Make the Most of Your Time

We glide along the tides of time as swiftly as a racing river and vanish as quickly as a dream.
—Psalm 90:5

As we look at how to manage our lives so that we have no regrets about time, it is important that we understand three biblical principles about our time.

First of all, the Bible teaches us that time is limited on earth. It may take the death of a loved one, the departure of a child from our house, the marriage of a child, or perhaps just looking into the mirror to realize time is marching forward. Time is very limited. Moses said it this way in Psalm 90:5: “We glide along the tides of time as swiftly as a racing river and vanish as quickly as a dream” (TLB).

Second, the Bible teaches us that we are responsible for using our time. Moses’s image of being on a rapid river is a good metaphor for the passing of time, but it might make us feel as if we are victims of time. The Bible doesn’t teach that. The Bible teaches that we are responsible for how we use our time. In Matthew 25:14–29, Jesus told the parable of the talents, teaching that one day all of us will stand before God and give an account of how we used the abilities, the money, and the time God gave us. Someone once said, “Life is like a coin—you can spend it any way you want to, but you can only spend it once.” We choose how we are going to spend our time, and one day we are going to give an account to God for how we have spent our time.

Third, it is possible to redeem our time. Although you may regret wasting the last five years of your life, the good news is you don’t have to waste the next five years of your life. It is possible to change how you are using your time. As author Robert Ringer reminds us, “Life is nothing more than the sum total of many successful years; a successful year is nothing more than the sum total of many successful months; a successful month is nothing more than the sum total of many successful weeks; and a successful week is nothing more than the sum total of many successful days.”

Now, success in life is not a grand-slam home run. It is a matter of consistently hitting those dependable singles and doubles every day. It is possible to redeem your life and redeem the years by redeeming your days. And that is why Paul wrote to the Christians at Ephesus, many of whom had wasted their lives in ungodly living when they were non-Christians, that they needed to make the most of their time (Ephesians 5:16).

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “Living without Time Regrets” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2009.

Scripture taken from the Living Bible®, Copyright © Copyright 1971 Tyndale House Publishers Used by permission.