The most popular battle cry of the twenty-first century seems to be “I DON’T HAVE TIME”!

The truth of the matter is not that we do not have TIME, but we do not practice TIME MANAGEMENT!

God has graciously blessed each of us with 24 hours; 1,440 minutes; 86,400 seconds in each and every day. Whether we want to or not, we must “spend” every second of our allotted time; none of it can be saved or put aside for a rainy day.

It has been my experience that those who spend the most time complaining about “not having time” are those who fail most often as time managers. We often hear people talk about how hard they work, but what is being accomplished?

It would astound each of us to keep track of our WASTED time each day and realize what we could have accomplished had we managed our time wisely rather than wasting it.

The “I don’t have time” syndrome has been passed on to our children; they do not have time to read the Bible; do not have time to pray; do not have time to be spiritual; do not have time to finish assignments in class; and do not have time to finish their homework. There is a precedent being established that could spiritually maim them for life. Where does the “cure” to this disease lie?

We have been provided with many amazing tools that can be used to manage our time. Day Timers, Palm Pilots and Microsoft Outlook all help to schedule meetings, organize tasks, and remember special days. But are they enough?

In Ecclesiastes 3:1 we find these words, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:”

The overwhelming message of this verse, as well as the “secret” to proper time management is PRIORITIZING YOUR TIME. Every person on earth has a list of priorities, written or unwritten. We have tasks that we consider important and those that are not so important. Sadly, we often misappropriate some things above or below their rightful place on our priorities list. To our shame, spiritual things are often the most quickly to be dethroned.

If we, as believers, would learn to properly manage our time, it is yet to be seen what we could accomplish for the Glory of God and the good of the brethren!

Throughout the scriptures, we find hundreds of references to time. The Lord puts great emphasis on being punctual, prioritizing your schedule and being practical in time management. When creating the universe, God was without time restraints. God is infinite and gives account to no man; however, He still held Himself to six days of creation so the seventh day could be designated as a day of rest and worship.

What is the motivating force behind proper time management? Christian Character! Character is holding oneself accountable and accountability produces responsibility!

The current trend of time mismanagement will end when Christians determine to implement these principles of time management into their own lives.