Reset Your Time
Reset
Jan 5, 2019 | Matthew Cork
The signature song in the musical “Rent” reminds us that there are “525,600” minutes in a year. (Though, we should note, 2020 has 527,040 minutes because it’s a leap year.) This number is fixed. No amount of money, no amount of energy, no amount of hard work, and no amount of ingenuity can change that. Whether you’re rich or poor, old or young, that amount is the same for everyone. (And by the time this message is taught, a full ~4,500 are already gone!) And so the question that every person needs to ask at the beginning of every year is – what are you going to do with that time? How are we going to make the most of it?
We believe at this church that the best place to look for an answer to that question is in Bible. Why? Because we believe that Bible is ultimately written by God’s word, and as our creator, we believe that God knows what is best for us, and how to make the most of the life that He has given us.
One passage that stands out in this, then is a passage in the book of Ephesians. In Ephesians 5:16, we are instructed to “make the most of every opportunity.” Older translations of the Bible are even better on this verse, for they tell us to “redeem the time” (Ephesians 5:16). That is what God wants us to do: redeem the time. Knowing we live in a sinful and difficult world (“…because the days are evil”), we are to do what we can to make the most of the time that God has given us. We are not to waste it, but redeem it.
And how do we do that? The rest of Ephesians 5:15-20 tells us. Though there is a lot in this passage, the end result is really simple: by putting God first. Thanking God, praising Him, putting Him before everything else. That is how we “redeem” the time. We reset our lives by putting God before anything else.
As we head into 2020, getting this right is so important. An old story is told about how if you’re trying to fill a jar with rocks and sand, you have to put the rocks in first – otherwise the sand won’t fit. It’s only by getting the “big stuff” right that everything else fits in. When God is first in our life, then we’ll find everything else taking the proper perspective and place in our lives.
And how do we make sure we do this – put God first? It begins with a commitment to fellowshipping with other Christians (church and small groups). It begins with time spent in God’s Word. And, perhaps most important of all, it begins with time every day spent in prayer, “thanking God” and asking Him for help in our day.
Over the next 21 days, we’re going to continue to see ways to “reset” our lives. But there’s nothing more important than our time. Getting this right makes everything else fall into place. Let’s start this year off right – after all, time is ticking down and we don’t want to lose a minute of it.