Time is precious. You only get a certain amount of it and once it is gone, it can never be recovered. In Acts 17, the Apostle Paul told the men of Athens that “the Lord of heaven and earth…has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings” (Acts 17:24,26). In other words, the Lord has given to every person their time. Time is a gift from God and we are responsible to honor God with the time given. In The Lord of the Rings, Frodo told Gandalf, “I wish [finding the ring] need not have happened in my time,” “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” What do we do with the time given to us? We honor God with our time by numbering our days, embracing our seasons, and presenting our sacrifice.
Number Your Days
We honor God when we number our days. In Psalm 90:12, Moses called out to God: “teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” We need God to “teach us” how to do it. How does God teach us to number our days? He reminds us that life is fleeting. James wrote, “what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (James 4:14). The Psalmist wrote, “Remember how short my time is” (Ps 89:47). The average lifespan of a person in the USA is currently 78 years. That is 936 months or 4,056 weeks or 28,470 days. If you are 12 years old, that might seem like a long time, but if you are 78, you wonder how it went by so quickly. The purpose of numbering your days is to “gain a heart of wisdom.” We need to ask God to give us wisdom (James 1:5) because we are not born with it. It has to be learned from God. Solomon wrote, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov 9:10). A wise person fears the Lord and gains wisdom that will enable him to use his time for the glory of God.
Embrace Your Seasons
We honor God when we embrace our seasons of life. As we number our days, we recognize that God gives us seasons of adversity and prosperity. We cannot control these seasons, but we can rely on God to navigate us through them in a way that brings Him glory.
Seasons of Prosperity
Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven.” Not everyone’s season of prosperity is the same, but God brings seasons of prosperity upon everyone. Prosperity is a time of joy that God brings to remind us that He loves us and delights in giving us good gifts (Matt 7:11). It is during these seasons that God shows us that “nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37) and we can depend on Him. These mountain top moments provide a glimpse of the everlasting joys awaiting us in heaven. Therefore, let us delight in God during prosperous times and glorify His name.
Seasons of Adversity
God graciously does not allow us to remain in endless prosperity. Therefore, He brings us into seasons of adversity. Samuel Johnson wrote: “Prosperity is too apt to prevent us from examining our conduct, but adversity leads us to think properly of our state, and so is most beneficial to us.” Adversity is a time of sorrow and trials that God brings to remind us that His gifts make terrible idols. He loves us, and He alone is all we need (Ps 73:25). God ordains adversity to shake our lives in order to show what is unshakeable (Heb 12:25-29). These valleys of life prompt us to long for the everlasting joys awaiting us in heaven. Therefore, let us delight in God during adversity and glorify His name.
Present Your Sacrifice
We honor God when we present our sacrifice. As we number our days, we remember that they are to be spent for His glory, not our own. If you believe that God is most important, then you will “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God” (Rom 12:1). We do not present our sacrifices, but ourselves as a sacrifice. We can be a living sacrifice because Jesus is the sacrifice that satisfies the demands of the Law. He is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). When we become born again, Jesus’ sacrifice becomes our own. Therefore, as Stuart Olyott commented, “Instead of giving a sacrifice, be one! As surely as those animals were laid down without reserve, so put your bodies at God’s disposal.” How can we do this in this life? It means living with an eternal perspective. Steven Lawson comments about Jonathan Edwards eternal perspective:
‘God, stamp eternity upon my eyeballs.’ That was his way, metaphorically, to say: I want to live with an eternal perspective. I want to live in such a way as not to be confined with the mundane trivial things of this temporal life and world as if this is all that there is. If I am to rise above the temporal and live for the eternal, if I am to rise above that which I can see and live for that which I cannot see, if right now is to count forever then I must have this eternal perspective. That is what everyone of us here today needs. We need to live for eternity. What I do right now, how will it have its impact upon eternity?
Practical Helps
Let’s now speak of practical ways to honor God with your time. Begin by asking God to “teach us to number our days” (Ps 90:12) and ask for wisdom (James 1:5). Have a plan for how you will honor God. Your plan should include taking up your cross and following Jesus (Matt 16:24) and asking for your daily bread (needs) (Matt 6:11). Your plan should also include the spiritual disciplines that can be summarized as: Bible, Prayer, Serve, and Share. Your plans can and most likely will change. There will be interruptions and even emergencies. Hold your plan with an open hand before God, accepting whatever may befall. You will know if you are following Jesus when you are less likely to get upset when interruptions happen, and less easily devastated when emergencies occur. Remember that God is in control and not you. As Christians, we are to be good stewards of what God has entrusted to us. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. Let us honor God with our time.
First Baptist Scott City, MO 
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