Sermon Central
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It’s About Time [management - Stewardship]
Contributed by Jerry Shirley on May 20, 2005 (message contributor)
Summary: God gives us no "rollover minutes". Weblink included to Formatted Text Version, Handout, and ready-made Powerpoint Presentation. This message will make you think about what’s really important, and gives practical solutions to our busy schedules.
It’s About Time
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/AboutTime.html
Imagine there is a bank that credits your account each morning with
$86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day. Every evening deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out every cent, of course!
Each of us has such a bank. Its name is TIME. Every morning, it credits
you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off as lost whatever of
this you have failed to invest to good purpose. It carries over no balance.
It allows no overdraft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each
night it burns the remains of the day. If you fail to use the day’s
deposits, the loss is yours. There is no going back. There is no drawing against the "tomorrow". You must live in the present on today’s deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness, and success! The clock is running. Make the most of today.
I heard a story about a man who worked at a factory. One of his main jobs was to blow the factory whistle at 5:00 to indicate the workday was over. He walked to work each day and passed a jewelry store where a beautiful grandfather clock was displayed in the window. Every morning, he stopped and set his pocket watch to match the time on the grandfather clock. One morning the storeowner was out front sweeping the sidewalk and the factory worker asked him how he kept such accurate time on the grandfather clock. The jeweler said, “Oh, I set it every afternoon when the factory whistle blows at 5:00.” [That could lead to trouble!]
People live by the clock, because time is important to all of us. Benjamin Franklin said, “Do not squander time, for it is the stuff life is made of.”
Many frustrated people seem to always fight the clock, habitually, as a way of life. They stay up late, then they sleep as late as they can and then rush frantically to school or work, gulping down an unhealthy breakfast in the car, applying their make-up (or using a razor) at the stoplight, talking on their cell phone at the same time.
As I study Jesus’ life I am amazed that He never seemed to be in a hurry. Although He was doing the most important job in history (redeeming the world), and although He knew He only had a few years to do it, He never ran. He made time to consider the flowers and the birds of the air. He had time to put his hands on the little children and bless them. Time was His friend.
The Bible gives us some great insight into how time can become your friend rather than your enemy. Basically, God exists in a realm that is not bound by time or space. God doesn’t wear a Rolex or even a Timex. He doesn’t have a Day-Timer or a PDA. He is the Creator of time, and He is greater than time. So, the first step in making time your friend is to totally immerse your life in God. In Psalm 90, we read:
Psalm 90:1-4, 10, 12
Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. [2] Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. [3] Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men. [4] For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Let’s use the four letters in the word TIME to help us learn it’s importance.
TREASURE
God says we should treasure time as a valuable commodity. You number your years (or at least some of you do), but God says every day is so precious, we should treasure it and number it.
To realize the value of ONE YEAR, ask a student who failed a grade.
To realize the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby. How valuable is an hour? Ask the businessman whose flight was delayed an hour and he missed an important business deal. How valuable is one minute? Ask the man who had the heart attack in the restaurant and an EMT happened to be sitting at the next table and CPR saved his life. How valuable is a second? Ask the person who barely missed a head on w/ an oncoming car. How valuable is a millisecond? Ask the Olympic swimmer who missed qualifying by six-tenths. Time really is valuable. So learn a couple of things about what this means for your family:
