My Time

The advertising, sales, and marketing industries have figured out that one of our most valuable possessions is our time. I made a list of 50 supposed time saver things that I could think off the top of my head. This is by no means in order or a complete list:

1.   Self-service gas pumps 
2.   Self-service checkout lines at the grocery store
3.   Washing machines & clothes dryers that can send a text message when done
4.   Dishwashers
5.   Microwave ovens

6.   Scanners, faxes, copiers, printers
7.   Electric mixers
8.   Electric knives
9.   Electric can openers
10. Electric screwdrivers
11. Electric apple peeler corer slicers
12. Electric frying pans
13. Electric trash compactors
14. Electric garbage disposals
15. Electric leaf and snow blowers
16. Electric chainsaws
17. Electric lawnmowers
18. Vegamatic chopper slicer dicer
19. Instant potatoes
20. Instant oatmeal
21. Instant coffee
22. Instant rice
23. Hair dryers
24. GPS devices
25. Digital Pagers
26. Mobile phones/ TRACFONES /Blackberries/I-phones/Droids
27. Desktop computers
28. Laptop computer
29. Kindles electronic books
30. I-pads
31. Tablets
32. Wristwatches that can now take pictures and send and receive text message and e-mail and play electronic video games.
33. Dial-up modems
34. Ethernet communications
35. LAN Local Area Network
36. DSL i.e., Hi-speed internet that comes over the phone lines
37. Fiber Optic Cable TV
38. Satellite Dish TV
39. U-verse TV/Internet the cloud
40. WI-FI wireless internet
41. My Space
42. Facebook
43. Twitter
44. Barcodes
45. Q-R codes
46. DHL cargo delivery
47. UPS
48. Fed-Ex
49. Amazon.com
50. Mini credit card readers

With all of this supposed time that they have saved us we must ask the question, “What are we doing with the time that we saved?”

I also did an electronic Bible word search for the word: time.  There were 721 matches in the Bible for the word time.

Out of the 721 matches for the word time I found only three (3) passages where Jesus referred to both time and Himself.  The three passages are :

1. When His mother wanted Him to do something about the fact that the wine had run out at the wedding feast.  Jesus replied “My time has not yet come” John 2:4 

2. When His brothers wanted Him to go do miracles in Judea Therefore Jesus told them, “The right time for me has not yet come; for you any time is right. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil. You go to the Feast. I am not yet going up to this Feast, because for me the right time has not yet come.” John 7:6-8 

3.  When Jesus said “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’” So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover. Matthew 26:18-19.

I also did an internet image search for the phrase "my time" and I found this color graphic image with the large words my time in it and the words below that reads:

“IT’S ALL ABOUT ME-Whatever you do make sure you Do Not Disturb My Time - Because it's all about me"

Peter had a bad case of "My Time" even after the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

We read in John 21:3-15

Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.  After catching nothing all night Jesus said to them, “Children, you do not have any fish, do you?” ...And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will find a catch.” ... Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three.  Later Jesus said “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?”

Job 14:13b If only you would set me a time and then remember me!

So maybe Job can be credited for first coining the popular phrase “Me Time”.

But in Job’s case this was not a time for Job to be doing his own thing.  It was a request for an audience with God to find out why God was unjustly punishing him (or so Job thought).

What about my time to rest and relax from my labor?

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. 

“Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’” --Luke 7:5-10

But you might say, "I use My time to sleep in" like the church in Rome:

And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.--Romans 13:11-14

According to the Bible there still remains a promised time for rest:

^“Therefore, since the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest.’ “ And yet His work has been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere He has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “And on the seventh day God rested from all His work.” And again in the passage above He says, “They shall never enter My rest.” 

It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before:

“Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” 

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day.

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.”--Hebrews 4:1-11

Maybe that is what those who are of this world are seeking when they have their “Me Time” (i.e., a time to rest from their labor).  If we have all the “Me Time” in the world and have not believed the Gospel or obeyed it by putting our trust in Jesus Christ for our Salvation, then God the Father will be true to His oath and we will never find the rest that we seek.

So what should we use our MY Time For? The Bible says there is a time for Salvation:

As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For He says, “In the time of My favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.--II Corinthians 6:1-2

The Bible also says there is a time for a new covenant:

For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said: “The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to My covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people.--Hebrews 8:8-10

The Bible also says there is a time to get to know the Lord:

No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”--Hebrews 8:11-12

The Bible says there is a time to be done with sin:

Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.--I Peter 4:1-6

The Bible says there is a time to be clear minded and self-controlled: 

The end of all things is near.  Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.--1 Peter 4:7-11

So if we do have time that we could use on ourselves then let’s use it to proclaim the good news of the Gospel.  Let’s us it to put the scriptures in our minds and hearts.  Let’s use it to get to know the Lord.  Let’s use it to conquer our sin and be clear minded and self controlled.

To recap this series on MINE: 

1. If we put our relationships with people above our relationship with Jesus Christ, then we deny Christ the Glory that He deserves.

2. If we set our hearts on accumulating more and more stuff above setting our hearts on doing the will of God, then we forsake the true riches for a counterfeit that will not last.

3. If we put our rights above the rights of Jesus’ to be obeyed, then we stand with Satan and all the people in the unbelieving world that say God does not see God will not punish.

4. If we choose to selfishly withhold our God Given Gift to please ourselves rather than sharing our gift with others to please and bring glory to both the Father and the Son, then we miss out on the joy and the reward that comes with sacrificing for the name of Jesus.

5. If we seek only to please ourselves with our “our time or ‘Me Time,” then we will experience an eternal loneliness without rest and be eternally separated from God. 

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.--Ecclesiasties 3:1-8

What is not said in these verses is there is also a time to forget and a time to remember. The Apostle Paul wrote of the time to forget when he said the following in his letter to the church at Phillipi: “forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead” Philippians 3:13

There is also a time to remember. Jesus spoke of this time to remember at the Last Supper. 
Paul also wrote of this in his first letter to the Corinthians in chapter 11:

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.  --I Corinthians 11:23-26

We will obey Jesus’ command to remember today during our breaking of bread time and afterward we will have a brief sharing time afterwards.  Let’s pray!