Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NLT), “For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.”
Time is one of the most precious gifts we’ve been given by God. Unfortunately, we take it for granted so often, many times not even realizing it. I was listening to Joel Osteen on the radio and he gave a great example of this. He asked the question, what would you do if every day you had $86,400 deposited in your bank account?” The stipulation was anything you didn’t spend by the end of the day would be taken away from you and your balance would return to $0. I can tell you I would pay such close attention to how I was using that money during the day. I would want to bring that account down to $0 myself without having anything taken from me at the end of the day.
Well each day we are given 86,400 seconds in our life account. How well are we spending those seconds each day of our lives? From my personal experience I can tell you, I haven’t given those 86,400 seconds the same focus I would give $86,400 in my bank account each day. I think many of you would probably say the same thing. But those 86,400 seconds are far more valuable to you and I than the $86,400 in our bank accounts.
I’ve spoken in several other blog posts about the importance of living your lives to the fullest because you don’t know how much time you have left on this earth. This includes taking advantage of the time you are given on this earth each day. So how are you spending your day my friend? Are you maximizing those 86,400 seconds you’ve been given? When I look at my life in this way, it makes me want to treat those 86,400 seconds as something very special. I want to value each of those seconds, not letting anything hold me back from using them the way God would want me to.
I ask each of you to reflect back on our day and take an inventory of how you spent it. There are so many things stealing your valuable seconds away from you each day. How many times today did you let something small, like being cut off in traffic, steal some of those valuable seconds because you were caught up in anger? How many times today did you lose valuable seconds engaged in gossip or negative discussions? How many times today did you turn your focus to things you know in your heart you shouldn’t be doing? How many times today did you waste your time on things that are not helping you reach the goals God has placed on your heart? When you take an inventory like this of your day it’s easy to see how many seconds you waste every day.
Think about the things you could be doing with the time you are wasting. You could use those valuable seconds to let those you love know how special they are to you. You could use those valuable seconds to help those around you who are struggling with some aspect of life. You could use those valuable seconds making strides to reach those goals on your heart. You could use those valuable seconds to spend time with God so He can reveal more of His plan for your life.
God has blessed us with this life and each day we get a new start. For many of us, developing a list of things to accomplish each day will help us to more effectively use our time. But even if you don’t use a list, throughout your day you can mentally think about how you are spending your time. When you do this, you can make the adjustments necessary to make sure at the end of your day your 86,400 seconds were well spent. Spend your 86,400 seconds on those things most important to you. Those things God calls you to focus on. Make it your goal to not waste a second!
Truth In Love! ~ Chuck