TIME MANAGEMENT Part 1

Eccl 3:1

“There appears to exist a greater desire to live long than to live well. Measured by man’s desires, he cannot live long enough; measured by his good deeds, he has not lived long enough; measured by his evil deeds, he has lived too long.”

Some people believe that we should be wiser and happier if we lived longer. But we must understand that we were created like God—to be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth, subdue it, and have dominion over all other creations of God (Gen 1:28).

The primary aim of God is to make life richer, deeper, more meaningful, more splendid. Hence, God supplied every need of man before he was created. All man needed to do was to dress and keep the garden (Gen 2:15).

Today, it has become increasingly necessary to draw attention to the faulty measurement applied to life. We are surrounded by tragedies of mismanaged and misspent lives.

In Biblical history, the Scriptures recorded of the longest-lived man, Methuselah, who begat Lamech, and his days were nine hundred and sixty-nine years—and he died (Gen 5:27). No meaningful history can we compare with David, who lived for approximately seventy years but lived an eventful and fulfilled life.

So many devour time rather than employ it, running away from an existence which to them has become tedious beyond endurance—wasting the precious time in disillusion and failure, forgetting that life is like a plant that must be nurtured into beauty.

The life of David was a good example. He developed and became mighty in his sojourn in the wilderness (1 Sam 22:2; 2 Sam 23:8; 1 Chro 11:10). David and these men had a purpose which they pursued over the years, acquiring the necessary experience in warfare, which became a weapon in the hands of David when he became king.

As laborers building up our lives, we must have an architectural design of the final edifice in our minds, laboring in line with that conception while putting God in the knowledge of our desires—for it is He who establishes the purpose of our minds.

Psalm 37:5 saith: “Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.”

Man has discovered the laws that govern the heavenly bodies and the minutest particle of matter, but is still pathetically ignorant of the laws that govern human life. We are still most uneducated on the utmost need to transmit the years of our existence into the golden glory of achievement.

So many of us hope that fate or destiny will favor us and grant us good fortune; only few realize the brazen truth—that we can transform our lives by our efforts and transfigure our very age by our endeavors. “For a dream cometh through the multitude of business.” (Eccl 5:3).

Majority of our youths today are wasting away the precious time, awaiting the State (Nation) to provide them jobs, instead of being employers themselves—and years are wasted doing nothing meaningful.

Apostle Paul admonished in Rom 12:11, saying: “Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.” And in Heb 6:12 saith: “That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” Also, in 1 Thess 4:11-12 he saith: “Do your own business, and work with your own hands, as we commanded you; that ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.”

Let us strive—for a little success is better than no success at all.

The Scriptures, as our manual of life, are interested in our physical and spiritual welfare. A better and brighter world will materialize only when we learn to convert the valueless seconds of life into the gold coin of successful living.

When we learn to manage our lives with wisdom, and hack through this difficult path to achievement: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Phil 4:13).

(The Recreated Vessels)