“Ugghh, I need to manage my time better!!!” Been thinking this for YEARS and still can’t grasp how to really go about the doing. That’s because we can’t manage time. Nope. We can’t simply “find” time, grab it, and control the constancy of it. Remember, we are spirit beings, but we are still attached to flesh and bones. No one can really define or truly measure it; it cannot be seen. We just know morning, noon, and evening occurs. We know days pass and we get older. Attempting to measure time is trying to be in control of time, which cannot be done.

Instead, we can make best use of the time we do have here on earth. The “time” that we have come to know, because God knows, understands, and controls time- the “time” we can’t see. But with our man-made clocks, watches, and stop watches, we can do the best we can with our definition of “time.” We can change our focus of managing time to instead choosing to procrastinate less, practice becoming more productive within time periods (30 mins, hourly), and become more organized in our personal and professional lives so we are not wasting and losing time. Of course making “to-do” lists and having a flexible schedule both help as well.

“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8).

“For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night”               (Psalm 90:4).

I find that if you are not setting aside time for God; reading and meditating on the Word; praying; researching truth; feeding your spirit, time definitely seems to slip away and you get that tug on your heart that time and YOU are wasting away because you are not devoting yourself to the things of God. It seems like we “make time” for everything else, but spiritual and godly things….

In Colossians 4:5, we are instructed to “walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.” Then Ephesians 5:15-16 says, “see then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise; redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Both scriptures inform us to “redeem time;” live holy and meekly with the time we have left because much time has already past; we have already wasted too much time in life.

“Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, (the time I have) what it is: that I may know how frail I am; behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah” (Psalm 39:4-5).

The time referred to in these verses speak of time within the lifespan of a person, but there is another time God deals with.

Eccleciastes 3:8 says, “a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”

Romans 13:11; “and that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.”

Genesis 8:22; “while the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”

These are the times of seasons. This may be in terms of months or specific time periods (weekly, monthly, an entire year).

There seems to be 3 categories of time:

-lifespan

-seasons (calendar, time periods)

-time measured by man with the limited knowledge we have (clocks, watches, etc.)

So see, we can’t really make one definition of time. Neither can we “manage time” or control it. We truly can’t even say that we are in the correct time period because calendars and time zones are different and we are only going off of time that we have been forced to know. We just know that whatever “time” we do have, we best make the most use of it. Only God can define, manage, and control time.