Time – The most precious commodity

Rev Dwight Fletcher

At the start of a new year, we often reflect on time, which has become especially precious over the last two years as we experienced a global pandemic. We wanted to go back to past times, longed for future times when it would be all over, and mourned the precious time lost with loved ones. Often, we wished we had more time. Time for our loved ones, ourselves and time to do more of what really matters.

With so much happening in our time, we’re often distracted from the most important things. A similar thing happened in the Bible. Luke 10 gives us the account of Mary and Martha with Jesus. Mary sat at the feet of Jesus while her sister Martha was too busy doing other things. Martha wasn’t doing bad things. She was actually doing good things, but she was distracted from the best thing.

We’re caught in the ‘Tyranny of the Urgent’, at the expense of the important. This is the prevailing culture. It’s the pattern of this world and it’s overwhelming us as we have become a ‘24/7’ society. A full calendar may mean a full life, but it doesn’t mean a fulfilled life. The most important things get overwhelmed by supposedly urgent things, and our lives are in a mess as we’re experiencing a great decline in the quality of our relationships.

One of the challenges of modern living is that we have little or no boundaries in our lives. The pandemic forced us to slow down and, for many of us, it was difficult. Our tendency is to take everything to the limit or beyond the limits that God set.

A margin is the space between our needs and our limits. We all have limits and needs. When our needs are less than our limits, we have margins; and when our needs are more than our limits, our lives are overloaded and overwhelmed. We have, unfortunately, normalised an overloaded lifestyle.

We seem to be rushing to get back to the pre-pandemic norms which were unsustainable, unbiblical, ungodly and insane. I believe the scripture speaks into this when it says: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — His good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2 (NIV)

This is a warning to not be conformed to this world. Why not? Because it is insane. Instead, be transformed! Let God come and change your mind, heart, and life so you will know and approve and test God’s perfect will in your life.

One of the things that modern living robs from us is time and the best use of it. The Bible teaches that time and life are tied together. It seems that the whole universe is organised for measuring time. Nature is like a huge clock as the rotation of the earth marks the passing of day and night. The phases of the moon mark the months while the revolutions of the planets mark the years. “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom”. Psalm 90:12 (NIV). The most precious commodity in the universe is, arguably, time.

When we don’t make the time to build good relationships, they become shallow and easily fall apart because we don’t properly maintain them. Unfortunately, we’re teaching our children the same thing. Many of us are stressed, have deteriorating relationships, and experience poor rest and deteriorating health, because of badly managed time. As we begin 2022, let’s begin by reassessing how we’re spending our time.