I recently saw the movie In Time. It was set in the future where money did not exist. The currency was time – wages were paid in time and everything purchased cost time. When a person ran out of time, their life was over; they died. So, to the people poor in time, life was precious and was lived at a fast pace. They were always in a hurry and ran everywhere they went. In a stark contrast, the people rich in time moved at a slow, relaxed pace because they had all the time in the world to do what they wanted. They didn’t have the sense of urgency in their life that the people with only a little time had.

This movie posed a very intriguing concept to me. And also very convicting. It made me ask myself which group of people does my life more closely resemble – those with little time or those with lots of time ? Is there a sense of urgency and purpose in everything I do, or am I just leisurely passing through this life ?

In the movie, those rich in time put things off until later, but they never actually got around to doing the things they put off. I can see where I have fallen into this pattern of thinking. I have missed many chances to do what God has set in front of me to do because I thought it could wait until later. But ‘later’ never came and I totally missed it. I was too worried about what people might think, or the time didn’t seem just right, or it wasn’t convenient for me. My list of justifications can go on, but the point is there have been many opportunities I have lost to be His hands, His feet or His voice. Colossians 4.5 says to make the most of every opportunity, and I don’t want to miss any more because of a ‘later’ mentality.

I was also convicted about how I use my time. Those who had little time valued it because they knew exactly how much they had. I have no idea how much time I have left, so I need to use it wisely and not waste it away. Sometimes I wish I could just allocate it a little differently: Save some time this week and bank it so I can use it next week when I am going to need more of it. But it doesn’t work that way. I have to spend it wisely now, moment by moment, and remember that, as AW Tozer once wrote, “when I kill time, it has no resurrection.”

This movie was a great reminder that life is short, time is valuable and neither is to be wasted. For me, to make the most of every opportunity means praying with my friend right then with her when she calls and asks me to pray about a concern. It means to immediately speak the encouraging word, or even sometimes the hard word, when it is needed. To value my time means to control how much time I spend in front of the TV, on the computer and on other ‘time sappers’ (which actually may include certain people). It is to live each day seeking God’s plan and carrying it out with purpose and intention.