The Time of Your Life: Use it Wisely

February 13-2011

Ephesians 5:15-17

¹⁵ Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

Why is it that winter seems to last for ever? In fact, we really only fight through about nine weeks of it out of 52 each year. But come summer time when we hang at the beach, enjoy vacations, enjoy baseball, time goes by like a flash of lightning, when in fact we have about 20 good weeks and good fun and good weather. Time drags when you want it to pass quickly and flies when you need more of it? It's not very cooperative!

Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers from NPR’s Car Talk argued ,

1. Time is money and money is work

2. Money is the root of all evil.

3. So if A=B, and B=C, then C=A, or we can conclude that

4. Work is evil, ... so let's go golfing.

Driving a furniture truck in upstate Vermont, we worked hard for not much money; starting out at 7:00, loading and unloading furniture, navigating back roads and getting home after dark tired and hungry. But we loved it. It was honest work and we met some interesting people.

Once we delivered a mattress to a small, one room apartment made out of a converted motel. We unloaded the mattress, set it up, packed up the old and loaded it into the truck only to find that the truck battery had died and we had to wait for another truck to drive over from the warehouse to give us a jump.

It took about an hour, and in the hour I felt a bit sad visiting with the young, unemployed father, his wife and one year old daughter. During the entire hour, they just sat in their lazy-boy’s watching TV, sort of in a semi-comatose state.

Rather than wasting time or spending time, achievers invest time. They make the most out of each moment.

Last week I mentioned how in an interfaith world Jesus is Buddha: the concepts of Buddha are of Jesus. This makes sense. If Jesus is the Lord of all that is good, then all good should be expected to be part of Jesus. However, Buddha is not Jesus; that is salvation, forgiveness, intimacy with God, personal communion with the Father are not part of Buddhism.

Mindfulness of Buddhist philosophy plays a central role in the teaching of Buddhist meditation, and it is intricately woven into the realities of the living Christ.

Described in Buddhism as a calm awareness of one's body, one’s feelings, the content of one’s consciousness, its discipline results in (... listen to this...) the development of "wisdom." How keenly connected this discipline is with the truth Paul is talking about. Almost is passing he says.

¹⁵ Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise...

Be mindful of every moment.

YOUR TIME IS YOUR LIFE.

Think of it this way: when you give someone money, you've given them something that really is replaceable (a few hours work, another investment trade; it can be replaced). But when you give someone your time, you've given them a part of your life. This means "time management" is really "life management."

The Philips Translation has paraphrased this passage as,

"...Make the best use of your time. Don't be vague, but grasp firmly what you know to be the will of God." (Eph. 5:15-17 Ph)

I'd summarize these verses this way:

1. ANALYZE YOUR LIFESTYLE! “Be mindful of how you live.” (v.15) Be aware of what's going on. Be mindful.

2. UTILIZE THE PRESENT! “Make the most of every opportunity.” (v.17) Make the most of each instance.

3. RECOGNIZE WHAT'S IMPORTANT! “...understand what the will of the Lord’s will.” (v.17) Focus on priorities that last.

A question to consider as you work this week: how much of what I'm doing right now is going to count ten years from now, ...50 years from now, ... or for eternity?"