It’s Only a Matter of Time…

Every day, emails fill our inboxes, laundry piles up and a million other tasks get lost in the minutiae. With an increasing pressure on achievement and accomplishment, it’s important to learn what value God places on time and the attitudes and actions that He expects as a result.

Recently, I’ve caught myself thinking and even saying, “I’m so busy,” when friends and family members ask how I’m doing. When I begin to ramble off a list of all that is happening in my life, a sense of remorse creeps in as I consider the looming list of things I still haven’t done yet.

The theme of “there’s never enough time” repeats in my head as I go on to accomplish the next task so I can cross it off my never-ending to do list.

A scarce commodity

You may feel a similar crunch for time or may be constantly swamped by increasing demands and expectations. Today’s society places a high value on time and operates from a scarcity mentality: There will never be enough time, so use it wisely and don’t waste it. And we respond in kind, often shifting our focus onto all the time we don’t think we have, instead of considering time as a blessing and opportunity for what can be done.

There comes a critical point when our busyness stops serving a practical purpose and starts impacting our attitudes and actions. In the world’s eyes, our accomplishments and success are valued over the quality of our relationships and spiritual character. As a result, we gain a false sense of significance from our busyness that can inflate our pride and self-importance.

But is this what God expects from us and how we approach our time? Let’s consider some biblical examples that show us more about God’s approach to time.

A tale of two sisters

In the Gospel of Luke, we’re introduced to two sisters who display opposite actions when Jesus comes to their home (Luke 10:38-42).

Now imagine for a moment that our Lord and Savior will be dining at your house this evening. Of course you would want your home to be clean, the table set, the meal prepared and everything in order to reflect well on your hospitality!

In this story, Martha became distracted by all that needed to be done, while her sister Mary sat a Jesus’ feet, listening to His words. Here we clearly see two approaches to time—Martha valued making sure everything is taken care of (doing), while Mary kept Jesus company and learned from His teachings (being).

Frustrated and exhausted, Martha approached Jesus about her sister’s lack of help—after all, how could Mary leave all the work for her to do alone?

Yet in Jesus’ response, we learn a valuable lesson about how we should invest our time. He simply replied, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her” (verses 41-42).

The story of Mary and Martha highlights the importance of developing relationships and learning about God over becoming so focused on all the things that we feel need to be done.

The Sabbath: a gift of time

In addition to this example, one of the foundational biblical teachings and commandments demonstrates how God values time. After creating the world and all that is in it, God rested from His work and sanctified the seventh day as the Sabbath (Genesis 2:3). Setting apart the Sabbath day as sacred time, God gave us a true gift that distinguishes us as His people from the world around (Exodus 31:13).

The Sabbath also shows how well God knew His creation. How many of us would dedicate an entire day for rest, reflection and renewal, unless a thoughtful and loving Creator had designed this time and commanded us to honor it throughout our generations (Exodus 20:8-11; Mark 2:27)?

Because we are so programmed to continue working to provide for our families and to do more with the time we have, the Sabbath extends a weekly invitation into spiritual renewal and meaningful rest and serves as a powerful reminder.

As we grow in our relationship with God through this spiritual practice, we learn that observing the Sabbath is not simply about the absence of work, but is the presence of something much greater—the gift of sacred time that God intentionally sets aside so we can develop an even deeper relationship with Him and like-minded people. Along with God’s annual holy days, the Sabbath is an ongoing practice with an everlasting purpose.

God’s abundance mentality

God very clearly shows us that He gives us time in this life to develop character and grow closer to Him. In John 10:10, Jesus shared, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

Rather than approaching time from the world’s scarcity mentality, we see that God’s approach to time is an abundance mentality, with this life foreshadowing an eternal existence as His children in an everlasting Kingdom (Hebrews 12:28).

Based on this promise, we can consider our current approach to time and what we need to do to refocus our lives to value time in the right ways:

• How are we investing our time now?
• What attitude is behind our attempts to do more?
• Are there areas or relationships we’ve been neglecting because we have been “too busy”?
• What will we do to shift our perspective of how we view time to deepen our relationships with God and others?

Leslie M. Schwartz is a positive psychology coach, consultant and trainer who works with clients around the world. She attends the Portland, Oregon, congregation of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association.

Previous posts by Leslie Schwartz:

• Planning in Pencil
• How Full Is Your Life?