Last fall, I got an email from a woman who wanted to join a small group but wasn’t sure it would fit into her life. I quickly realized she needed a coffee conversation in response, not an email. When we got together, she shared, “I do feel like I want to grow spiritually in a small group, but I legitimately am not sure where it will fit in. I’m struggling with anxiety. I am afraid I’m going to get divorced because we have zero marriage input. I am not doing anything for myself. Every evening, we aren’t together because of kid activities.” Her feelings of being overwhelmed were apparent in the tone of her voice, her body language, and the tears in her eyes.
This unfortunately is not uncommon. People feel too busy and are never quite sure they’re spending their time rightly. The result is perpetual, underlying guilt. Maybe you’ve felt that way… where you just can’t seem to stay on top of the things.
The good news is God does not want us to live like we are in a rat race or under a pile of guilt. He doesn’t want us to be so harried that we cope poorly. He wants us to live a grace-paced life: where we are busy but not burnt out, where we are full but fulfilled, and where we live out his priorities for us in ways that bring meaning to our lives.
Three words summarize the Bible’s approach to time that help us to live a grace-paced life: Steward, Prioritize, and Surrender.
Steward
Stewarding captures the idea that God owns everything. We are simply managers acting on his behalf with the resources he’s given us. Time itself is a gift from God that we get to use in a way that pleases him.
This responsibility to God challenges our modern, Western sensibilities because we love to flex our autonomy
But think for a moment, left to your own devices, how would you use your time? On your own, would you be able to put together a life of thriving?
Just a cursory glance at the values the world says should shape our time shows that many are left unhappy, struggling, and without deep-seated meaning. So, the blessing in stewardship is the direction we get from God. He promises to guide us as we seek to follow his blueprint of wisdom from the Bible and the Holy Spirit.
Time is also a limited gift. I’m not given time based on all I think I need to do or all that culture pressures me to do. I’m given the right amount of time for all God has given me to do.
John Mark Comer says:
“I find so much comfort knowing that even Christ—who experienced the constraints of a human body, who experienced the constraints of time—that he said his will was to do what the Father sent him to do. What was most important to Christ while he was on earth was not being the most productive person ever because we see him sitting with little children. We see him literally catching fish and making breakfast with the disciples. We see him breaking bread and eating dinner. We don't see Jesus rushing to and fro, from one place to the next trying to get everything done. We see Christ living in the fullness of his grace and extending that fullness of grace to his followers, and he does the exact same thing for us today.
Even though we live within the boundaries of time, we have been given the exact amount of time we need to accomplish exactly what God has called us to do.”
Prioritize
Since we only have so much time, we have to prioritize what is most important to spend that time on.
Ephesians 5:15-16 encourage us in this. “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity.”
We can’t do it all so having a framework for what we are living for helps us plan. It helps us know what to say yes and no to. You can start prioritizing by asking God, “What will you have me do?” For different stages and seasons of life, some priorities might be different.
When my husband and I had our second child, we slowly became aware of the need to radically prioritize. The rhythms we operated out of when we had no kids or even one kid no longer worked for us. We started with seasonal planning.
And we created this guide to use three times a year to help us live wisely and more intentionally.
We plan in October for spring, March for summer, and June for fall. This routine of pausing, praying, and planning made us consider what our goals and investments should be for the next season. In addition, we’ve sought wisdom about how to navigate two of today’s biggest challenges: phone use and kid’s sports.
The calendar became our friend as we put the seasonal goals into real time and space to make sure we were making space for them in our lives. Then we regularly evaluate. It is so easy to be swayed by the world’s values. These check-ins keep us going the way we want to go.
Surrender
Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. (Proverbs 19:21)
I’ve had two friends this last year diagnosed with brain tumors. Both relatively young. Both healthy. We never know when our life is going to take a turn.
When things are going well, there is a danger to think that we are in control. But a daily surrender of our plans and schedules reminds us that there is a God who loves us, and he is ultimately in charge.
In their book Refresh, Shona and David Murray unpack this idea by describing the well-planned life vs the summoned life. A well-planned life is what we did in the prioritize section. But we must also acknowledge that we don’t know what is going to happen to us.
“Christ is a good model for us here. Although he knew exactly why he was on earth and what he was to do, he also allowed for spontaneity in responding to unexpected events. At times he refused to be diverted by people’s demands, but at other times he stopped and met an urgent need. He lived a well-planned life but also left space for the summoned life.”
They suggest this ratio in considering our time…
60% Well Planned Life + 40% Summoned Life + 100% Prayerful Life = Grace-Paced Life
When you evaluate your time, do you see any margin in your schedule? Do you need to cut something out? Have you accounted for the unplanned things? Are you able to do the most important things and do them with joy? Are you becoming the kind of person who trusts in God even when a curve ball comes?
Managing your time is no easy task. It requires intention, wisdom, and discernment. But at some point, your life will end. And all you’ve lived will come down to how you invested your time.
Living out this posture of stewarding, prioritizing, and surrendering will help you live lives that bring glory to God, give joy and satisfaction to your days here on earth, and prepare you for eternity.
Did you know prioritizing fun is a biblical command? Learn why you should integrate more fun into your daily life in this blog post from Patrick Miller.
