Daily Devotion Sun. 26/3/2017
26/3/2017 LESSON 4
STEWARDSHIP OF TIME
Quarter’s Theme: UNDERSTANDING BIBLICAL STEWARDSHIP
Unit 2: Your Stewardship (Lessons 3- 6)
Suggested Hymns: G.H.B. 415
Devotional Reading: ECCL. 3:1-11
Topic For Adults
IT IS YOUR TIME TO ACCOMPLISH GOD’S PLAN
Topic For Youths
DON’T USE YOUR TIME OUTSIDE GOD’S WILL
Topic For Intermediates
TIME IS PRECIOUS, USE IT WISELY
Scripture Lesson
EPH. 5:15-16; 2 COR. 6:2; ROM. 13:11-14
(SOUL WINNERS CROWN COMPETITION MONTHS)
MEMORY VERSE:
To everything, there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. Eccl. 3:1 (NKJV)
DAILY DEVOTIONAL READING
Sun. 26/3/2017
Do You Tithe Your Time?
Acts 17:24-25
God made the world and the fullness therein. Seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, He gave all life, breath and all things. If our time truly belongs to God, just as our income, why not a tithe of our time? A tithe (10%) is given freely to God the owner of all and giver of all the 100% that He might rebuke devourer and bless the remaining 90% left for us. Time is not different from our income even when it is not directly commanded by God, it is reasonably and directly implied. When we do not dedicate specific hour to God like we do with our pay checks, it implies that we believers can produce more if we use a hundred percent of time our own way. Many believers struggle with giving God significant time in prayer and Bible study because the presence of the day’s chores are knocking loudly at the door so they cut short the time with God by reading less verses of the word of God, and use the rest of our time for what we need to get done. There are 24 hours in a day. A tithe of this is 144 minutes (2 hours 24 minutes each day). Do you devote this much of your time daily to God? This is not too much to devote to Him who has redeemed us through Christ. Tithe your time because God can always do more with less than you can do with more. The days are evil. If we are not careful, our time will be wasted like money spent selfishly rather than in a way that honours God. Therefore, to redeem the whole of our time and avoid wastage of our 24 hours daily, we must learn to dedicate a significant percentage of it directly to God and whatsoever we do in the day, we should do all to the glory of God.
POINT OF EMPHASIS: God can do more with less than you can do with more.
PRAYER POINT: Oh Lord help me to number my days that I may apply my heart to
wisdom (Ps. 90:12).
BACKGROUND
There are many inequalities in life but one thing we all have in common is the same amount of time each day; both poor and rich, old and young, literate and non-literate. Imagine there is a bank that credits your account each morning with #86,400. Yes every morning. However it debits what is left over at the end of the day. Every evening, it deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out every penny, of course! Each of us has such a bank in our lives. Its name is TIME. Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose. It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft. Each day, it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the day’s deposits. The loss is yours. There is no going back and there is no drawing against tomorrow. You must live in the present. Yesterday is a cancelled check, tomorrow is a promissory note and today is cash. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness, and success. Your clock is running and it has effect on your future. Make the most of it today as you will give account of it tomorrow.
NOTE ON THE TEXT
PART 1: USE YOUR TIME WISELY (EPH. 5:15-16)
Time is a gift from God and each minute will be reckoned with. There will be a reckoning of our time and we will stand before God to answer for the ways that we invest our time. Understanding that time is valuable, limited and could be wasted will enable us to work circumspectly, if we refuse to work. Time is a unique resource, it cannot be accumulated like money or stock pilled like raw materials. We can’t save time, we can only invest it. If you don’t use it, you lose it. You are forced to spend it whether you like it or not at a fixed rate of 60 seconds per minute. It cannot be tuned on or off like a machine. The key to manage time is to manage ourselves. If you don’t manage your time someone else will manage it for you. Unless you can see some kind of obvious yield or result, the time spent is viewed as wasted time. For a wise use of your time make a ‘to do’ list, priotise the list, don’t put today’s job for tomorrow, it may never come. Because the days are evil, believers must be good husbands of their time by redeeming the time, taking care to invest their time on the best of purpose by watching against temptation of doing the good when it is in the power of their hands. Believers should make the best use of the present time of grace. Our time is a talent given us by God for some good end and it is misspent and lost when it is not employed according to God’s design.
PART 2: USE YOUR TIME IN PREPARATION FOR ETERNITY (2 COR. 6:2)
Corinthian believers became doubtful of Apostle Paul’s message of grace. Confused by the false teachers who taught different message, not minding the effort and time spent by Paul, they ignored God’s message thereby receiving God’s grace in vain. The people heard God’s message but did not let it affects what they do with their lives and time. How often does God’s message reach you in vain? Do you know that believers’ time is also part of God’s grace, do not receive this grace in vain. The decision you make and whatever you use God – given time for today can have an impact on eternity. You can experience unending joy or unending sorrow on the decision that you make today. Gods’ offer of salvation is to all people. Many people put off the decision for Christ, thinking that there will be a better time but they could easily miss their opportunity altogether. There is no time like the present to receive God’s forgiveness. Don’t let anything hold you back from coming to Jesus Christ. Right now is the right time to prepare for where you will spend eternity.
PART 3: BIBLICAL ADMONITION ON GOOD STEWARDSHIP OF TIME (ROM. 13:11-14)
Sin makes believers sleepy, lethargic and indifferent about spiritual things. It makes believers lukewarm and unconcerned about spending time for the course of Christ. Apostle Paul advised believers if we would give a good account of, and be wise managers of our time, we have to wake up and get serious about our Christian lives. Living in constant expectation of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, casting off all works of darkness, abstaining from doing evil and other things related to them that waste our time. Living a life of sin takes time, don’t waste time sinning.
To replace what you put off, put on the armour of light and stand in contrast to the works of darkness. Work honestly, decently, orderly and not in strives or in rioting and drunkenness reproaching Jesus Christ. But put on Jesus Christ and make no provisions for flesh to fulfil the lust thereof. Avoid spending time going to places or doing things that will open doors to gratifying sinful desires.
CONCLUSION
It is obvious that many believers have not been prudent with their time. One should not use his or her time in varsity seeking for worldly honour and power at the detriment of eternity. Christians should be contented and use what God has given them to His glory. We must know that we are mortal but He is immortal. All of us should know that we are going to give account of how we use our time. Look at your desires, align it with expectation of God from you then use your time to accomplish your desires in a way pleasing to God.
QUESTIONS
- What is Christ’s admonition as regards stewardship of time?
- What are Apostle Paul’s admonitions to enhance stewardship of time?
- Explain the phrase ‘redeeming the day’.
- There are many inequalities in the world; the only thing we have in common is time. Explain this.
