Time Is Proof Of Love

So then, be very careful how you live. Don’t live like foolish people but like wise people. Make the most of your opportunities because these are evil days. So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord wants. Don’t get drunk on wine, which leads to wild living. Instead, be filled with the Spirit by reciting psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs for your own good. Sing and make music to the Lord with your hearts.   Ephesians 5:15-19  (GOD’S WORD)

A lot of people are familiar with and have a check register. Some people actually use a check register. Someone uses a check register to record transactions, both debits and credits, that occur in a checking account. They are a very handy tool because if you keep up on the transactions and record them as the occur, then immediately you know what your balance is.

Few actually consider where their money went during the last month. Upon careful evaluation of a check register or budget, one can see tendencies or patterns in spending. I read in a book about a guy who made great money but wasn’t sure where all of his money was going. It seemed as though he never had any money. Someone asked him to record all of his transactions for one month in a little notebook. After one week, he knew the source of his problem. He got coffee from a coffee shop several times a day while he was making stops. At about $70 a week, that is a hefty amount of money to spend on coffee. He quickly changed his habit and “found” money that he had been wasting.

With the monthly evaluation of a check register or budget, it is easy to pinpoint where you overspent. “I overspent in groceries. I need to tighten that up. I’ll reduce my spending on groceries from $500 a month to $400. I’ll cut out snacks and eat healthier.” See how easy that was to make a correction? You just “found” $100 extra for the month.

A Time Register?

As profound as the idea of “tracking spending” is for some people, there is something more profound than this. As few as use a check register or budget on a regular basis, only a fraction of a percent use a time register. This is something where you record what you do throughout the day. It doesn’t have to be elaborate. There are planners out there in the market that can cost you hundreds of dollars. And that $200 planner isn’t going to plan your life for you. It will just be another $200 thrown in the garbage.

I talk with people who say they don’t have time to spend time with God. They are busy. Their marriage is hurting and crumbling. Or their kids are struggling with something. They work three jobs and are in debt. On and on the excuses go. Everything is a mess. And they say, “I don’t have any time.” This is a blatant lie. People believe this and stay on a merry-go-round their entire life.

Everyone has the same amount of time–168 hours a week.

If you figure in sleeping 8 hours a day, working 40 hours a week, travel time to and from work, eating, showering and getting ready, that still leaves about 40 hours a week. Let’s just say for incidentals and miscellaneous happenings, you have 35 hours a week of “disposable time.”

What are you going to do with it? What you do with it says where your heart is.

Don’t tell me you don’t have time to spend time with God. The average person has roughly 5 hours a day of “disposable time.” I understand that everyone’s schedule and life is different. I also understand that God is the most important person in anyone’s life. He is the main priority.

If your life is too busy to spend time with God, you are too busy. This says that what you are doing with those 5 hours a day is more important than Jesus. There are things that can’t be cut out, at least right now. You can’t just quit working. You can’t stop sleeping. And that’s not necessary to do. What is necessary is arranging your life to make sure that Jesus is your priority.

How do you make Jesus a priority? With your time.

This isn’t a religious exercise, “I have gotten my hour with God today.” No, this is a proof of love. If you never spend time with your spouse citing, “I’m too busy” or “I’ll talk with you when we meet at the restaurant on Sunday,” then you may not be married very long.

Donald Trump was interviewed by CBN News in April regarding his potential presidential bid. In the interview, they asked him about his two failed marriages and this is what he said:

I’m a very hard worker, and I’ve always said it’s very difficult for a woman to be married to me because I work all the time. I think the lesson is, and they were both wonderful women, I think the message is you do have to devote the requisite time to your marriage.

Work was a time-stealer for his marriages. He refused to stop and spend time with his wife. Eventually they each divorced him because the “requisite time” was never there.

How you spend your time reveals your heart. Time is proof of love.

Never spending time with your spouse could cause the end of your marriage. Your spouse won’t feel loved. Jesus will never leave you but He could say, “Depart from me, I never knew you.”

Time-stealers come in many forms and packages. The first place to look in your life for time-stealers will be your spending. Excess spending will cause you to “have to” work. Work, especially extra work, will steal your time. This is why debt is so disastrous. It obligates your time in the future to pay for your present. The second place to look will be distractions–things that take time but don’t really add to your life–technology, hobbies, sports, addictions, entertainment, etc.

By cutting these two areas, spending and distractions, people will be able to immediately “find” more time with God.

You have the time. The difference is in how you use it.

The scripture says:

So then, be very careful how you live. Don’t live like foolish people but like wise people. Make the most of your opportunities because these are evil days. So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord wants. Don’t get drunk on wine, which leads to wild living. Instead, be filled with the Spirit by reciting psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs for your own good. Sing and make music to the Lord with your hearts.   Ephesians 5:15-19  (GOD’S WORD)

The King James Version reads, “…redeeming the time for the days are evil.” Harold Taylor, a time management consultant and teacher, has a great philosophy on time management. He teaches that time management isn’t so that we can pack more things into our day and “be more productive.” Time management is so that we can learn to prioritize those things that are the most important then focus on and work on those priorities rather than the little things. See, it isn’t about “getting it all done” because it won’t ever get all done. It is about getting the right things done, the most important.

The most important priority is Jesus. He is the preeminent person in the world. Redeem the time. Make the most of your time–make sure He is first. The will of the Lord is for you to spend time with Him and know Him intimately. Be filled and overflowing in your spirit with His Spirit by “reciting psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs… Sing and make music to the Lord with your hearts.”

To help you begin to gain control of your time I recommend a time register that doesn’t cost any money. Most people have spare notebooks lying around the house or journals. If for some reason you don’t have something like that, go to Wal-mart or a dollar store, and get a little pocket spiral-bound notebook for less than $1.

Now, record what you do during the day, everyday. It’s not something that you have to do from now until Jesus comes back.  Most people don’t have a clue where their time is going and actually believe they don’t have any available time. The truth is they have the time they just have their priorities screwed up. To change it, you will need to know where you are wasting your time first so that you know what to cut.  Here is a helpful guideline:

Whatever doesn’t change you is unnecessary in your life.

Ask yourself these two questions: Where was my time spent this week/month? Am I proving my love to Him through personal fellowship time?