Make The Most Of Your Time

Be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.
–Ephesians 5:15-16

One way you can prepare for your journey to Heaven is to make the most of your time on earth. Paul said it this way in Ephesians 5:15-16: “Be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.” In the Bible, the word “walk” is a metaphor for how you live your life. Paul was saying, “Be very careful how you live your life in light of how short your time is on earth.”

Here is a good exercise. Ask yourself, “What three things do I think God would have me to do before I die?” Once you get those three things in your mind, ask yourself, “Throughout the day, how much time do I actually devote to doing those major priorities in my life?” Most of us spend very little time doing the things that we think are the most important. That is why Paul said, “Make the most of your time.”

The phrase “make the most” is a Greek word that means “buy up.” Buy up your time. Time is a precious commodity. Somebody has said the difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is their tender, loving care for time. As one person has said, “Life is like a dollar. You can spend it any way you want, but you can only spend it once.” That is why Paul was saying, “You better buy it up. You better make the most of it.”

Henry David Thoreau was fearful that he would come to the end of his life and realize that he had not really lived life. He wrote, “I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.” His way of doing it was going and living in the woods. But Paul had a better idea for how to make the most of your time: make the most of your time by living in accordance with God’s plan for your life. He said, “[Make] the most of your time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16). What did Paul mean by that? He simply meant that part of Satan’s scheme for your life is to lead you not only into doing sinful things, but into doing meaningless things, to fritter away your time not doing the things that will really count.

I like the way J. B. Phillips paraphrased Ephesians 5:15-17: “Live life, then, with a due sense of responsibility, not as men who do not know the meaning and purpose of life but as those who do. Make the best use of your time, despite all the difficulties of these days. Don’t be vague but firmly grasp what you know to be the will of God” (PHILLIPS). Make the most of your time.

Today’s devotion is excerpted from “How Can I Prepare For My Journey To Heaven?” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2016.

Henry David Thoreau, “Walden” (New York: Everyman’s Library, 1910), 80-81.

Scripture quotations are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.lockman.org)