Our lives here on Earth are such a short time. The amount of time we can waste is astounding. For me, I can confess I am addicted to my phone. I am constantly on it, scrolling, seeing what’s new. A lot of what I need is on my phone, including texting and important phone calls. The time I’m usually on it is about 5 hours per day. If you were to scale that to a year, it would come out to 1,680 hours per year. That comes out to 70 days in a year that I’m on my phone. Let’s actually scale out more things I do daily. Sleep is a major thing we all need. If I were to sleep 8 hours a day, that would come out to 2,688 hours in a year. This would be the equivalent of 112 days. Doesn’t seem like much, right? Over 5 years, it would come out to 560 days of sleep. This would come out to 1 year and 6 months’ worth of time sleeping. Imagine what you could get done with those extra 4 hours a day. This is why sleeping 8 hours isn’t always the most efficient thing. Time is precious.

The older I get, the more I see how much time is against us. There is absolutely no reason for us to be wasting time. I’ve come to see that wasting time is one of the most selfish things we can do. We are fooled into thinking, “I have time,” “I can evangelize later,” “I can read my Bible later,” “I can take God seriously later.” These are all lies we tell ourselves. They assume we control time when we don’t. God controls the amount of time you have here on Earth. The Bible says in Job 14:5, “A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.” In my personal opinion, the reason all of us can fall into this trap is that we fail to have a godly perspective. We fail to look beyond ourselves and see how our negligence in our lives also affects others around us. This is selfishness. Our perspective is tainted by thinking time belongs to us or that we are owed this time on Earth. The perspective we should have is, “I do not deserve life to begin with.” As it says in Psalm 39:4, “Show me, LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure.” Time is a gift given by God to us. When we waste time on vanity, we are throwing away this great gift. Hours are wasted by oversleeping, being on our phones, and putting time into things that only distract us from the sober reality of life.

Time allocation is the most important thing we all should master. I am working towards mastering this myself. How should we use this time given to us? The time God has given us should be used to give glory to Him by exercising the gifts He has given us. These gifts need to be cultivated and nurtured to be used for God’s glory, or else they will wither away. If we are not careful, we can end up not living up to the maximum potential God has for our lives while here on Earth. What can stop us from putting time into developing these talents? I think one reason can be fear. If you are afraid to live out your full potential in the Lord, let me share with you what should freak you out more. God gives you a gift, you know what it is (you suppress it), and you are really good at it, and it’s obvious to others around you. Instead of putting in the work to fan the flame of this gift God has given you, you choose to take the “lazy way out.” Twenty years go by, and instead of using that gift God gave you to help others, you decide to hold back because of fear. All those people you could have helped were not helped. All those great deeds that could have come from the gift God gave you, which could’ve been used to bring people to the Lord, went buried (read the parable of the talents in Matthew 25). You don’t live out the full potential God had in store for you. This is definitely one of the biggest scenarios that freaks me out, and it should freak you out as well!

I have found in the past —and at times still find— that the reason I wasted such precious time was because I did not have a clear path to the goals I had. So I would “wander” aimlessly around and be “busy” but not productive. I was a professional time waster, and I hated it. To combat this, here’s something you can do that’s practical, which I have learned from others who have taught me. I applied this to myself, and it has helped me immensely. You first need to identify the gift God has given you and recognize your own personal responsibility for you to go after developing it more. Find time to reflect and see what comes naturally to you. Maybe, for example, someone told you that you have great speaking abilities. Even if you don’t feel like you can speak, take that as part of your reflection. Talk to others to see what they see in you. “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed” (Proverbs 15:22). Whatever feedback is given or you find, focus on developing those specific gifts. This can be hard if you are like me, who might think I am good at something when I really am not. Also known as: I can have a big ego. I’m pretty sure you don’t have that same problem as me. You have to be open to what they tell you, even if it’s something you might not want to hear. Ask God to show you or make it obvious. Don’t hesitate to start. Focus and put in the time to develop the gifts God has given you, and as a result, later you will be a blessing to others. Guidance from God and godly counsel are key. God has given us His grace not to squander this time He has given us but to fully embrace His grace to push us to grow to become more like Christ. Let’s not be negligent but live a life worthy of the calling of God. Time should not be taken lightly and should be allocated wisely. People need you. Look over how you are spending your time. Make adjustments. I hope this reminder can inspire you to make your time here on Earth focused on glorifying God so that He can complete His good work in you.