The Test of Time
Ephesians 5:15-17
Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Your purpose in life is hidden in your potential
Understand the value of time
- If you lose money, you can get more back but once the time is spent or gone, you can’t get more back
- Careful: “to look at with exactness”
- Look exactly at how you are spending your time
- It’s easy to fool ourselves with our intentions
- We may have intentions for good things but until we actually spend time on them, they remain as intentions only and as undeveloped potential
- All of us are given exactly the same amount of time
- “I don’t have time” is a lie; “This is how I’ve chosen to spend my time” is the truth
- How you spend your time sets the direction of your life
- If your relationship with God is important to you, then spending time on that relationship is important (Luke 10:41-42, one thing is necessary)
- Kids spell love T-I-M-E
Establish the compass before you set the clock
- Before you know how to spend your hours, you have to know how you want to spend your life
- What do you want to do with your life? What does God want you to do with your life? What do you want to be written on your tombstone?
- Once you know life’s purpose, you can spend time on that purpose
- Chronos: everyday tick-tock of the clock; Kairos: defining moments that set the course of the everyday
- A word comes that defines a season for you and these kairos moments set the direction for how you spend your chronos time
- Most dreams, visions, and words arise out of faithful use of everyday time
- Kairos light on the chronos path and the chronos path will lead to the kairos light
Wait on the Lord’s timing
- Habakkuk 2:3 “For the vision is yet for the appointed time. It hastens toward the goal, and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; for it will certainly come, it will not delay.”
- Manufactured things are not living things; they can be created in a moment. Life is not manufactured. It has to be birthed: conception, spiritual pregnancy, the pain of birth, the process of growth
- Noah, Abraham, Joseph, David, Paul; people throughout scripture and history had to wait for the Lord’s time
- Submit to the Lordship of Christ in the timetable of purpose
Discern your season
- Understand what the will of the Lord is: understand your season
- Life has its cycles and seasons; we make a mistake when we try to make every season the same
- Life is not a perpetual summer or winter
- In the big picture of walking out your purpose in God, there has to be some discernment about what season you are in
- Focus on what God is doing now instead of focusing on what God isn’t doing
- Hebrews 4:16 “Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.”
- Grace is there to help in your strategic season right now
- Don’t order your days out of thoughts, mindsets, and attitudes that belong to another season or another place
- A new season requires a different ordering of time; embrace God’s grace for this season
Facilitating Discussion
- What defining kairos moment is setting the direction for your life?
- How is understanding the season of your life helping you guide the way you spend your time?