In our previous lessons (Seeking God’s Kingdom, The Two Greatest Commands, and Handling Temptation) we have learned a lot about the Christian’s over-arching focus and walk and today we will examine another gift from God.
A gift that God has given to all equally. It is time. We all have 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, 52 weeks in a year. The question is not if we have enough time, rather what are we going to do with the time God has given us?
Ephesians 5:15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
Paul is alluding to Ecclesiastes 9:12 “the days are evil”
We have only so many allotted days and often our end comes when we do not expect it. We need to make the most of our time. Each day seen as a gift and used appropriately.
The Stephen Covey Story
A college professor was teaching his students about time management and so one day in class he placed a bucket on top of a table. Inside the bucket were some big rocks.
The professor asked the class, “Is the bucket full?”
The class said, “Yes.”
The professor then reached under the table and pulled out another bucket full of smaller rocks and he poured them into the first bucket until all the nooks and crannies had been filled up to the top of the bucket.
Then he asked the class, “Is the bucket now full?”
Many students were now hesitant to answer, but some said, “Yes.”
The professor reached under the table again and pulled out another bucket full of sand and began to pour the sand into the first bucket until the sand had reached the top of the bucket.
The professor then asked, “Is the bucket now full?”
The students would not answer having caught onto his object lesson.
And so the professor reached under the table and pulled out another bucket full of water and poured it in the first bucket until the water reached the top of the bucket.
He then asked the same question again and of course, no response as the students weren’t sure of themselves at this point, but the professor assured them that the bucket was now full.
The professor then told the class, “This is a picture of time management. What do we learn?”
A couple students offer good insight into the lesson, but nobody captures the lesson fully and so the professor tells the class, “If we hadn’t put the big rocks in first we wouldn’t have had room for them.”
WE MUST PUT THE BIG ROCKS IN FIRST.
The Foundational Principle of Time Management.
Satan will try to steal our time and so we never plan the Big Rocks.
In this lesson, I will point out the 5 Big Rocks that we must put in our bucket first if we are going to make the most of our time and live a life that is pleasing to God.
5 Big Rocks: Plan them and follow through with your Plan
1. Prayer
1 Thessalonians 5:17 tells the Christians they are to “pray without ceasing.”
This means in every circumstance we find ourselves we have the habit of prayer. It is something we practice and do continually. We schedule times of prayer as well.
Satan does not want us to pray, but God does. God wants to hear from you and we need to talk to God.
2. Bible Study
Acts 17:11 The Bereans were “examining the Scriptures daily” to see if the things they were hearing were so. That is exactly what we must do.
We need to get into God’s word daily.
We will attend worship assemblies and hear sermons each week, but this is not enough. If this is what our spiritual diet consist of then we will starve and die spiritually.
If we want to be strong and grow into the maturity of Christ then we must do #1 and #2 daily.
This principle is easy to see when we consider physical examples. If I want to improve my fitness and be able to run faster then I know I will not improve if I only run once or twice a week. If this is all the physical exercise I get I will remain weak and stagnant.
Sometimes you will read God’s word casually. Other times you will study it in depth. Get yourself a notebook and label it Bible Study.
Read a chapter. Write down what you learned from that chapter. Write down what you would tell somebody else about that chapter.
Get in the Word everyday.
Satan doesn’t want you in there. But this is how you will overcome him (Matthew 4:1-11).
3. Attending the Assemblies of the Church
Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Make this a priority. It is one of the easiest things that God expects of us.
When one asks many people if they are going to make it to the next worship assembly they will say, “I’ll try my best.”
First of all, Yoda said, “Do or do not. There is no try.” That is an important lesson in and of itself, but also consider the following example:
If one had just gotten a new job and their boss asked if they were going to be at work Monday morning at 9:00 AM, would they say, “I’ll try really hard to be there?”
No they would say, “Yes sir.”
Think about that about that in regard to worshiping God and assembling with other Christians.
Coming together to worship God, sing praises to God, learn from God’s word, take the Lord’s supper, and give is a Big Rock. We must plan it.
Again, this is one of the easiest things God expects of us and yet so many people don’t do it.
4. Time With Other Christians
Acts 2:46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
They were meeting in Christian’s homes to praise God and eat their meals together.
We have a responsibility to get to know our Christian brethren. Develop real relationships so that we can truly “encourage one another” all the more as we see the Day drawing near (Hebrews 10).
Real, true, strong bonds do not happen from just getting together a couple times a week within the assemblies. We have to be a part of each other’s lives.
Satan is going to have you believe since you are the new kid on the block that it is everybody else’s responsibility to get to know you. And yes, it is a shared responsibility, but you have the responsibility too.
You must start scheduling and planning this Big Rock.
Pursue these relationships and God will bless you in this pursuit.
5. Get the Message Out
We will talk more about this in an upcoming lesson.
In John 1, we read of John the Baptist saying, 29 “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’”
Later in the same chapter we read:
40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ).
Andrew immediately went and found somebody else and told them they need to come and check out this Messiah.
I want to encourage you to plan how you are going to do this and then do it. Invite others to worship with you. Invite others to study with you. Talk together about the word of God.
The message of Jesus Christ who can save people from their sins must get out.
If we don’t teach it to people then who will?
Conclusion
If we don’t plan these 5 Big Rocks they won’t happen.
We must make the most of our time.
Serve God.
And in the end when the evil days have finally over come you God will welcome you into His home and will say, “Well done good and faithful servant.”
Keep the faith today and I’ll see you next week right here.