TIME: Used to Bring Control

Five Concepts the Average Person is Missing When It Comes to Time

A Different Time Management Philosophy – Part 6

“Your life is how you use your time.” – Myles Munroe

Could it be that we misunderstand the purpose of time? Or maybe better yet, we’ve defined it as something that controls us and not as something we use to bring control. Let’s discuss this for a moment. Myles Munroe said that your life is how you use this thing called “time.” I like to say it this way, the life you’ve made for yourself is determined in how you’ve set the markers in eternity that we call time.

“You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live, and we are not given a minute longer.” ^[1]

If the time you have is the time you have, then we should stop complaining about the length we have, but rather get to it. If a day is 24 hours and nothing more, we best get on with it. Stop wishing you had more time and get on with it. If the week is seven days and no more, let’s get on with it. I’m going here to make a point. You have the time you have, so how then can you best use it to do what you desire to do? If you were diagnosed with only 30 days to live, then how would you use these days? I bet you’d find a way to get done the things you wish to get done. There would be very little that could stop you. That’s the point, each day we should live with this urgency. If you plan to spend time with your spouse, then do it with urgency, get on with it.

The Five Missing-Understandings When It Comes to Time
When we misunderstand time, there are four ideas that I think are important to know and one final idea that reveals several ways we can make up for the time we’ve lost. As you know the concept of time management isn’t foreign, but it is something that at many points in our lives we wish we could master. The time to master it and conquer it once and for all is now. It starts with these five principles that most people misunderstand. Here are the five missing-understandings that have surfaced in my studies of time management and were inspired by Myles Munroe:

1. Time is a gift.
   “The most common gift God ever gave any human is time.” – Myles Munroe
   
   I never would have thought of time as being a gift. You see, without our time markers everything would possibly last forever. In fact, I know that if God had not limited human life, life on Earth would last forever. Many would see that as a negative, but it’s actually a positive. If there was no end to life on earth, we’d never get to have life or better stated eternity (life without time markers) in Heaven. God has given us the gift of time. Therefore we can place constraints and boundaries around our activities.
   We need to view time as a gift we desire and not a gift we wish to return. Time is a gift that we can use, should use. We all get this gift, the question becomes what will we do with such a gift.
   
   
2. Time has no biases.
   “The Billionaire and the beggar both have twenty-four hours everyday.” – Myles Munroe
   
   Have you ever given sound thought to the fact that everyone has the same amount of time gifted to them. When you compare yourself to that person who is more efficient with his or her day than you, remember you have been given the same gift of time, today. The same is true for that person who is less efficient with her or his time than you are. So if time isn’t the cause for how much one person gets done over another, then what gives. It all comes down to how we use this gift. Time is not a respecter of persons.
   
   
3. Time is not renewable.
   “Time cannot be stopped.” – Myles Munroe
   
   Unfortunately, there’s only one account that I know of where time stopped and it didn’t stop for very long in the grand scheme of things. That was with Joshua in Gibeon. ^[2] Therefore, I would not count on stopping time as you know it can’t be stopped. Since that’s the case we must learn to control how it can be used. It is controllable. You are controllable, you know. You might be trying to stop time or I know some who would like to slow it down. Get that type of thinking out of your head and begin figuring out ways in which you can control what you do with this fleeting gift called time.
   
   
4. Time is the currency of life.
   “Time is life.” – Myles Munroe
   
   “Time is life” means that time is more precious than anything else. Ordinary people think the opposite. They think that you measure your life by its time markers. The uncommon however, think differently. You’ve heard it said that age is just a number. That’s their way of saying I’m not going to allow my life to be controlled by time, but rather I’m going to control my life by what I do with my time.
   We call time the currency of life. We’ve heard it said that time is money and that is far too limiting. Time and money are certainly not equivalent. If it were, we’d simply buy more time. Your time is far more valuable than any dollar figure you can place on it. Time is not money; time is life.
   
   
5. Time is redeemable.
   This a foreign concept. That simply means it’s not normal. The average or normal person has no concept of redeeming time. Redeeming time means that one can offset the effects or consequences of misused time. I’ve looked to Myles Munroe who inspired me with this thinking and was given ten ways in which a person can redeem his or her time. I’ve modified the list down to seven. Let me paraphrase them for you:
   1. Create a plan for everything you wish to accomplish within a timeframe(i.e. day, week, month, year, etc.).
   2. Update your plans with the possessions and resources you have in hand to accomplish them.
   3. Set priorities based on your plans within the time markers you set for them (i.e. day, week, month, year, etc.).
   4. Follow your passion above all else and make decisions based upon your own destiny.
   5. Guard yourself against distractions that keep you from your priorities and plans.
   6. Stop trying to please everyone.
   7. Take your eyes off of the past and keep it on your life’s mission.

You may have gotten off course or misused time, but with these seven actions, you can not only get back on course, but redeem the time you’ve lost.

These five principles regarding time management often go missing for the average person. Because we have a desire to take you to the next level, we’ve shared this with you. It’s possible for a person to go through life and misunderstand time her or his whole life. We’re not going to let that be your story time. Time is a gift to you. It has no biases. It is not renewable. It is the currency of life. And thankfully time is redeemable.

Question: what’s your biggest missing-understanding as it relates to managing your time?
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1] ‭‭‭‭Job‬ ‭14:5‬ ‭NLT, Bible.com, accessed July 12, 2022, https://bible.com/bible/116/job.14.5.NLT
[2] ‭‭‭‭Joshua 10:12-14 NLT, Bible.com, accessed July 12, 2022, https://www.bible.com/bible/116/JOS.10.12-14.NLT

All Scripture references used by permission, see our Scripture copyrights.