“PROCRASTINATION: THE THIEF OF TIME”
EPHESIANS 5:15-17
Therefore
be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your
time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what
the will of the Lord is (NASB).
INTRODUCTION
There is a
legend about Satan and his demons planning their strategy for attacking the
world that is hearing the message of salvation. One of the demons says, “I have
got the plan, master. When I get on the earth and take charge of people’s
thinking, I will tell them there is no heaven.”
The devil responds, “Ah, they will
never believe that. This Book of Truth is full of messages about the hope of
heaven through sins forgiven. They won’t believe that. They know that there is
a glory yet future.”
On the other side of the room another
says, “I have got the plan. I will tell them there is no hell.”
“No good,” he says. “Jesus, while He
was on earth, talked more of hell than of heaven. They know in their hearts
that their wrong will have to be taken care of in some way. They deserve
nothing more than hell.”
And one brilliant little demon in the
back stood up and said, “Then I know the answer. I will just tell them there is
no hurry.” And he is the one Satan chose. Let’s take a look at the adage,
Procrastination: The Thief of Time” as we examine the text: Ephesians 5:15-17.
I.
WISE BELIEVERS’ WAY OF LIFE V. 15
Based on what the Apostle Paul has said in the
beginning of chapter 5 of Ephesians as he concludes the chapter, he exhorts the
believing community to live like wise men/women. I believe the King James
Version states, “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as
wise” (v.15). The word “circumspectly” suggests looking all around,
giving attention to all circumstances and consequences as one might do when
passing through a very dangerous place. The same word may be translated, “Watch
carefully, then, how you walk.” Today's English Version of the Bible
states, “So pay close attention to how you live.” The thought is further
explained by the words “not as fools, but as wise.” What the Bible is teaching
us is that believers are to walk as people having the character of wise people,
not fools. The Word of God is teaching us that Christian wisdom is practical
wisdom, because it teaches us how to behave. The word “behave” is the Hebrew
concept “to walk” (in the Greek, peripateo). It means to walk around. In 2:1-3
the Apostle Paul has exhorted that our Christian walk or behavior must no
longer be according to the world, the flesh, and the devil. In 4:17 he says
that we are not to live like pagans. In other words, we are not to live our
lives like people who do not belong to God. Rather our behavior must be worthy
of God’s call, ‘in love,’ and “as children of light” (4:1; 5:1, 8). Everything
worth doing in life requires care. You pay particular attention to things that
matter to you, for instance, your job, education, home and family, hobbies,
dress or clothes, and appearance. Therefore, as Christians we must pay careful
attention to our Christian life. However, in the life of many Christians the
opposite is the truth. Many Christians do not pay attention to the way they
live their lives. In view of this, they become stumbling blocks to others. This
should not be so. On the contrary, we must treat our Christian life as
the serious thing it is. It is a call for moral discernment and a practical
skill in making decisions. What therefore are the marks of wise people who take
care of their Christian discipleship?
II. WISE BELIEVERS’ USE OF TIME V. 16
The Apostle Paul says that
wise Christians make the most of their time. The verb that is used in verse 16
can mean “to redeem” or “to buy back.” The Greek word for
“redeeming” is a market term meaning, “To buy out” or “purchase completely.”
The term is used in reference to “buying back" a slave in the New
Testament, except here in this text and Colossians 4:5. It is the same word
that is used for the redemptive work of Christ for sinful humanity. The
expression here however is a metaphorical way to speak of using time well. The
term “time” is the Greek word kairos. In the Greek language there
are two words that are used for “time.” One is Chronos, from which we
get the word “chronology”; and the other is kairos. Kairos refers to
opportunity in this context. Therefore, the Apostle Paul is saying that we are
to make use of every passing opportunity. Someone has said that opportunity
once lost is hardly regained. Paul goes on to give us the reason why we are to
make the most of our time: that is because “the days are evil.” If the
days in which the Apostle Paul lived were evil, I can say without exaggeration
or apology that the days in which we live are more evil. When we see the
terrorists activities, the tsunami, the mudslide, drive by shooting, the social
injustice, pornography, and all the other evils that are going on today, we can
conclude that these days are more evil. The reference to the evil days is the
conditions unfavorable to Christians. In fact, the Bible predicts that evil in
the world will continue to increase, but Christians are to make the world a
better place. We are to take moral stand and do good things to help the
helpless and the defend the defenseless.
Certainly
wise people know that time is a precious commodity. All of us have the same
amount of time at our disposal, with sixty minutes in every hour and
twenty-four hours in every day. None of us can stretch time, but wise people
use time to the fullest possible advantage. They know that time is passing, and
also that the days are evil. So they seize each fleeting opportunity while it
is there. For once it has passed even the wisest people cannot recover it.
A
study revealed that an average seventy-year old man has spent twenty-four years
sleeping, fourteen years working, eight years in amusements, six years at the
dinner table, five years in transportation, four years in conversation, three
years in education, and two years in studying and reading.
His
other four years were spent in miscellaneous pursuits. Of those four years, he
spent forty-five minutes in church on Sundays, and five minutes were devoted to
prayer each day. This adds up to a not at all impressive total of five months
that he gave to God over seventy years of his life.
Even
if this man has been a faithful churchgoer who attended Sunday school and three
one-hour services per week, he would have spent only one year and nine months
in church!
If
you have a question about the above arithmetic, sit down and figure out how you
have been using your time. How large a portion of it is for the things related
to God? When you finish this exercise, ponder what Jesus said: “What good will
it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet loses his soul” (Matt. 16:26)?
The
Bible tells us that there are some things that will last forever. One is the
Word of God. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away but My words shall
not pass away.” (Matt. 24:35). The Bible says that God has set eternity in
human hearts (Eccl. 3:11). Therefore, humans will live forever. Some will live
forever in hell and others will live forever in heaven. It all depends on who
is your Savior and Lord. Why is it that we spend most of our time in pursuing
things that are transient and neglect those that are permanent? Why do we major
in the temporal things of life and neglect the eternal?
The
cardinal time management question is this: Are you doing anything with your
time that has the potential to last forever? In your “busyness” have you carved
out time for good works, which continue forever? Or are you so consumed with
supporting a lifestyle or other personal ambitions that everything you are
doing will be left behind?
In How
to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie wrote about too many of
us, “His toothache means more to him than a famine in China that kills a
million people. A boil on his neck interests him more than forty earthquakes in
Africa.”
Let
me bring it to our contemporary situation. Let’s say you were a believer living
in either Sri Lanka or Indonesia. The Lord impressed it upon your heart to go
and witness to a certain family in a nearby village on the day before the
Tsunami. You felt the urge and the wooing of the Holy Spirit but you refused to
go. The following day the Tsunami struck and that family died without Christ,
but you were spared. How would you feel?
The
only part of life that crosses the threshold between this world and the next is
the human soul. Therefore, if you want to make a lasting contribution, then you
should become more interested in the other fellow and spend time helping people
“break the code” on how to gain eternal life. This should start in your home
and spread to every arena of your life, not as a rote activity, but fired by
the intensity of your own gratitude toward God.
Have
you ever noticed how a man who has stopped smoking tries to convert everyone he
meets into a nonsmoker? Have you ever noticed someone who has enjoyed an
elegant dining experience tells everyone he meets about his discovery? Frankly,
most men seem more interested in converting others to nonsmoking and their
favorite restaurant than to eternal life. Often you do not share your faith in
Christ with others because you fear you will offend people and they will
dislike you. The truth is that half of the people in the world are not going to
like you anyway, so they might as well not like you for the right reasons! If
one hundred people dislike you, but one person becomes a Christian, would that
be worth the effort? The truth is that ninety-nine out of a hundred people will
want to answer and discuss the question, “Where are you on your spiritual
pilgrimage?” Therefore, when planning the use of your time, be sure to include
time for things that have the potential to last forever.
Let
me address some of you who may be religious but not genuine Christians. How are
you utilizing your time? You have been attending church every Sunday, but deep
in your heart, you have not received Christ as your Lord and personal Savior. I
am not a prophet of doom but if you were to die today, where would you spend
eternity? Will your destination be heaven or hell? Think about this very well,
because the days in which we live are evil. John Hagee said, “Yesterday is a
cashed check; tomorrow is a promissory note. Today is cash in hand so use
it—invest it.”
III. WISE BELIEVERS’ UNDERSTANDING OF GOD’S WILL V. 17
Not only are wise believers
careful in their behavior, and use their time wisely, but also wise believers
discern the will of God. Wise believers are certain that, whereas willfulness
is folly, wisdom is to be found in God’s will and nowhere else (v. 17). Jesus
Himself prayed, “Not my will but yours be done,” and He taught us to
pray, “May your will be done on earth as in heaven.” Nothing is more
important in life than to discover and do the will of God. Therefore, the
primary consideration for the Christian must never be what is most profitable
financially, what is most pleasurable or enjoyable, or what will bring the
greatest personal advantage or honor. Your first concern as a believer is to
discern what God wills you to be and to do. This is the way of wisdom and
anything short of it betrays a mind lacking in moral intelligence.
In
seeking to discover God’s will for your life, it is important to distinguish
between God’s general and His particular will. For example, one of God’s
general will for our lives is to make us like Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29). God’s
general will for Christians is that we become His witness sharing His love with
the lost and dying world. God’s general will is that we will bear the fruit of
the Spirit. His general will is that we will be filled with the Holy Spirit and
love one another. His particular will however, extends to the particularities
of our life, and this differs from a believer to another. For example, what
career you are to pursue; whether you should marry or not, and if so whom are
you to marry. Only after you have made the distinction between God’s general
and particular will can you consider how to find out “what the will
of the Lord is.” God’s general will is found in Scripture; the will of God
for the people of God has been revealed in the Word of God. However, you may
not find His particular will for your life in Scripture. To be sure, you will
find general principles in Scripture to guide you, but detailed decisions have
to be made after careful thought and prayer and sometimes the seeking of advice
from mature and experienced Christians. The questions you need to answer are
these:
Are you behaving yourself as a wise Christian? Are
you using your time majoring on things that are eternal? Have you discovered
God’s general and particular will for your life?
Since
the Tsunami hit south Asia, the world converged there to help with the rescue
and recovering efforts. That is a noble side of humanity. However, the Bible
tells us that something that is worse than the Tsunami is about to hit the
whole world, but Christians are the only people, that have the solution. Why
then are many Christians not investing their time warning their families and
neighbors to run for cover? “The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the
night; in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements
will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will
be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10). The Book of Revelation states that people will
cry and literally ask the mountains to fall on them. Why don’t you invest your
time wisely telling people to run for safety in Jesus Christ before this
catastrophic event occurs? In our quest for material things of life, in our
quest to get ahead in life and the pursuit of affluence, we have the tendency to
forget that death can knock at our door at anytime. The question is, "Are
you maximizing your time in godly pursuits so that when the grim reaper calls
your number, you are prepared and that there would be no regret? Invest your
life and time for Christ.
If the messages from this blog have been a blessing to you and you want to give to support this ministry, you can write your check to:
KENADARKWA LLC
Kennedy A. Adarkwa, PhD
6402 Redding Court
Arlington, TX 76001
If the messages from this blog have been a blessing to you and you want to give to support this ministry, you can write your check to:
KENADARKWA LLC
Kennedy A. Adarkwa, PhD
6402 Redding Court
Arlington, TX 76001
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