Martha Olawale

“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15-16

Naturally, what you spend the most time on determines what your life looks like. You can’t spend time learning how to fish when you intend to become a great golfer or roll in the dumpster and expect to smell like roses. Also, you can’t be heading to Heaven and spend so much time in places that do not glorify your destination. If we unpack the things in our life’s baggage, we’ll see that most things we’ve given priority to are counterproductive to all that pertains to life and godliness.

With the modern age comes the wave of information and different things vying for our attention. We are constantly pulled into situations that, if we consider them critically, do not contribute to the quality of life devoted to God and the kingdom. Life is indeed a gift and should be spent wisely because we are all accountable to the gift giver.

Many of us spend too much time shopping for life’s values in the wrong stores, buying into ideas and things that consume us instead of improving us. We’ve rotated the “value clock” to focus on “me” in place of God and spend our lives browsing catalogs we should ignore and ignore what we should mind. The prayer in Psalm 90:12 asks that God teach us to number our days, yet we spend those days camped under the wrong tents. If time could talk, it would caution us, calling us out and sounding the alarm to position ourselves to live in honor of Heaven and be ready for Christ’s return.

By dwelling place, in chapter 90:1, the Psalmist is saying that he lives conscious of God’s presence, and when we do too, we’ll be intentional about how and where we fill our treasure chest. You can’t jump in every boat or enter every door just because you can. To be conscious of God requires you to go where He leads and move where He moves. While God’s promise to never leave nor forsake us endures till the end of the age, if we keep submitting our hearts and minds to things that do not glorify Him, we’ll become less sensitive to His presence.

We are staying way too long in the aisles of life that only demand a pass-through. Until we stop doing that, we’ll keep stacking trash instead of treasures. The world’s version of the determination of quality time says, “Time is money,” and God’s version says, “Live wisely.” Every second spent pouring into things that do not improve our quality of life and the lives of those around us is time wasted. As we pursue the things of God, our life's worth is maximized, and time begins to answer to us instead of running away from us.