How to be a Good Steward of Your Time

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them.  To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.” – Matthew 25:14-15 (NIV)

At the end of your life, will you honestly say, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished the race”? Or will you leave this world with regret in your heart because you wasted a lot of time? Knowing how to be a good steward of your time will not only help you to become productive, it will also help you to glorify God in all that you do.

Like Paul, you will leave this world with assurance that you fought a good fight and won the race. The fact is we don’t have much time. Jeremy Tailor said, “God hath given to man a short time here upon earth, and yet upon this short time, eternity depends.”

So what should we do? We need to be good stewards of the time God has given us.

What is the Meaning of Good Stewardship?

In the context of time, a good steward is someone who manages time in a way that glorifies God. It is a person who doesn’t waste time on unnecessary things but strives to live under God’s plans for their life.

Now, do we manage our time correctly?

No, not really. We get caught with things and situations that are not important from time to time; that’s why we need to ask God for help. He is willing to help us get on track with time management.

Stewardship and Time Management

What is Stewardship?

Simply put, stewardship is managing the resources God has given you for the glory of God and the advancement of his creation. Time is one of the resources God has given us to manage. (Colossians 4:5)

Being a good steward of time is an excellent way of honouring and expressing your love to God.

Biblical Stewardship Principles

1. God is the owner of everything – Psalm 24:1

2. We are responsible for the resources God has given us – Matthew 25:16-18

3. You’ll give a personal account to God of how you managed your time – Matthew 25:19

4. God will reward you for the way you managed His resources – Matthew 25:21

How is Stewardship Related to Time Management?

As we have already seen, how you manage your time affects your productivity levels. See, God made us His co-creators. We are the managers of the resources that God has given us, and at the end of time, He will judge each of us for the way we managed what He gave us.

But here is the thing; we are here for a limited time. None of us will live in this fallen world forever. Another thing to note is that we all have different time-frames within which we are supposed to accomplish the plans of God on earth.

You cannot compare yourself to another person.  We do not know when we will leave this world, so we need to be careful about how we manage our time every single day.

Stewarding your Time

Did you know that how you steward your time will primarily affect how you steward other resources that God has given you?

Let’s say you spend time binge-watching TV shows instead of doing your job, the output or value you were supposed to provide will be affected negatively. Producing low quality work will, in turn, affect the people that were supposed to benefit from your product or service. The results?

●  Negative customer Feedback

●  Risk of losing your job or business

●  Not advancing the kingdom of God

Stewarding your time is very important. You should never take it lightly. But how do you do it? How do you steward your time well?

My Testimony – God’s Calling & His Perfect Time

From my experience,  a few years back the Lord told me to leave a ministry, I had been working for 12 years, move to London and start learning digital marketing. God’s time for me was to make a change. I was like that third steward. I could just stay where I was or could be like Abraham moving into the unknown. It was the scariest thing I had ever done in my life. I did not have anything in London waiting for me, but I knew if I did not move out, I could miss the blessings of God, the next path of my future destiny. 

I prayed and asked the Lord to lead me to people who could teach me digital marketing. Instantly and miraculously, God did exactly like that. In this internet world, there are so many scammers out there, but the Lord knew who was not. He introduced me to people who want to see others succeed and think outside a box mentality, who do not think as a religion thinks. Who are free to talk about money and also teach others how to create wealth and to do it in a genuine way. 

During a transition time and no job, I had to take a step of faith. I sowed money into my future. I paid for a one-year membership and I had to buy a laptop. And you know what, I went for the best laptop. I had to rely on God during the time of the unknown and with no money coming in.

Looking back, I am so grateful I was obedient. If I did not take a step of faith, I would still be where I was. Maybe I would still continue working at the same place, hiding one talent. If I stayed at the same place, I would not have moved forward. I would be that unfaithful steward who did not do anything with what was given to me because of fear.

I believe, we Christians must take every opportunity which is set before us. Maybe you wanted to start your online home business or ministry a long time ago but was bombarded with all the information and do not know where to start.

Ask the Lord, and He will introduce you to the right group of people. He will choose the best specifically for you. Do not be afraid to learn something new. Do not be afraid to take your dream further.

In Provers 12:24 it says, “The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor.” If you want to see a breakthrough, you must be diligent, schedule your time to learn and put into practice what you have learned.

Leo Tolstoy in the book “War and Peace” wrote, “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” Are you tired of procrastinating, being stuck and behind God’s schedule? You know what? It’s never too late. With patience and set aside time, YOU with God’s help can change that! 

So…

How to Be a Good Steward of Your Time?

1. Take Responsibility

We are living in times when people do not like to take responsibility for their actions. Sadly, this has also been embraced by folks in the church. We blame the devil, government, pastors, children, parents for our bad experiences and habits.

But here is the thing at the end of it all we are going to be judged for how we spent the resources that God gave us. So be responsible for how you manage your time.

Don’t be like the third servant who hid his talent instead of multiplying it. Instead of complaining about how you don’t have enough time, find out how to steward your time. The truth is we all have 24 hours in a day, and you can manage your time well, just the way successful people steward their time. (Luke 19:24-25)

Will it be easy?

No, it will take time, but when you take responsibility and choose to take small steps towards managing your time, you will find yourself in control of how you manage your time in no time.

2. Plan

Planning your day will help you to avoid wasting time and the resources that God has given you. There are so many free resources like daily, weekly, monthly planners, and journals that you can get on the internet to manage your time. Carry out research and get tools that are suitable for your plans and lifestyle.

We are wired differently, and that means we are productive at different times of the day. Know your most productive time and then act accordingly. For example, if you are productive in the morning, start your day early and make sure to start with your most important tasks for the day.

In the creation story, we see how God planned everything before He started creating them. God created the sun, moon, water bodies, plants, and animals before He created man. Imagine if He created man then the rest of the things, Adam would have to dodge trees and swim in the water to rescue himself. Be an imitator of God by planning your time effectively.

Let your plans be realistic so that you can be motivated to fulfil them. 

Find out where you are in your journey with time management. Write down where you want to be in the next few weeks, months, or years and be honest about what is stopping you from reaching where you want to be. Then plan on how to move from where you are to where you want to be.

To make planning easy, you can use:

●  Daily, weekly or monthly planners

●  Time management software

●  To-do lists

You can purchase these or create your own at home. There are so many free tutorials online to help you develop planners or to-do lists. There are also free time management apps and tools that you can find online and install them on your device.

3. Rely on God

It is good to plan your week, day, or month but there is so much that you can do.

The truth is you can plan your week or month, but only God knows how things will turn out. Most of us made great plans at the end of last year or the beginning of this year, but most of those plans have not been fulfilled because of the challenges that we are facing right now. So, make it a point to seek God’s wisdom before you plan. (Proverbs 27:1)

Like the Psalmist in Psalm 92:12, we should ask God to help us number our days. Your heavenly Father knows what is happening and what will happen in the months to come. God makes known the end from the beginning. When you surrender your time to Him, He will help you to plan your days accordingly and teach you how to be a good steward of your time.

4. Remove Distractions

There are so many things that can waste your time. Some are bad, while some are good things that we don’t even notice are time wasters. Watching educational videos or listening to podcasts can be useful, but they can also be harmful if you are letting them overshadow your job, house chores or bible study.

A phone call from your friend is great, but if it is going to take up the time you were supposed to spend in God’s presence or do that project, then that phone call is a distraction. Getting rid of distractions is not as easy as we may think.

To effectively remove distractions in your life, you need to be honest with yourself. Take time off your schedule and find out where you are in your journey today with time. Measure that against your dreams and goals and find out the things that are distracting you from meeting your goals.

Decide where you want to be and find out the things that are blocking you from reaching that point and then decide how you are going to get rid of those time wasters or work around them to accomplish the purpose of God in your life.

I myself have to turn off my mobile before I start doing important things. If I do not remove it from my working desk or turn it off, I will get distracted.  You probably all had the same experience as me. As soon as you take a mobile, wanting to check out important things, you find out you have wasted one hour on unimportant things.

5. Review Your Day

When you look at the creation story, you will notice that God would take time each day to review His work. He looked at what He had created and saw that it was good. Reviewing your day doesn’t mean spending time criticizing yourself over the mistakes you made that day, week, or month.  Reviewing is intended to help you grow and improve in the way you manage your time. (Genesis 1:10)

At the end of the day spend some time alone answering these questions:

●  Did I do the most important things for the day?

●  How long did it take me to accomplish each item on the list?

●  Did I make any progress today?

●  What can I do better tomorrow?

●  Did I do everything today as unto God or as unto man?

6. Do Everything as Unto God

The best way to do something well is to find out your “why”. See, if you are doing things just to get by then, it is only a matter of time before you get bored and start procrastinating. Knowing your “why” will help you to wake up each morning with the determination to do it.

Why do you do that project or chore?

The word of God tells us to do everything as unto God and not man. Why? When you do things for God and not man, then you will be an effective steward because you will be doing things from the point of rest. God is perfect, but He doesn’t expect us to do things perfectly. He knows we are imperfect vessels, so when we serve Him, we do it knowing that He loves us unconditionally. (Colossians 3:23)

The same cannot be said when you do things as unto man. See, no matter what you do, man will never love you unconditionally, they may try, but at the end of it all, they will judge you for the mistakes you made. When you do things as unto man, you end up being frustrated and discouraged, and this will cause you to waste time.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, I would like to share these ten life-changing principles from Rabbi Sacks. There are lots of wisdom here.

Learning how to be a good steward of your time will not only help you to be productive, but it will help you to glorify God with your time. Stewarding your time also causes you to be in control of your life, and this will help you to live a fulfilling life. To be wise with your time, always have a plan, rely on God’s wisdom, remove distractions, review your day and do everything as unto God.

Prayer of Being a Good Steward

Father God, I come before Your throne today to thank You for the times and season that you have given to me. I ask you to forgive me for taking all this for granted. Lord, I repent for the times that I have not been a good steward of the time that You have given me to manage. Lord, teach me how to be a good steward of the time so that I can be effective in all that I do and bring glory to Your name.

Father, there are so many things in the world today that look good, but they are being used by the enemy to distract us from You and cause us to waste our time. Lord God, help us to turn away from those things and turn to You the true living God. Give us discernment that we can be able to differentiate Godly and ungodly practices and give us the courage to choose Your ways, however hard they may seem to us. Thank you, Lord, for answering my prayers. In Jesus, I believe and pray, Amen.

I hope this word has showed where you are right now and has stirred your heart to succeed in every area of your life, especially being a good steward of your time. Let me know if you have any questions or if you have some of your keys of how to steward time, please share!

Shalom and Blessings!

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