"Make Good Use of Your Time"

Scripture: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.”
–Ecclesiastes 9:10, NIV

Over the past several years, I have learned to incorporate a vital aspect into my life. This aspect is something that we all deal with in one form or another. This aspect I am making reference to is time management. As a married man, a family man, a minister of the Gospel, and just a man in general, I have had to learn to juggle quality time with Mrs. Lindsay, juggle giving God His proper time, juggle a 80-hour set of work weeks, juggle time to check on family members, and other things. I bless God that He has allowed me to do that, thus making good use of my time. As men and women who live in this world, you endure these same battles of managing your time with children, work, church, and other things. God wants to encourage you on today to make good use of your time! One of the oldest clichés I have heard within life is that “an idle mind is the devil’s workshop” and if truth were told, many of the things/feelings we build up is because we are not doing anything practical. With the help of Ecclesiastes and its potent author, Solomon, God wants to again show you the importance of making good use of your time.

As fore stated in the previous paragraph, Ecclesiastes will serve as focal book. Its author is that in the person of King Solomon. Solomon was able to deliver such potent words within this book, Proverbs, and Songs of Solomon because of his life’s experiences and most importantly, the great gift of wisdom he obtained from God in 1 Kings 3. Within these twelve chapters of Ecclesiastes, we find that some of the subjects Solomon talked about included wisdom, the value of a promise to God, oppression, and how everything he obtained in the material world was vanity. In Chapter 9, today’s main chapter, Solomon deals with how wisdom is better than folly) (verses 13 – 18) and the common destiny for everyone, death (verses 1 – 12). Within the discussion of the common destiny for everyone is where we are launched into our main scripture and thought.

Solomon gives us this word of advice: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might”. Today, you, my brothers and sisters, possess gift(s) from the Almighty God. Some of you possess the gift of administration. Some of you possess the gift of teaching. Some of you possess the gift of counseling. Some of you possess the gift of intercession. Some of you possess the gift of pastorship. Some of you possess the gift of leadership. Some of you possess the gift of designing things on the computer. Some of you possess the gift of being an elite writer. Today, God charges you to either continuously work in your gift(s) or begin to use them! Oftentimes, we twiddle our thumbs in boredom, when God has already spoke what you can do and what you should be doing! He drives us through Solomon to exercise our gifts with all our might! If you are a gifted writer, exercise it with all of your might! If you are a gifted teacher, exercise it with all of your might! If you are a gifted financial advisor, exercise your gift with all of your might!

There’s a reason why God wants us to make good use of your time. Solomon completes the text by saying, “for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom”. In other words, when God turns out the lights on your life, you cannot exercise the gifts and work with what He gave you! One of the big things that gets to my nerves (and I believe some of you all would agree as well) is that people say “I should’ve done this”, “I should’ve done that”, “I could’ve done this” or “I could’ve done that”. Well, God wants you to know that you can do this, you can do that! It’s within your power, it’s within your hands to make things happen! It’s within your hands to get things done on another level! It’s on you to give you and your family the best life possible without regret. It’s on you to make the best of your time while you’re here on Earth! Don’t be the “could’ve” crowd or the “should’ve” crowd, be a part of the “do it” crowd while you have time to do so! You have a God that told you that He would never leave you nor forsake you (Matthew 28:20) and that you have no reason to be afraid because He’s there with you (Psalms 27:1, Psalms 118:6). Isn’t that a blessing to know that you have a God that’s like that? Isn’t it a blessing to know that all God wants you to do is to exercise your gifts and make good use of the time He has given you?

In closing, though I have become solid in time management, there’s definitely room for improvement! There are gifts that God has placed in my hands that I need to improve upon and use while He has given me the time. Just like me, others of you have the same testimony. Let’s work towards making good use of our time and being proud of our life’s accomplishments before we die! Make the best of your days and work your gifts with all of your might and God will reward you handsomely!