Entertaining Time Thieves—Part 2

In Part 1 of “Entertaining Time Thieves,” I (Dawn) focused on the massive amount of time we waste. While we need time to relax and be creative, we also need to be more intentional with our use of time during our regular workdays.

Part 2 focuses on two more ways we can stop entertaining time thieves in the new year.

Just as a reminder, the first two points were:

1. Live with an Eternal Perspective, and

2. Choose Activities with Purpose.

These last two points are just as practical and biblical.

3. Guard Time, because It Is Precious.

William Penn once said, "Time is what we want most, but what we use worst." Time is precious. If we do not guard it, time thieves will slip in to steal not just our time, but also our productivity and effectiveness for God and His good plans for our lives.

Guarding our time means we must first determine what matters to us and, more importantly, to God. We need to ask God for wisdom (James 1:5; Proverbs 2:6), and then obey what He says to do.

In our obedience to God, we may need to say "no" to others—or even ourselves.

Before COVID-19 and before my diagnosis, I loved to go shopping. I'm not talking about buying necessities; I'm referring to wasteful shopping. I'd meander up and down aisles, looking for sales, but more often than not, I bought things I didn't need. A jam-packed clothes closet testified to that. I only wore maybe 20% of the clothes in my closet.

A good dose of rational minimalism cured me of the shopping habit, and freed up my time (and money!) for better things.

In time, I found many other areas that stole my time.

Each of us likely needs to say "no" to unnecessary things so we can say "yes" to more things that fit our calling and biblical priorities, especially the priority of spending time with our Creator and with our key relationships (Matthew 6:33; Mark 12:30-31).

As we make our plans, we need to hold them loosely, allowing God to use, re-shape, or replace them according to His will. Truly, our "times"—whatever He allows to come into our lives—are in His hands (Psalm 31:15a). Guard your time. It is precious.

4. Strive for Excellence in All Things.

One key to not wasting time is focusing on a life of excellence. This is not the same as achieving perfection, which we won't accomplish until heaven (and even then, it's all God's doing, not ours).

Excellence is a mindset and approach to life that says we want to improve and do our very best. We don't want to be slackers!

Paul encourages Christ-followers in this regard.

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men. . . whatever you do, do all to the glory of God . . . . For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen (Colossians 3:23; 1 Corinthians 10:31b; Romans 11:36, ESV).

That sounds like a Christian life lived with excellence to me!

There are many contrasts between people who are time wasters and those who strive for excellence. Here are just three contrasts.

(1) Time wasters are content to get by with less than their best so they'll have more time for endless, worthless pursuits.

Those who strive for excellence desire to discover and do all the things God has planned for them to do (Ephesians 2:10).

(2) Time wasters forget they are accountable to God for how they use time—whether it is used with excellence or with mediocrity.

Those who strive for excellence become more and more conscious that focused use of time matters, especially as we move toward the Lord's return (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8; Mark 13:33).

(3) Time wasters forget they only have a little while to obey God.

Those who strive for excellence know they must work for "the night is coming" when we will no longer serve God on earth (John 9:4). So they are more and more driven to share the gospel, build His Kingdom, and cooperate with the Holy Spirit in becoming more like Jesus.

Is it foolish to focus on wise use of time? Not at all.

The Bible tells us we will receive rewards or "crowns" for our lives of service and sacrifice for Christ. One crown in particular stood out to me as I meditated on the subject of time.

The Crown of Righteousness (2 Timothy 4:8) is for those who long for heaven—for Jesus' return. If we long for heaven, we will want to use our time wisely to please God, because we know we'll see Him soon!

The apostle Paul understood this. He rightly admonishes us in Ephesians 5:15-17 to redeem time:

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity ... do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

Does this focus on time feel like a huge GUILT TRIP to you? Remember, there is no condemnation in Christ (Romans 8:1).

But God wants us to grow in our understanding of how to wisely use our time.

(I said in Part 1 that I recognize I'm failing in this area. I've confessed it as sin. I am going to do better as God helps me. A good place to start is a forward-looking strategy for social media use.)

In this new year, my point is this: We ALL can pray for discernment and make better use of our time.

Are you guarding your time and striving for excellence? If not, how can you reclaim your time and invest it for the Lord and His glory? What changes could you make this week to "redeem the time"?

Dawn Wilson, founder and President of Heart Choices Today, is a speaker and author, and the creator the blog, Upgrade with Dawn. She is a contracted researcher/reviewer for women's teacher and revivalist, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth at Revive Our Hearts, and is a regular columnist at Crosswalk.com. She and her husband Bob live in sunny Southern California, and Dawn has traveled with Him in Pacesetter Global Outreach. They have two grown, married sons, three granddaughters and a rascally maltipoo, Roscoe.

 Graphics adapted, courtesy of PhotoMix-Company and Foto-Retusz at Pixabay.

Entertaining Time Thieves—Part 1

Happy New Year! So many make New Year's resolutions. I (Dawn) really do not. And yet, do I?

I've become aware that I have allowed "time thieves" to steal precious hours. One of my goals this year is to "redeem" (buy up) more time that I can use for the Kingdom of God. Hopefully, that is your desire as well.

In this Time Management UPGRADE (which has two parts), I want to help us focus on how we're spending our time. It's a huge topic and a little intimidating, but an important one in light of eternity.

Are you entertaining "time thieves"? What are they stealing, besides your time?

I recently spent two hours "scrolling." It went by so quickly, and I'll never get those two hours back.

I've noticed lately how much time I've spent on frivolous things, or on things that don't matter much in terms of eternity.

For example, as of May 2023, I have loaded 5,359 pins onto Pinterest into 127 categories. I have only once accessed these pins to actually USE any one of the entries!

Why on earth do I continue to load Pinterest pins that I will likely never use?

Yes, it's enjoyable. Yes, I appreciate a place to store things I see that I "like." And yes, I will probably store special recipes. But I've spent far too much time storing recipes I'll never use. It's like shopping for things we don't need.

Waste of time.

Another example. I spend hours on my iPhone scrolling through cute videos, informative videos, funny videos, shocking videos, tear-jerker videos, etc.

It's so easy to do. It's easy to vegetate with my iPhone rather than doing something productive.

Massive waste of time!

Yes, we need time to relax.

Yes, we need time to allow creative juices to form.

But we also need to BE CAREFUL not to waste vast amounts of time. 

Perhaps we might justify scrolling on our iPhone at an airport, waiting for a flight. Or at a doctor's office. But think about that. We have time to scroll, but not to read scripture on a scripture app, or memorize scripture on a memorization app?

God help us to stop justifying our "lack of time." God help me!

We rationalize that we don't have time for a special project—to clean out files, to draft an email, to clean our garage, to write a book or article, to write an encouraging note, etc.—but we had time to pin and scroll.

Unfortunately, many of us don't have a wise strategy for social media use. We so often want the easy-and-not-challenging thing, not the harder-but-more productive thing.

Why is this so important?

We think we have more time to do what's valuable and productive. But the Bible says, don't be so sure! James, Solomon, and Job said we can't be assured of what will happen tomorrow.

... you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. ... You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes (James 4:14 NIV)

Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring (Proverbs 27:1 NIV).

My days come and go swifter than the click of knitting needles, and then the yarn runs our—an unfinished life! (Job 7:6 MSG)

One would think I would remember this, having gone through years of struggle for life after my Multiple Myeloma diagnosis.

How soon we forget about the brevity of life!

In light of our short lifespan, Paul encourages us to make "the best use" of our time.

How do we do that? How do we stop entertaining time thieves and make the very best use of our time?

1. Live with an Eternal Perspective.

As noted above, our life is a "mist," a vapor that quickly shows up and then vanishes, like steam rising from a teapot. We make great plans for our future on earth, but they may be cut short. We need to make every "today" count.

Realizing our time is short should help us stop spinning our wheels spiritually and make better choices. We'll want to be more conscious of what we spend time accumulating. We'll also want to consider what we will leave to those who follow us, and the example of time stewardship we are leaving them now.

Also important—living in light of eternity isn't simply a matter of not doing some things; we also won't want to miss any opportunities to go good.

2. Choose Activities with Purpose.

In order to use time wisely, we have to be purposeful. And in order to be purposeful, we need to ask ourselves some questions. Questions like: Why am I doing this? What value does this have for today? What value does this have for eternity? Is this developing my spiritual maturity or hindering it?

It's crucial to plan time purposefully rather than letting it slip through our fingers.

• Plan times of work (Colossians 3:23-24) with purpose. That plan includes doing our best for our earthly boss, remembering that we ultimately serve our heavenly Master. (If we work "for ourselves," that's good to remember too.)
• Plan times of rest (Mark 6:31; Psalm 127:2) with purpose. Plan to re-energize, nap, or "chill out." Plan regular vacations.
• Plan times to be creative with purpose, allowing creativity to bloom into beautiful and functional things to the glory of God (Proverbs 22:29).
• Plan times to shop with purpose—not spending indiscriminately but investing in worthy things, knowing our "wealth" comes from Him (1 Chronicles 29:12-14; 1 Timothy 6:17; Matthew 6:19-21).
• Plan time for growth—invest in personal spiritual growth (Colossians 1:9-10; 2:6-7; 2 Peter 1:5-8; 2 Peter 3:18) and in the lives of others (1 Thessalonians 5:11; Hebrews 10:24).
• Plan time to meditate on the use of time, and consider what matters most to God and how we can spend more time on those things. Our time is His, a God-given resource, and He can help us use it best (Proverbs 16:9).

I'm sure you can think of other things to plan for.

The things we plan for will become our priorities, so we must live with intentionality. 

In Part 2, we'll consider two more ways to stop time thieves and make the most of our time.

Are you living with an eternal perspective and making wise choices for good time maneagement? If not, what changes can you make to live with intentionality?

Dawn Wilson, founder of Heart Choices Today, is the creator of Upgrade with Dawn. She works for Revive Our Hearts revival ministry and is a regular columnist at Crosswalk.com. She and her husband Bob live in sunny Southern California, and Dawn has traveled with Him in Pacesetter Global Outreach. They have two grown, married sons, three granddaughters, and a rascally maltipoo, Roscoe.

Graphics adapted, courtesy of PhotoMix-Company and Foto-Retusz at Pixabay.

How to 'Occupy' until Jesus Returns

In this New Year’s UPGRADE, I want to encourage us to keep on keeping on for the Kingdom of God. Hopefully, you will find some motivation to think through what is valuable to pursue in the coming year.

One of the words the Lord gave me when I recently found out I was out of remission with Multiple Myeloma was the word “OCCUPY.”

That word is in a parable Jesus told, found in Luke 19:11-26. The phrase is in verse 13 in the King James Version where it says, "occupy till I come."

The phrase is translated in different ways in other versions of the Bible:

• “Do business till I come” (NKVJ)
• “Put this money to work until I come back” (NIV)
• “Invest this for me while I am gone” (NLT)
• “Operate with this until I return” (MSG)

Obviously, Jesus used the concept of financial stewardship in this parable. But I want to expand that to something beyond finances as we think about the New Year.

But first, let me summarize the points in the parable:

1. Jesus had just finished talking to Zacchaeus, a tax collector—so the people were already thinking about money.

2. Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem for His last Passover before his crucifixion.

He told the parable because many people thought the kingdom of God was going to appear at that time.

3. In the parable—spoken to a large crowd—a man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king. 

4. Before he left, the master called 10 of his servants and loaned a mina to each of them. One mina was about the equivalent of three months’ wages.

The master told them to put that money to work until he returned. They were to “occupy” or do their business in a wise way.

5. The master—now a king—returned, and he sent for his servants to find out what they had “gained” with the money. One said he earned 10 more minas. Another said he earned five.

They were both diligent, trustworthy, and faithful.

And Jesus praised them both—rewarding them by giving them charge over 10 cities and five cities, respectively.

6. Then another servant came with his mina, hidden away in a cloth. Perhaps he was afraid of losing it. But he accused the master of “hardness."

So the king responded in hardness, calling him a “wicked servant.”

The man could have at least banked the money so it would collect interest. His mina was taken away and given to the good steward who had gained the ten minas.

7. Finally, the king responded to those who “hated him” after he left—those who rebelled against his authority. He had them executed (vv. 14, 27). (Remember that someday Jesus will defeat all His enemies.)

* Please see my note at the end about how this parable differs from the parable found in Matthew 25.

How to ‘Occupy’ Better in 2022

God used this parable to speak to me about making better "investments," and I don't mean just with money.

Many people choose a word for the new year, and I could have chosen any of the five words the Lord gave me regarding moving forward with my illness: Trust, Occupy, Discern, Rest, or Praise.

But I chose "Occupy" for my main word. Here is how the Lord is speaking to me about occupying, or UPGRADING my Stewardship, in the days to come. Maybe He will speak to you too.

(1) GODWARDNESS

"Godwardness" is my word for everything that upgrades my focus on my Father God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

It involves everything from scripture reading and memorization to meditation, prayer, worship, singing to God and about Him—so many areas.

I asked myself recently, “Are you content with your adventure with God? Where could you make that journey more fulfilling—and better yet, more God-honoring?”

Then I asked the Lord about that and got better answers than I came up with initially!

Maybe those are questions you can ask as well . . . and then act for change.

(2) FINANCES

Financial wisdom for investment is certainly one way to increase our stewardship. There are many ways to manage our finances biblically.

When I am more careful with my money, when I don’t buy unnecessary things, and when I curb my “wants,” I have more resources to support my church, send to missionaries, or share with others in their time of need.

Think about your finances as you enter this new year. Consider “investment” rather than spending, and see if your priorities change.

(2) TIME

I can also increase my stewardship of the use of my TIME.

For example, instead of plopping down to watch good television shows so much—which goes beyond eliminating programs that pollute the mind or spirit—I can use that time wisely, investing every opportunity for the Kingdom, especially in these evil days.

Certainly, I can read more of my Bible or helpful Christian books, but there are other activities I can do that are better investments of my time.

I’ll be honest here.

I’ve complained that I don’t have time to write that book I’ve wanted to write for so long. Given, I’ve been very ill. But if I can lie down to watch a movie, or spend an hour on Facebook on my phone, why can't I lie down and take notes for my book, or research for it online, etc.

Instead of “frittering away” free time (time beyond our responsibilities), how might we invest it wisely this year?

(3) RELATIONSHIPS

Our relationship with God is our primary relationship, but our human relationships are well worth investing in too.

Certainly our family relationships—those in our immediate home are a priority. But also, we can invest in other family members, friendships, co-workers, etc. (Ephesians 6:2; James 1:27a; Proverbs 17:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:11; Ephesians 6:5-9).

It’s easy, when our lives feel stressed, to turn inward; but if that continues for a while, it’s not healthy.

We need other people, especially our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. And, in fact, the family of God was designed by God to help us in our times of stress.

So let's think about the relationships in our lives. How can we upgrade those relationships in positive, creative ways this year?

(4) OUTPUT

This area of stewardship is threefold:

• the investment of the SPIRITUAL GIFTS God has given us,
• development of new SKILLS, and
• better use of the TALENTS we've developed over time.

Our spiritual gifts were meant to be developed for God’s glory, not simply acknowledged.

Once we know our spiritual gifts—serving, encouraging, giving, leading, showing mercy, etc.—we should consider practical ways to use them under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Our skills and talents are things we have developed in our careers, as hobbies, or simply out of necessity. They are some of the things that make us unique in the family of God, and perhaps we need to be more creative in using them to build the body of Christ or minister to others.

For example, I have a friend, Kim, who founded a group called Kingdom Quilters in Southern California. The ladies make quilts and other things that they then take to orphanages and other sites of need in Guatemala and Mexico.

Is there something in your heart or hands that you could invest for the good of others and the glory of God?

(5) WITNESS

I also want to better invest in time to witness to others about God's gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. I don’t want to be disobedient to Christ’s command to share the gospel with people everywhere—whether as part of mission outreaches around the world—by going or giving so others can go—or by walking next door to share with my neighbor.

I know this is hard for some people. It’s never easy for me. But when I think in terms of obedience, or when I think about the Lord’s return, it’s more motivating, right?

What Are We Waiting For?

Just as the servants in the parable were rewarded with 10 cities and 5 cities, the Bible says God’s children will be rewarded with crowns. They will receive rewards according to their faithfulness and usefulness on earth.

We shouldn't want to be careless in any area of stewardship.

What are we waiting for?

The truth is, Jesus is coming back. We refer to His coming as “imminent”—it could happen any time (Matthew 24:36). Maybe in our lifetimes. Maybe in our children’s or grandchildren’s lifetimes.

But certainly, we need to be looking for His coming—anticipating it and living righteously in light of it (2 Timothy 4:8b). We need to be more aware of how we are using our time.

The Lord’s return is a great motivation to get busy serving Him (1 Corinthians 15:58).

The apostles understood that Jesus’ imminent return meant they should busy themselves with His work, because any day might be their last on earth.

The Bible doesn’t give Christians a “hold the fort” mentality—just waiting around until God calls us home. Instead, John said we should work while we can, because there’s coming a day when our working opportunities on earth will be over (John 9:4).

• I DON'T want to be indifferent, slothful, or careless.
• I DO want to be industrious, useful, creative, and God-honoring in everything I do!

I want to faithfully and creatively “occupy” until Jesus returns—or until He calls me home. I hope that's your desire too.

Which area of stewardship could use an upgrade in your life in 2022?

Dawn Wilson, founder and President of Heart Choices Today, is a speaker and author, and the creator the blog, Upgrade with Dawn. She is a contracted researcher/reviewer for women's teacher and revivalist, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth at Revive Our Hearts, and is a regular columnist at Crosswalk.com. She and her husband Bob live in sunny Southern California, and Dawn has traveled with Him in Pacesetter Global Outreach. They have two grown, married sons, three granddaughters and a rascally maltipoo, Roscoe.

* (Note: The parable in Luke 19 is not the same parable found in Matthew 25:14-30, which was to His disciples on the Mount of Olives. The “talents” are different than the minas. The return of the master and the responses of the servants are different in the Matthew account.)

Graphic adapted, courtesy of Stux and TruthSeeker08, both at Pixabay.

5 Questions to Decide What Deserves Your Time

In this Time Management UPGRADE, Julie Sanders helps us consider something we all have a lot of, but often misuse—our time.

"On a full plate, not everything is equal," Julie says. "The more options, the more important it is to decide what deserves our time. How can we plan for our priorities?"

The more I (Dawn) talk to women, the more I realize how full those plates are. My own is overflowing and needs some paring down, and I have to tell you – Julie's tips here really help!

Julie continues . . .

Your plate may overflow with feedings and laundry, deadlines and events, or presentations and correspondence. If we start each day hoping important things rise to the top, we risk drowning in a flash flood of urgency and emergency.

Whatever the parts of our busy life, we can’t afford not to plan to make our priorities first. Being in the place where we need to plan is a good place to be.

By learning to count time, measure resources and compare the weight of work, we learn wisdom. The Psalmist said, “So teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).

Counterfeit priorities will beg for attention with a simple knock at the door or chime of the phone.

Ask 5 questions to plan for the main things to take the main chunk of your time and attention. First things first.

1. What can only I do?

Some tasks require my attention. Only I can be my husband’s wife and mother my children. When God directs me to a hurting person, only I can respond in the moment.

But I am not meant to answer every problem or be the savior for every need. Can someone else meet the need?

2. What can someone else do?

When we delegate a duty to someone else, we wisely use our time. I don’t have to do every load of laundry, return every call, teach every lesson or pray for every need.

Since resources are limited, I’ve learned to let go and let others share the load.

3. What can wait?

Someone else’s poor planning does not constitute an emergency for my schedule.

It may feel good to be the “answer” to a trauma, but being swept away by the urgent requires saying “no” to other things of value. Some things can wait. When weighing a request or responsibility, ask, “Can it wait?” 

4. What can be a process?

Deadlines present opportunities to plan ahead. Choose a tool that works for you to schedule times to make progress, and resist letting longer term projects turn into last minute problems.

5. What matters most to God?

When deciding what deserves our time, consider what matters most to God. What does He consider a “priority” and what can take a back seat or fall away?

This means priorities are constantly changing, in light of how God guides our steps, including the people He brings into our lives.

Hold tightly to what God cares about, but hold loosely to the order of business on your planner.

After all, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps” (Proverbs 16:9).

We don’t know how many days we have. We do know each will be 24 hours, with 365 in every year. We can’t hope or plan to do it all.

First plan your priorities and your priorities will happen first.

Is the way you spend your time a real reflection of your real priorities? How could you plan to put first things first?

NOTE: Julie created an Alphabet Priorities printable bookmark—a helpful tool for sorting through what matters most. It's available here and here.

Julie Sanders speaks and writes with seasoned wisdom. Since moving to the Northwest with her husband, Julie is numbering her days in a new season of life. As the director of early learning programs across nearly 16,000 square miles of urban and rural country, she has daily opportunities to put first things first and live out God’s priorities. Julie writes from her online home, “Come Have a Peace.”