Here is something a little different. It is a list of sorts. I call these the “Five Rules for Time.” Each of us begins our day with a decision to make on how to use our time. So that you might be better able to make this decision, here are the five rules for time.
#1: “There is a cumulative value to investing small amounts of time in certain activities over a long period.” One cannot pray for ten hours in one day and have the same effect as if one were to pray for thirty minutes a day for twenty days. Important activities must be done in small pieces over a long period of time.
#2: “There is a cumulative effect to neglecting important things over a long period of time.” An important activity neglected will always impact negatively your life. It may take time to show, but it will always damage your life.
#3: “There are rarely any immediate consequences for neglecting single installments of time in any arena of life.” When you skip something important, the impact will not be felt immediately. That is the reason we skip it! Of course, the effect shows up later.
#4: “There is no cumulative value to the things we allow to interfere with what is most important.” For example, when you decide not to study the Bible daily and look back on the time you gained by neglecting to study, there will be nothing significant gained.
#5: “In the critical areas of life, you cannot make up for lost time.” Farmers know that you cannot go into the field and put in long days of planting the week before the harvest. If you did not plant in the due season, then it is gone. Plant in due season and reap in due season. You cannot make up for lost time and neglected opportunities.
Paul urges, “Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is” (Ephesians 5:15-17).
~Lonnie Davis