the moment we are born, we are assigned a clock which is ticking. We like to think the clock is ticking in our favor. When we see a little child, we think, that child has seventy or eighty years ahead of him or her. The reality is, the child is losing time at the rate of 86,400 seconds each and every day.

By the time the child reaches 35, the child will have 500 days left to live. This 500 days is based on subtracting the time spent sleeping, working, tending to personal matters, hygiene, odd chores, medical matters, eating, traveling and miscellaneous time stealers from the next 35 years. When we think of stewardship, we often think of money, but time is something God expects us to be good stewards of as well. How we spend our time is going to be of tremendous importance when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

Have you ever heard someone say, "I would like to read the Bible but I just do not have the time." If you were to read the bible from Genesis to Revelation at the speed of someone doing the Scripture reading it would take seventy one hours. If you broke that down into minutes and divided it into one year, that means in only twelve minutes a day, you could read the Bible from cover to cover.

How many of us who do not read the Bible, can honestly say to God, God I just do not have twelve minutes a day to devote to your word. I have to talk on the phone, I have to fix my hair, I have to watch TV, I have to get some rest. Now God one of these days I am going to get around to it. The days will turn into weeks, the weeks months, the months years. Some of us will die having never read the entire word of God.

Part of being a good steward according to God is to study the word of God so we can apply its message to our lives. Part of our problem as Christians is we are holding on to errors and beliefs about how to behave in a given situation which are totally against the word of God. Too many of us are doing what we think is right, instead of doing what God has told us to do in the Bible.

Jesus put it this way, "I’m getting tired of hearing you call me Lord, Lord when you will not do what I say." We go around all the time, "Lord, I need this. Lord will you help me over here. Lord I’m in need of a miracle. Lord I need your wisdom. Lord I need more patience. Lord, help me to get a raise."

If we are going to call Jesus Lord, let’s do what Jesus says to do. Jesus is not impressed with us showing up for church once in a while. The devil comes to church every Sunday just to try to keep some of us from hearing what God wants to say to us. Jesus wants to get in on the inside of us so that He can change our way of thinking and doing things.

When Jesus finished preaching, there were people who would come to Jesus and say, "Lord, boy that was really a good sermon today. You really told it like it was." Jesus would say, "Well are you like rock or like the sand." The person would say, "What do you mean like a rock or like sand." If you are a rock, you are going to go back home and to your job and put this message into effect. If you are like sand, this message is not going to do you a bit of good.

Think of how you spend your time. Are you spending your time on the rock or on the sand. All the time wasted on sand is just wasted. I want you to meet Raoul. Raoul was a young individual who came from a very poverty stricken background. Raoul was determined when he grew up, he was not going to be poor. His kids would have the good things of life, and his wife would never suffer as his mother suffered to make ends meet. Raoul worked hard in college and went on to get his MBA. Everybody who met him would say, now that’s somebody that’s going somewhere. One day that guy is going to make it big.