TIME AND YOUR PURPOSE
God’s creation of man reveals that He desired a time- conscious being with an eternity perspective.
You were born and created for a purpose in God’s plan, and you were given a time to fulfill that purpose. According to the Scriptures, there is a time to every purpose (Ecclesiastes 3:1).
Because we live in time, we measure life in increments of seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years, etc. But how does God measure and judge the success of your life?
To answer this we must consider that God never intended for us to die.
God’s original purpose and His future plans call for us to live forever.
Therefore, length of years is not the measure of life for God.
Your age does not impress Him.
There are many who believe that old age is a sign of God’s favor and approval.
If this is true, then how do you account for the millions of individuals in countries around the world, and perhaps even in your city, who live beyond one hundred years of age and have no commitment to God? Their life styles incorporate behaviors that are considered to be ungodly.
It is evident that God measures the success, effectiveness and value of your life on earth in terms of purpose.
God’s question is never “How many years have you lived?” or “How old are you?” but rather “What have you done?”
In essence, life is not measured by duration but by donation.
From God’s perspective, “Well done” is more important than “Long lived.”
Jesus understood the important relationship between time and the completion of purpose.
Again and again He instructed people not to move faster in their expectations of Him than God’s perfect timing allowed.
This awareness of God’s purpose for His life as it related to His time on earth is particularly evident in John’s record of the wedding at Cana.
On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee.
Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and His disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to Him, “They have no more wine.”
“Dear woman, why do you involve Me?” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come” (John 2:1-4).
Jesus also displayed this consciousness of time and purpose on many other occasions.
In the twelth chapter of the Gospel of John He says,
The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. …Now My heart is troubled, and what shall I say? “Father, save Me from this hour”? No, it was for this very reason that I came to this hour.
Father, glorify Your name! (John 12:23,27)
He further expresses the relationship of time and timing to purpose in the seventh chapter of John:
Jesus’ brothers said to Him, “You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that Your disciples may see the miracles You do.
No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret.
Since You are doing these things, show Yourself to the world.”
For even His own brothers did not believe in Him.
Therefore Jesus told them, “The right time for Me has not yet come; for you any time is right” (John 7:3-6).
Here Jesus’ disciples attempted to influence Him to go public and declare His power and position.
But Jesus refused and stated that there was a right time for every purpose of God and a right timing for it to be released in its fullness.
He further informed them that they had no awareness of the purpose and the proper use of time for their own lives.
Therefore, it is vital for you to capture and maximize the time of your life.
To do this, you must discover your purpose for life and get busy with your assignment.
Every day should be used to account for the fulfillment of God’s dream in your heart.
What have you done with the last year, month or day that you’ve lived?
What can you show to justify that time?
Time was given to you to fulfill your purpose in this life.
Don’t be like Methuselah, of whom it is recorded that he lived 969 years and then died.
That is all we know of his life.
What a tragedy! I admonish you to find your purpose and give time meaning.
As the apostle Paul exhorts: “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15-16 NKJV).
Throughout His ministry, glimpses of Jesus’ true nature and glory were visible.
He healed the sick (John 4:43-53, among many), multiplied loaves of bread and fish to feed large crowds (John 6:1-15), walked on the Sea of Galilee (John 6:16-20), and brought sinful people to repentance (John 4:1-42).
As the time for His crucifixion drew near, Jesus acknowledged that His time had come:
Father, the time has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You.
For You granted Him authority over all people that He might give eternal life to all those You have given Him.
Now this is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. I have brought You glory on earth by completing the work You gave Me to do.
And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world began (John 17:1-5).
Time is always given for the completion of purpose.
Whenever time is used for things that do not work toward the given purpose, it is wasted and the opportunity to reach perfection is delayed or lost.
Jesus came to reconnect us with our God-given purpose and the importance of using time to complete that purpose.
His goal was not Calvary but the resurrection, so He could redirect our living from time to eternity.
God has given you an assignment that is so awesome it will take you this life and the life to come to complete it.
He invites you to live by faith, moving with Him beyond the limitations of what you can see, hear and feel at any given moment, so your perspective can move from living for today alone to looking toward eternity.
There’s eternity in your heart because God placed it there.
Knowing your purpose and the time associated with it will allow you to be effective and productive in your living, using the time He gives you for the purpose for which He gave it.
The proper use of time is always dependent on the priority of purpose because time is an interruption in eternity that allows you to fulfill what you were sent here to do.
He who has time to burn will never give the world much light.
Killing time is not murder, it’s suicide.
Take note of the following nuggets:
1. Time starts when we are born and ends when we die.
2. Eternity has neither a beginning nor an end.
3. God, who is eternal, exists outside time.
4. God sees the end from the beginning and sets our course according to His overall purposes.
5. God gives every purpose a time that allows it to reach perfection.
6. Time is always given for a purpose.
7. Time that is not used for its intended purpose is wasted and lost.
Meditate on this scriptural reference so as to maximize your time appropriately..." Teach us to number our days , that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Psalm 90:12"
