How do you use your time?

Have you ever thought about how you use your time? Many of us think of our religious duty as it pertains to going to church on Sunday mornings and for some Sunday evenings. Some even make a mid-week service or attend a small group study during the week.

I did a very unscientific calculation on how much time the average Christian spends doing church---which would include Sunday mornings (avg 2 hours) and a mid-week service (avg 2 hrs), which comes to 4  hours a week, or 16 hours a month --- this is against the back drop of 168 hours in a week and 672 hours in a month.

I think that you can see where I'm going with this idea---by far the believer spends his time outside the walls of an organized church. So the question that the God of the Bible asks is how do we spend our time? Which brings me to a text of Scripture that I'd like to examine with you. Le's us look at 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.
The Apostle Paul tells the saints at Ephesus to live a careful life---the word "walk" is used throughout the N.T. to denote how believers are to practice their Christianity. The believer is to live a morally upright life---he is to live a life that is producing the fruit of the Spirit---the believer is to be living in, and abiding in Christ. God tells us that our spiritual life's blood comes only as we abide in the True Vine.

As the believer lives a carefully guarded life in all he does, in all his thoughts, in all his motives, he will be wise and his life will be honoring to God. By contrast, those who live an unguarded life will be considered fools, not that they lack academic intelligence, but they lack moral intelligence.

In light of the evil days that we live in, in light of our deceptive culture where the god of this world is masquerading as an angel of light, Paul tell us that we are to be making the best use of our time, see v. 16. We are to use are time wisely. We are to look at time as the wind; once it blows by we can't get it back. The believer as a steward of God will be held accountable as to how he uses his time.

I'll spare you of what you should and shouldn't be doing with your time---that is the job of the Holy Spirit, and the instruction of the Word of God. My goal in writing is to show you that how you use your time is extremely important to God.

Let me pull this all together: Paul tells the believers at Ephesus that they need to be careful as to the manner in which they live their lives. One way that the believer is instructed on how to live a God honoring life is how he uses his time. In light of the evil culture that we live in we can't afford to go to sleep spiritually. We need to be alert and wise, so that we know what God's will is for our lives. The goal of all that the believer does should be the glory of God.