Time is one of the most precious gifts that God has given us yet it has also been squandered, mismanaged, misused, and abused the most. We must remember that Jesus, our perfect example, has never wasted a single second of His life that is not done for God’s glory, His joy, and the good of others. His perfect life, death, and resurrection prove that all of His time – seconds, minutes, hours, and years – has been completely redeemed for the glorious purposes of God. Christ redeemed us too by His precious blood from all lawless and unwise use of time for us to make the most of every second for Him. I don’t mean to advocate perfection as to the use of time but positive progression as to the wise and best use of our precious time.
As an accounting student during college, since I don’t have any principle to embrace, I tried integrating business principles in my life. Somehow, the principles proved themselves during college but it served for my own glory. That doesn’t mean though that we could not use these for the service of God, His glory, and the good of others. That’s why I could say that we can borrow business principles to tweak the Christian principle of “redeeming one’s time” (Eph. 5:15-18) for the better; to glorify God more, to edify others more, and to delight more in God.
This might be weird at cursory reading but I believe some business principles could be used and tweaked to maximize our time and other resources. I don’t mean to say finance, economics, and other spheres of commerce have a higher authority than Scripture and God. What I mean to say is we could use other realities in service to Scriptural realities so long as it is ultimately grounded and filtered by Scripture. For now, I want to emphasize making the best use of our time because I have squandered and mismanaged a lot of it and I believe others have done so as well. There are times that I am effective and efficient in the use of my time but there are times that I have misused and abused God’s gift of time.
One of the principles I learned in economics during college is the opportunity cost principle. In my own words, it means that all of our choices have a cost. There is a benefit that has been given up every time we make choices. While reading this article, you have given up time that could be allotted in other activities. While also writing this article, I have been given up time physically mingling with other people. Time spent on games could be used for reading or mentoring other Christians. Time spent excessively scrolling social media could be used for devotion and prayer.
The next principle is activity-based costing. Since, our time is precious because it has been given to us by our Creator and our lives have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, our time is not our own but now belongs to Jesus. (1 Cor. 6:19-20) Our time is costly because it costed the Father His Son. The principle, activity-based costing, suggest that we should identify all activities that we do as Christians knowing that there are activities that do not add value to our souls. All of us would agree that time spent on lust-filled movies corrupt the soul. There are activities that are profitable and not profitable for our souls, give glory to God, increase our love and joy in Him, and edify others. What are the activities in our lives that we should let go of to maximize our time and in so doing increase our joy for the Lord?
There are concepts also in economics regarding effectivity and efficiency. Effectivity means doing the right thing while efficiency means doing things right. As to the believers’ use of our time, we should be effective. Seeking to do the right thing for the Lord at all times. We should also be efficient. Seeking to do the right things for the Lord in a wise way. Doing devotions and prayer time as a family is the right thing to do. Doing devotions and prayer time for 3 hours every day as a family might be an inefficient use of our time because there are other things to do for the Lord; like preparing for work and stewarding our bodies through exercise.
Hope you find these concepts and principles useful. Feel free to correct me if I have gone astray from the Bible. In my personal experience, tracking my time by analyzing my activities and giving up those that are not profitable brought so much cleansing in my soul. My experience of God has become deeper because we also need to cultivate a pure heart to see and savor God more. (Matt. 5:48) Choosing the best decision because every choice has a cost made me more sober, vigilant, and prayerful in making decisions. Lastly, doing things effectively and efficiently for the Lord are a must because we are called to do what is right and pleasing for the Lord and do it in a wise manner to maximize the time that God has given us. Time flies so fast. Our lives are so short to be wasted for ineffectiveness and inefficiency. Let’s use all the time that we have for the glory of God.
God bless you!
By grace alone 