TIME MANAGEMENT & TIME VALUEMENT

WISDOM TO MAXIMIZE YOUR MINUTES

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1

No one wants to look back on life and realize important opportunities were missed or precious time was wasted. We all want to enjoy the time God has given us and use that time to make a difference in the world. These Keys for Living resources provide practical help on how to prioritize what’s important, organize your schedule, and maximize your minutes. Don’t waste another moment—discover God’s plan and purpose for you!

“Making the most of time” can be a greatly misunderstood motto! Good time management is not marching to the beat of some rigorous, strict regimen on the road to productivity. It is finding the freedom to be all God created you to be by being balanced in your life and becoming a wise steward of time. This wisdom is poetically expressed in the balanced cadence of Ecclesiastes Chapter 3, encouraging you to live in harmony with God’s movement … to go with God’s flow.

God’s Presence in Time.  The New Test ament Greek word kairos is time marked for a purpose and filled with meaning. While chronos emphasizes length and quantity of time, kairos emphasizes characteristics and quality.  Time that is made et ernal by the presence of God is kairos.

“Be wise in the way you act ... make the most of every opportunity.”

Colossians 4:5

TIME IS…

Treasure

• Time is a gift from God to bring pleasure and satisfaction.

“A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God.”

(Ecclesiastes 2:24) 

Investment

• Time is the opportunity to invest in that which will last forever.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

(Matthew 6:19–20)

Measured

• Time on earth is limited, and it forces us to focus on priorities.

“Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

(Psalm 90:12)

Eternal

• Time is immaterial when one is in the presence of God.

“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”

(John 5:24)

Practical Tools and Resources to Go Deeper! 

SPIRITUAL STRENGTH | LIFE LEADERSHIP | REAL RELATIONSHIPS

How Do You Utilize Your Time?

Do you manage your time well? In reality, you cannot manage time—you cannot slow it down or speed it up, but you can learn to make the most of your time! Your responsibility regarding time is listening to God’s Spirit and living in concert with God’s purposes for your life. The disciples were concerned that Jesus “take the time” to eat, yet He responded,

“My food … is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”

(John 4:34)

Time Management … Achieving God’s Purposes for Your Life through Establishing and Completing Specific Goals

• Purposes (Ephesians 1:11–23)
• Goals (2 Corinthians 5:9–10)
• The why of your life
• The what of your life
  • You are created in God’s image to have fellowship with Him.
  • In what ways do you grow in fellowship with God?

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.’ ”

(Genesis 1:26)

Components of Time Management and Time Valuement

Scripture encourages us to “make the most of every opportunity,” suggesting that our time can be used in a disciplined and productive manner. Good stewardship with your time is no less important than good stewardship with your other gifts from God. Time is a treasure, a valuable commodity for which God holds each of us accountable.

“Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.”

(Colossians 4:5)

Timeliness

• Accepting responsibility
• Setting priorities
• Avoiding rationalizations
• Rejecting false guilt

Procrastination

• Escaping responsibility
  • Focusing attention
  • Overeating, sleeping, daydreaming, reading
  • Scheduling recreational activities
  • Engaging in excessive entertainment

• Overlooking priorities
  • Determining direction
  • Putting tasks off until tomorrow
  • Establishing tasks
  • Wasting time on unimportant tasks

• Making rationalizations
  • Refusing excuses
  • Manufacturing excuses
  • Avoiding self-pity
  • Indulging in self-pity

• Being consumed with guilt
  • Rebuffing shaming accusations
  • Succumbing to shame
  • Resisting preoccupation with regret
  • Being paralyzed by regret

“All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.”

(Proverbs 14:23)

Organization

• Becoming focused
• Eliminating clutter
• Committing to dependability
• Holding on to hope

Disorganization

• Failing to be focused
  • Concentrating effort
  • Lacking concentration
  • Completing projects
  • Abandoning projects

• Accumulating clutter
  • Working neatly
  • Ignoring neatness
  • Organizing space and resources
  • Neglecting work environment

• Failing to be dependable
• Keeping appointments
  • Forgetting appointments
  • Meeting deadlines
  • Missing deadlines

• Forsaking hope
  • Seeking a vision
  • Working without a vision
  • Staying motivated
  • Lacking motivation

Committed

• Giving God control
• Valuing rest and leisure
• Balancing play and work
• Setting boundaries

Overcommitted

• Allowing others to control
  • Avoiding manipulation
  • Submitting to manipulation
  • Practicing unconditional acceptance
  • Exercising performance-based acceptance

• Giving up rest and leisure
  • Curtailing work to get sufficient sleep
  • Losing sleep due to excessive busyness
  • Striving for all-around health
  • Sacrificing health for perfectionism

• Feeling guilty when not working
  • Prioritizing people over projects
  • Prioritizing projects over people
  • Planning time for family and friends
  • Needing personal recognition above family and friends 

• Being unwilling to say no
  • Pleasing God before pleasing people
  • Pleasing people before God
  • Confronting inappropriate behavior
  • Seeking “peace at all costs”

“Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

(Galatians 1:10)

Consequences of Poor Time Mismanagement

Frustrated Earthly Life

• Lack of intimacy with the Lord
• Lack of quality in personal relationships
• Lack of ability to relax
• Lack of ability to enjoy being quiet
• Lack of rest and leisure
• Lack of satisfaction in work
• Lack of emotional stability
• Lack of physical health
• Lack of joy and optimism
• Lack of a sense of self-worth

 Key Verses to Learn 

“Be wise in the way you act ... make the most of every opportunity.” 

(Colossians 4:5) 

“He will die for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.”

(Proverbs 5:23)

“The fool folds his hands and ruins himself. Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.”

(Ecclesiastes 4:5–6)

Key Passage to Read

Ecclesiastes Chapter 3

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