Give Your Time to God: Part 4 — A ‘Time With God’ Audio Devotion

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Transcript

Good morning. We’re spending this week at this time of day, each weekday, talking about giving our time to God. Maybe you think, oh, why would I do that?

I have so many things I want to do with my time, so many things I want to do with my life, and I’ve got a plan for my life, and I’m organising my life around my plan for my life. Well, I’ve got news for you. Your time is in God’s hands, and you don’t know how long your life will last. All the time people are getting bad news from the doctor, or they’re having car accidents, or life circumstances just change so dramatically.

And suddenly they realise I don’t just have lots of time to do whatever I want. My time is in God’s hands, and as we recognise that it’s so important to change our perspective on time and to take our time, which is one of the most precious things in our lives, and give it to God and say, God, I want to do what you want me to do with my time because I know that’s what counts in life.

I want to take you to a new passage for this week in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 in the Bible, and in this chapter, the apostle Paul is writing to the Corinthian Christians and talking to them about not getting discouraged in doing the work that they do for God, obeying God in their lives and putting Him first, thinking about ministry to other people in their lives instead of just what they want out of life.

And as he does that, he comes towards the end of the chapter and starting in verse 16, this is what he says.

So we do not lose heart, talking about losing height in that mindset of ministering to others for God. We do not lose heart, though our outer self, our physical body, is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day, for this momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.

You can’t even compare the weight of glory that is coming to what you suffer or struggle with in this life because you’ve put God first, right? There’s no comparison, the glory is that much greater.

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As we look, he says, not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen, for the things that are seen are transient, the temporary. But the things that are unseen are eternal.

How can you give your time to God? Really, it’s by focusing your life on the unseen things, that is, on the spiritual things of life. In 1 John chapter 2 in the Bible, it says, do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. God the Father, he means.

What God wants is for you to focus not on the physical things of this world that you want or the physical pleasure in this world that you want to get. Yes, God blesses us with so many things, doesn’t he?

And he blesses us with so many pleasurable experiences in life. He’s good to us as our loving Father. But those things are not to be the focus of your life.

The focus of your life is to be on the things that are not seen, the spiritual things, the things that matter for all of eternity. Your impact on the lives of the people around you, your impact on your own family, on your friends, on the people you work with, on the people you see along the way. What kind of person are you in their lives? How do they see God in your life? And how is your life pointing them to God?

These are the things that matter in life. What can you do with your free time that will contribute to God’s agenda in this world? I encourage you, as you think about your life today and this week, to think about how you can focus your life on the things of God.

I’m John North.

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