You Have Just Enough Time

“Just Enough Time”

I need to break the very bad habit of saying I don’t have enough time. When I say this, I’m not only blaming my own moral laziness on my circumstances, I’m actually blaming God. I’m essentially saying that God is either insufficient or he’s stingy.

In reflecting on this I’ve become more aware of my lack of faith for God’s provision of time. I tend to have more faith that God will supply for our financial needs than he will for our time needs. For a while I’ve been bothered about not being more directly involved in personal discipleship and evangelistic relationships. But I’ve chalked it up to particular leadership and phase-of-life busyness — too easily, I now believe.

Toward the end of last year it dawned on me that my reticence (in part, selfishness and fear of man are also at work) is significantly due to my lack of faith that God would provide sufficient time if these unpredictable relationships proved more time-consuming than I could manage. I felt the Spirit’s conviction of my lack of faith and prompting to confront it. So since the turn of the year, my wife and I have been giving more freely of our time to these relationships and experiencing God’s provision.

God has given us just enough time to do what we need to do.

Prof. Hindmarsh is right on when he says, “God has given us just enough time to do what we need to do moment by moment to respond to him. And his grace is there; it is eternally present.”

“Every Moment Is a Sacrament”

“Every moment is a sacrament where time touches eternity and there is exactly enough time to do what God has called us to do.”

What a beautiful and fearful statement. It’s beautiful in that every moment belongs to God (therefore every moment is holy) and he gives each moment to us as a gift. And he gives us enough sacramental moments to provide for our sacred callings, whatever they are. It is fearful in that we are stewards of these gifts and we will be held accountable for their investment (Matthew 25:14–30). We are to handle holy things with great care.

Yet in our trembling we are also to remember that God is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Psalm 86:15; Hebrews 13.20–21″>Hebrews 13:20–21).

“His Grace Is There”

So let us lay aside the weighty sin of morally lazy busyness (Hebrews 12:1) and resolve to stop using it as a badge of self-importance or as an excuse to avoid what we don’t want to do.

And let us stop dishonoring God by saying that we don’t have enough time. God may, and frequently does, fill our time-plates full, which means that there are many things we must refrain from doing in order to remain faithful to our callings. But God always gives us enough time to do what he calls us to do.

And let us remember that this moment and every moment is a sacred gift from God. God’s sufficient grace is here, right now, where time touches eternity. As we prayerfully trust him, he will give us “just enough time to do what we need to do moment by moment to respond to him.”