Making the Most of Your Time: Back to School

It’s official, everyone is now back to school! Summer vacations have come to an end and the excitement, or dread, of the school year is upon us. I remember getting excited that school was back in session. Getting a new back pack, school supplies, books, locker, and of course reconnecting with my friends.

In my mind, I would tell myself I was going to start this year off differently than last year. I wanted to get a head start of all my classes and projects. I wasn’t going to procrastinate this year. And I was going to take a stand of my faith and tell my friends about Jesus.

I’d like to say that’s how it worked out. But I didn’t take advantage of the opportunities that came up sharing my faith early on, and the longer I waited the harder it got. I skipped homework assignments to play video games, or hangout with friends. I made the sports teams and spent my free time practicing.

Before I realized it, papers were due, test time had arrived and I felt ill prepared. Oh my teachers tried to prepare me, but I kept putting things off. I wanted to spend my time on the meaningless things and not on the important things. I missed out on eternal opportunities for the trivial.

I had a hard time with prioritizing as a student and that was long before Netflix, smartphones and social media demanded our attention. It is said that the average America spends 94.2 hours per month on social networks, phone, email, and watching television. That doesn’t leave a lot of time for the important things.

We all waste time with trivial things, but tonight we are going to look into God’s Word to see how we can start our school year off right and stick with it!

Time Flies!

James 4:14 says, “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”

We are so prone to put things off until tomorrow and then before we know it, time has passed. The beginning of the school year may feel like you have tons of time before the end of the school year, but in a few short months you will be caught wondering where time went. Not only in the school year short, life is too. As we grow older and look back, it seems as though time moves quicker and quicker.

James is reminding us that our life is short and temporary. When we begin to think about eternity our 70+ years on earth are a blip on the radar. So start your year recognizing that time is too short to waste. Prioritize the important things.

Learn To Plan

“So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).

It’s been said, “failing to plan is planning to fail.” Moses understood this when he wrote this psalm. He recognized the brevity of life and asked God to help him remember it as he lived his life.

We don’t know how many days we actually have to live, but we know our days are numbered. We will not live forever, therefore we should live with the end in mind. When we live for the end, we see that there are important priorities we need in our lives to finish well. We need to know Jesus, our Bible, prayer, share the Gospel with others, and so on.

How do you spend your time? Do you think ahead and plan or do you go with the flow? Are you concerned with school, career, relationships, fun, etc? Where does God fit into all of that?

Moses wanted a heart of wisdom, so he asked God to remind him of how short life is.

Make the Most of your Time

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:15-17).

I’ll admit it, there were a few times I went into a test having not studied and threw up a “Hail Mary” type prayer. You know the Hail Mary pass in football is the long bomb at the end of a game hoping your receive catches it. Well, I would go into a test having not studied and asked God to miraculously place the information I needed in my head. It was like I thought God was my cosmic cheat sheet.

That’s not how God operates. He gave me all the tools required to pass the test. A brain, time, books, assignments, etc. I just needed to apply the tools He gave me.

In life, whether it is school, job, family, or relationships God has given us the tools we need, we just need to apply them. We need to make the best use of our time, prioritize and be faithful. Paul warns us in this text that the “days are evil,” we are prone to foolishness, and that it is easy to walk in an unwise way. If we go with the flow, if we don’t plan, and if we don’t prioritize, then we will be caught up into the foolishness of these evil days.

Important Stuff First

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).

When you prioritize the important things in your life, not only do you get the important things, but you get the other things too. Your relationship with God is the most important thing. It is so tempting each day to prioritize school, job, homework, sports, band, xbox, relationships, and social media over your relationship with God. We prioritize the rest, but we miss out on God, and none of these are eternal, and none of these will truly be fulfilling.

God says, when we delight in Him, when we make Him the most important priority in our life, not only do we get God, but we get everything else we desire too. Now I say that with the qualification that we delight first in God, which changes our heart. We cannot love God and love sin. You have to choose to forsake sin and delight in God.

This video is a great illustration of what happens when we prioritize our relationship with God over everything else.

Plan your day with God first. Are you doing a daily Quiet Time? Are you talking to God? Are you memorizing Scripture? Are you sharing your faith? Let’s encourage one another to make the eternal things the most important things, to plan ahead and watch as God works all things out.