Part ten of our new Missions Matter Series, come back each week to find out more about serving those around your home and community as well as around the world. God has given us the power to be His witnesses! Start today…

By Heather Radu –

How much time do you have?

That’s a pretty open-ended question isn’t it? “How much time do I have for what?” you might ask. Maybe I mean, “how much time until your next appointment?” or “how much free time do you have?” In the latter question’s case, I would guess your answer is “not much.” We are busy people, aren’t we?

We have work and family commitments, and we’re involved at your churches. Then we have to get our children where they need to go, and there are things to do around the house. And our friends end up getting a piece of our time too, don’t they? So if I ask you, “how much time do you have?” you would be tempted to answer “none.”

But it’s not true. The answer to “how much time do you have?” is “all of it.” God has given every moment of your life to you as a gift. That doesn’t mean that you should use your time in whatever way you want, but I think it can help us remember that we don’t have to let our clocks get out of control.

Sadly, serving is one of the first things people stop doing when their free time disappears. It’s hard to make time to feed the poor in our towns if we don’t have time to sit down and eat without going through a drive through. But we have to remember that the need doesn’t go away because our time did.

Please do not think I want you to add something to your already busy schedule! In Ephesians 5:16 Paul calls us to “redeem the time” (as the King James Version translates it), and that includes cutting back on the schedule. If we want to make time for the sorts of things that God is calling us to do, we have to trim some unnecessary things from our lives.

It is not easy, I know. Some “unnecessary things” are very enjoyable, and giving them up is hard. But if we really want to serve God in our communities, as he calls us to do, we need to make those hard choices. We need to find the time to serve those who are suffering all around us. Pray that God will show how you can trim your schedule so he can use you to demonstrate his love to those around you.