There is a time thief lurking in all of our lives. Time is our most precious asset. You cannot acquire more than you’ve been given. We each have a finite amount that dwindles by the second. When it’s gone, it’s gone. Yet so many of us treat time as if there is a never ending supply. We spend our time foolishly on the nonsensical and irrelevant.
What if we spent our money the same way we spent our time? It would be the equivalent of throwing cash out the window every second of our day. If we are not intentional about our time, a time thief will steal away what God has entrusted to us. We all have a time thief; what’s yours?
The internet and television are two of the most universal time thieves. How often do you pause to look one thing up online only to find yourself still surfing an hour or two later? It happens to everyone. As with all things, Satan hijacks what should be something wonderful and distorts it into something to distracts from God’s love and His will for our lives.
Meanwhile, the TV continues to mesmerize the masses. While the appetites may have shifted from network broadcasts to the likes of Netflix Amazon, and HBO, the siren song remains the same. We spend countless hours escaping reality in front of the television. But God did not call us to escape from the real word. He told us to engage it (Matthew 28:18-20). There are some good and useful programs out there, so this is not an anti-TV rant, but rather a warning. We spend huge amounts of time not advancing the Kingdom while we sit in front of the television.
The point is not to take away all forms of fun and relaxation. Rather, the point is to further the mission and Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Life is not about what we can take from it, but about who we can help save from it. Time is not on our side. As each second ticks away, it’s another moment we will not have the opportunity to tell someone about the love and character of God.
There are many more time thieves than the couple I mentioned here. I don’t know what your time thief is, but I know you have one. We all have guilty pleasures into which we retreat when we are tired stressed, or simply looking to check out from the day to day world. What we must realize is we were called to redeem the time (Ephesians 5:16), not to waste it. We were called to make the most of every minute.
What time thief is stealing your ability to give your all for Jesus? Perhaps an even better question to ask is, “What are you going to do about it?” Whatever time thief has invaded your life, what is your plan for dealing with it and kicking it out? We must recognize every minute of our lives is a minute entrusted to us by God to build His Kingdom. Are you willing to surrender that moment to a time thief, or will you use it to further God’s mission and bring Him glory? Take control of your time. Be intentional with your life. It’ the best defense against any time thief.