Chapter 14: CONVERTERLATING YOUR TIME
Part 15:
While we are living in this world, each one of us has twenty-four hours each day. That
doesn't seem like so much until you break it down and
discover it represents 1,440 minutes! That's a lot of
minutes … and we all have the same amount to use. We
may have different talents, and the amount of treasure
varies from person to person, but we all have the same
amount of time. And the basic question I have for you here is: In what ways are you
using the time God has given to you in this world? Think about that for a few of your
valuable minutes. Really! What are you presently using your time for? Are you
frantically trying to cram in all of your commitments? Are you spending too much time
on frivolous things? Are the things you are pursuing bringing you joy–or exhaustion?
And if you are honest, how much of your time are you using up on perishable pursuits,
and how much are you investing in God's kingdom for eternal purposes?
Longevity of life is not really the issue here. Some people live very long lives and never
accomplish anything of significance while others accomplish a great deal in a very short
amount of time. What is important is that we accomplish what we are supposed to in the
amount of time we are given.In many ways, time is like money. I didn't say time is money, I said time is like money. It
is a resource, a valuable one at that, and it is available to us to use in whatever way we
choose.
With money, we all have fixed expenditures: housing, utilities, food, clothing,
transportation. Many of us choose a standard of living that uses our money. We don't
often think about it in this way, but it's true. After we pay for our fixed expenditures,
whatever is left, what I call "discretionary," we use on entertainment, eating out,
vacations, and hopefully, ministry. All of this requires decisions.
The same is true of our time. We all have fixed "expenditures" with our time: a certain
amount of sleep, regular work, eating, including whatever preparation is needed, and
obligations to our families. The time we have left we see as discretionary, we can
"spend" it on whatever we choose. However, one important factor to consider is that the
lifestyle standard that we currently have for our "fixed" expenditures, whether that
expenditure is money or time, directly affects what we have "left over."
If I have a lifestyle that requires a lot of money, there isn't much left over for anything
else. If I have a lifestyle that requires a lot of my time, either for work or even a lot of
"stuff" to maintain, I won't have a lot of time for other important things. So we see that
our discretionary time is also directly affected by the choices we make regarding our
fixed commitments. We often feel like we don't have any choices, but we always do. Are
we thoughtful, disciplined, and intentional with our commitments, or are we just letting
them happen?
What possibilities has God put in front of you to use your
time for him? Do you see the potential in your
circumstances to converterlate your time into eternal
treasure? Or is all of your time wrapped up in your own
obligations? Do you often postpone making decisions aboutyour time commitments, not because you are being reflective, but because you don't want
to really make any changes? Do you put off something really important because
something less important takes your focus off of God's call to you? These are important
questions! Either we want to converterlate our time … or we don't.We know that time in this world is a perishable commodity. It is going to run out for each
one of us at some point. Our time will have no real meaning in the eternal world, but
what we do with it now does have an impact on eternity. In the 1960s, Charles Hummel
wrote a book entitled, Tyranny of the Urgent. The basic premise of this book is that the
most urgent task is not always the most important. The tyranny of the urgent lies in its
distortion of priorities. We must evaluate the use of our time not by what is most urgent,
but by what is most important. We need discernment to converterlate our perishable time
into something imperishable. And we will only have the wisdom that we need for that
evaluation if we depend on God and his Word to guide us.
It has become increasingly clear to me that the only two things that will survive the
perishable world are the Word of God, which endures forever, and the souls of people,
who will live in one of two places for all of eternity. Jesus Christ came into this world to
save sinners. When he left this world physically, he left us, his followers, to reach our
respective generations with the good news of salvation. One of our responsibilities as
believers is to be ambassadors for Christ. The apostle Paul made it clear when he said,
"We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through
us" (2 Corinthians 5:20). Each one of us is an ambassador for Christ in one way or
another. Our mission is to introduce people to the person of Jesus Christ! How are you
using your time to make this happen?
We all know, at least on an intellectual level, that this present world is passing away with
all of its attractions. However, why is it that we often don't embrace this reality until we
experience a personal crisis? For me, I came face to face with the shortness of my days
when I was diagnosed with cancer. It forced me to evaluate the priorities in my liferegarding the use of my time. I needed to reconsider my commitments in light of the
perishable and imperishable, the temporary and eternal.
In many ways I was using my time to pursue my own kingdom. But as I studied God's
Word, I began to see the opportunities before me to make a difference in God's kingdom.
I discovered that I needed to use my time to invest in the things God desires.
In the Old Testament we read, "Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of
wisdom" (Psalm 90:12, ESV). As our relationship with God develops and we soak in his
Word, he reveals more of himself and
his plans for us. As we flow with the
Holy Spirit, he empowers us to
accomplish God's purposes. God, as the
great designer of the entire universe, has
a perfect plan for each one of us. He is
the one who knows how we should use
our time and what will bring us joy.
Transformed KingdomNomics thinkers
remind themselves that we have a
limited amount of time to make an
impact on this world and the world to
come. Our natural desire to simply spend our time on the values of this world must be
transformed into a desire to make a difference in eternity.
Beware: The Chief Consumerlator Wants Your Time
At the very most, Satan wants to use our time for his benefit, and at the very least, he
wants to keep us from using our time in the way in which God wants us to. The Chief
Consumerlator will use whatever means he has available to keep us from doing God's
will. We must remember that time is a currency that needs to be invested in the right
things.I have found that many people attempt to find fulfillment in life in the wrong ways and in
the wrong places as they follow wrong pursuits. They
think that the pleasure of this world, whether it is found
in relationships, work, recreation, or pastimes, will
provide the meaning in life that they so desperately
wish to experience. Often, time used in this way simply
results in disappointment, disillusionment, regret, depression, or even despair.
One of the priorities we often fail to make time for is our relationships. Time invested in
people will always reap dividends. However, many people make the mistake of investing
their time in things that offer an immediate sense of satisfaction, but that in the long term
damage their relationships with those who should be the closest to them. An example of
someone who fails to properly converterlate their time into establishing relationships is
the business person who consumes too much of their time on a career at the expense of
their marriage and family. No one lying on their deathbed ever said they should have
spent more time on their business career in exchange for their family relationships. The
regret is the other way around. They wish they had spent more time with their loved ones.
We need God's wisdom to avoid falling prey to Satan's subtle deceit.
The book of Isaiah tells us, "If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy
the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will
become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a
sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered
garden, like a spring whose waters never fail" (Isaiah 58:10–11). When I think of a "well-
watered garden" or a "spring whose waters never fail," I think of something with vitality
and creativity and beauty. If I apply this metaphor to a person, I think of someone who is
energetic, and focused, and alive. Are you that person? Or are you a sun-scorched garden
or a spring that has gone dry. I encounter a lot of people who are tired. They are busy.
They are weary. And they are frustrated that their lives are not producing anything of
substance, let alone something that will last for all eternity. Satan has confused theirpriorities. The Chief Consumerlator will make you too busy and will find a way to rob
you of your joy and life if you are not careful.
The Chief Consumerlator will also use guilt to immobilize us. I'm not referring to the
good kind of guilt that brings us to repentance for our sins. I'm talking about the false
guilt that is simply fear of disapproval. Sometimes people experience false guilt when
they use their resources for anything other than God's eternal purposes. The question
people often ask me is: How much time can I use for "myself"? They are referring to the
discretionary time that we discussed earlier. There are many good things that we have to
enjoy: TV, sports, entertainment, social media. The important thing to remember here is
that there is not a formula for using our
time. It is critical that we evaluate on a
regular basis how we are using our time,
but we also must know that God leads each
one of us differently in each chapter (or
season) of our lives according to how he
designed us individually. How do we
balance our time between our various
responsibilities? We seek God's wisdom!
In Ephesians 5 we read, "Carefully
determine what pleases the Lord … Be
careful how you live … Make the most of every opportunity" (Ephesians 5:10–16, NLT).
We need to rely on our relationship with God and his guidance.
Finding Balance
There is a difference between using time for refreshment and renewal, which all of us
need from time to time, and wasting time on pleasure. There are many ways to relax and
enjoy life, however there needs to be balance in this area. We need refreshment; however,
we need to carefully exercise discernment in order to make sure we are not just being a
consumerlator instead of a Converterlator.
I say this because when I was younger, for me the epitome of "living" was to be on the
golf course. I would grab every moment I could to be there. I loved everything about that
lifestyle. However, my desire for that way of life from a time standpoint began to fade as
I exposed myself more and more to the truth of God's Word. As my desire to spend more
time in the Word grew, I began to see my excessive time on the golf course as purely
selfish. As I spent more time studying the Bible and learning how to soak, sow, and flow
with the Spirit, I was impressed with the need to
converterlate my time for the achievement of eternal
purposes. This included preparation time for teaching
Sunday school classes, which actually also benefitted
me so much personally. I began to think about how I
could use the secular talents that God has given to me for eternal purposes.
When we start thinking this way, our goals and motivations begin to change as God calls
us to move in different directions in our new life with him. I began to aspire to be on the
King's team, and to really be an impact player for helping to fulfill the Great
Commission. My time on the golf course began to have less allure. Our world has a lot of
perishable distractions to offer us! Sometimes those perishable distractions are actually
"good" things: sports, work, relationships, hobbies. We need these things, but we also
need to be careful in how we use our time. The question always remains: Where is your
focus?
The world says "indulge;" God says "do my will." We must set our sights beyond the
deceptions of our culture. We need to experience relaxation and pleasure in the way God
intends. In the book of Ecclesiastes, we discover that King Solomon used his time to
pursue many good things, but because his focus was outside of God's purpose, all of
those pursuits became meaningless to him. We must always keep in mind that we will
only find joy and purpose in our relationships and accomplishments within the context of
God's purpose for our lives. And it is only within the context of a future eternity that all
of these things make sense.We find true fulfillment when we discover what we have been designed for and then use
our time in conformance to that design. This does not mean that we need to be busier. It
means that we need to carefully and intentionally use the specific time that God has given
us. What opportunities has God recently given you to use your time for him? Ask the
Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to God's direction in this area of your life, and
then act on what he shows you!
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