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Background
It was a Tuesday afternoon when the weight of wasted time hit me like a tonne of bricks. I’d just spent three hours scrolling through social media, watching videos I wouldn’t remember by evening, clicking from one thing to another in an endless loop of digital distraction. When I finally looked up from my phone, the sun was setting, my assignments were still untouched, and I had this hollow feeling in my chest.
I remember sitting there thinking, “Where did the day go?” But the real question underneath was more unsettling: “Where is my life going?”
That evening, I opened my journal and wrote something that surprised me: “If time is a gift from God, I’m treating it like rubbish.” The words stung because they were true. I’d never thought of time management as a spiritual issue before. I thought it was just about being organised or productive. But as I sat with that uncomfortable conviction, I realised something profound: how I spend my time reveals what I truly worship.
A few days later, I came across 1 Corinthians 4:2: “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” Time is a trust. Every single day—all 86,400 seconds of it—is entrusted to us by God. Not to waste. Not to hoard. But to steward well.
If you’ve ever felt that nagging sense that you’re not using your time the way you should, or if you’re tired of reaching the end of your week wondering what you actually accomplished, friend, this message is for you. God hasn’t given you time so you can simply fill it with busyness or waste it in distraction. He’s given you time so you can live purposefully, intentionally, and fully alive to His calling on your life.
Let’s explore what it truly means to steward your time as an act of worship, obedience, and faith.
1. Understanding Time as a Sacred Trust
Before we can steward something well, we need to understand what we’ve been given. Time isn’t just a resource to manage—it’s a sacred trust from God.
In Psalm 31:14-15, David declares, “But I trust in you, Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in your hands.” Notice that? Your times are in His hands. Every moment you’ve lived and every moment you have left belongs to God first, and He’s entrusted portions of it to you.
James 4:14 reminds us of time’s fragility: “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” This isn’t meant to depress us—it’s meant to wake us up. Our time on earth is limited, precious, and unrepeatable.
What this means practically: When you waste an hour, you’re not just losing productivity—you’re mishandling something God has entrusted to you. When you invest time in things that matter, you’re exercising faithful stewardship. This shifts time management from a self-help technique to a spiritual discipline.
I used to think, “It’s my time; I can do what I want with it.” But that’s not biblical. It’s God’s time that He’s loaned to me, and one day I’ll give an account for how I used it. That realisation changed everything. Suddenly, binge-watching another series when I should be studying or serving wasn’t just a personal choice—it was poor stewardship of a divine gift.
The freedom in this truth: Understanding time as a trust doesn’t create pressure; it creates purpose. You’re not just filling hours—you’re fulfilling a calling. Every day matters because every day is a gift with potential for kingdom impact.
2. Aligning Your Time With God’s Priorities
If time is a trust from God, then the next question is obvious: What does God want you to do with it?
Jesus gives us the blueprint in Matthew 22:37-39: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.'” Everything we do with our time should flow from these two priorities—loving God and loving people.
Breaking this down:
Loving God with your time means:
- Making space for prayer, worship, and Bible reading—not as religious checklists but as genuine relationship
- Pursuing the calling and gifts He’s given you
- Developing the character and fruit of the Spirit He desires in you
- Saying yes to what He’s invited you into, even when it’s costly
Loving people with your time means:
- Being present with family and friends, not just physically but mentally and emotionally
- Serving in your church and community
- Meeting needs when God puts them in your path
- Building relationships that sharpen and encourage
When I started filtering my time commitments through these two questions—”Does this help me love God better?” and “Does this help me love people better?”—my schedule transformed. Activities that looked impressive but didn’t serve these priorities got cut. Quiet, unglamorous commitments that actually helped me love God and others got protected.
A practical exercise: Write down how you spent your time last week. Be honest. Now, beside each activity, write whether it primarily helped you love God, love people, love yourself (rest and growth), or none of the above. The results might surprise you. This isn’t about guilt—it’s about clarity.
3. Living With an Eternal Perspective
One of the reasons we struggle with stewarding time is that we’re too focused on the temporary. We live as if this life is all there is, so we chase comfort, pleasure, and achievement as ultimate goals.
But 2 Corinthians 4:18 calls us higher: “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” When you live with eternity in view, your relationship with time changes dramatically.
Here’s what I mean: If this life is all there is, then success equals comfort, wealth, status, and pleasure. But if this life is preparation for eternity, then success equals faithfulness, character, love, and obedience. The first perspective makes you waste time on things that won’t matter in 100 years. The second makes you invest time in things that will echo into eternity.
Jesus spoke about this in Matthew 6:19-21: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven… For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Applying this to time stewardship: Ask yourself: “Will this matter in eternity?” Not everything needs to have cosmic significance—God cares about joy, rest, and beauty too. But this question helps you distinguish between activities that build eternal value and activities that only serve temporary comfort.
I had a friend who spent every weekend partying, sleeping in, and recovering. When I gently asked him why, he said, “You only live once.” But that’s not actually true for believers. We don’t only live once—we live forever. This life is not the party before we die; it’s the training ground for eternity. How we steward our time here matters there.
The balance: Living with an eternal perspective doesn’t mean being so heavenly minded you’re no earthly good. It means being so eternally focused that everything you do on earth—work, rest, relationships, creativity—is infused with purpose and meaning. It means spending your finite time on things with infinite value.
4. Saying No to the Tyranny of the Urgent
One of the greatest threats to good time stewardship is what author Charles Hummel called “the tyranny of the urgent”—the way urgent tasks crowd out important ones.
Urgent things scream for attention: the email that just arrived, the assignment due tomorrow (that you’ve had three weeks to complete), the friend’s crisis, the notification on your phone. Important things wait quietly: your spiritual growth, your health, your relationships, your long-term goals, your calling.
The problem? We keep responding to what’s urgent and neglecting what’s important until the important becomes urgent—and often, by then, it’s too late.
Jesus constantly battled this. In Luke 5:15-16, we read: “Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Notice that word “but”? The crowds were urgent. They were demanding. They had real needs. But Jesus withdrew to pray because prayer was important.
The principle for us: You must protect the important from the urgent. If you don’t schedule time for what’s important, the urgent will consume your entire life.
How this works practically:
First, identify what’s truly important: These are usually things related to your relationship with God, your health, your significant relationships, and your core calling. They rarely have daily deadlines, which is exactly why they get neglected.
Second, schedule the important things first: Put your prayer time in your calendar. Schedule your gym sessions. Block time for deep work on important projects. Protect your Sabbath rest. These aren’t “if I have time” activities—they’re non-negotiables.
Third, learn to let some urgent things go: Not every email needs an immediate response. Not every request deserves a yes. Not every opportunity is your opportunity. Some things that feel urgent really aren’t.
I learned this during my final year when I was applying for jobs while finishing my degree. Job applications felt urgent because everyone around me was doing them. But my dissertation was important—it was my final major piece of academic work. I had to intentionally block out time for my dissertation, even when job applications were screaming at me. By prioritising the important, I finished both well.
5. Embracing the Discipline of Single-Mindedness
In our age of distraction, one of the most powerful ways to steward time is through focused, single-minded attention. The biblical word for this is “undivided heart.”
Psalm 86:11 says, “Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.” An undivided heart is one that’s not constantly being pulled in twenty directions. It’s a heart that can focus, commit, and follow through.
Paul speaks about this in 1 Corinthians 7:35: “I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.” Undivided devotion. That’s the opposite of our scattered, multitasking, constantly distracted modern approach to life.
Why this matters for time stewardship: When you’re divided in your attention, you’re actually wasting time even while appearing busy. You spend three hours on a task that should take one because you’re constantly switching between your work, your phone, and your wandering thoughts. Your body is in the library, but your mind is everywhere else.
The practice of single-mindedness:
When you’re with God, be fully with God. Don’t pray while planning your day or reading your Bible while mentally composing emails. Give Him your undivided attention, even if it’s only for ten minutes.
When you’re with people, be fully with them. Put your phone away. Make eye contact. Listen deeply. Don’t just wait for your turn to talk or think about the next thing on your schedule.
When you’re working, work. Choose one task, eliminate distractions, and give it your complete focus. Your work will be better quality, and you’ll finish faster.
When you’re resting, rest. Don’t feel guilty about it. Don’t try to be productive during rest. Just rest.
My own journey: I used to pride myself on multitasking. I’d study while watching TV, scroll through my phone during conversations, and think about my to-do list during church. I thought I was being efficient, but I was actually being shallow. I was giving nothing my full attention, which meant I was experiencing nothing deeply. When I started practising single-mindedness—being fully present to one thing at a time—I not only stewarded my time better, but I also enjoyed my life more.
6. Building Rest Into Your Rhythm
If you’re surprised to see rest in an article about stewarding time, you’ve misunderstood stewardship. Good stewards don’t just work harder—they work wiser. And working wiser includes rest.
God established the Sabbath principle in Genesis 2:2-3: “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.” If God rested, and He wasn’t tired or limited, then rest isn’t about weakness—it’s about design.
Jesus reaffirmed this in Mark 2:27: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” Rest isn’t a religious obligation that burdens us; it’s a gift that restores us.
Why rest is good stewardship:
Rest renews your energy: You can’t steward time well if you’re constantly exhausted. Fatigue makes you inefficient, irritable, and prone to poor decisions. Regular rest—nightly sleep, weekly Sabbath, periodic breaks—keeps you functioning at your best.
Rest provides perspective: When you’re constantly busy, you lose sight of the bigger picture. Rest gives you space to reflect, evaluate, and recalibrate. It’s in rest that you often hear God most clearly.
Rest demonstrates trust: When you rest, you’re declaring that God is in control, that the world won’t fall apart without you, that your identity isn’t in your productivity. Hebrews 4:10 says, “For anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.”
Practical rest rhythms:
Daily rest: Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep. Protect your evenings—don’t work right up until you collapse. Build in transition time between work and rest.
Weekly rest: Observe a Sabbath day where you cease from work and productivity. Worship, spend time with loved ones, enjoy creation, read for pleasure. Let your soul catch up with your body.
Seasonal rest: Take proper holidays. Use your study breaks to actually rest, not just cram in more work. Give yourself permission to have slower seasons.
I used to think rest was lazy. I’d feel guilty every time I wasn’t doing something productive. But then I read Psalm 127:2: “In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat—for he grants sleep to those he loves.” Rest is a gift from God to those He loves. Rejecting rest is rejecting God’s provision.
7. Practising the Presence of God Throughout Your Day
One of the most transformative aspects of stewarding time as an act of faith is learning to practise God’s presence throughout your ordinary day. This is what Brother Lawrence called “practising the presence of God”—maintaining an awareness of God’s nearness in all activities, not just during designated “spiritual” times.
Colossians 3:17 captures this beautifully: “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Notice that word “whatever”? It doesn’t say “when you’re at church” or “when you’re doing ministry.” It says whatever you do—studying, cooking, working, exercising, talking with friends—do it all in Jesus’ name.
What this looks like practically:
Turn routine moments into prayer: Washing dishes? Thank God for provision. Walking to class? Pray for the people you’ll meet. Stuck in traffic? Worship. Waiting in queue? Intercede for someone. These aren’t wasted moments—they’re opportunities to commune with God.
Consecrate your activities: Before you start studying, invite God into your learning. Before a conversation, ask Him for wisdom and love. Before you create something, dedicate it to His glory. This doesn’t need to be lengthy or formal—a simple, “Lord, I do this for You” transforms the mundane into the sacred.
Practice gratitude continuously: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 instructs, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances.” Make thanksgiving a running conversation with God throughout your day. Thank Him for the sun, for your health, for that encouraging text, for a good meal, for everything.
Check in regularly: Set reminders on your phone to pause and acknowledge God. Ask yourself, “Where is God in this moment? What is He inviting me into right now?”
This practice transformed how I view time. Instead of dividing my life into “God time” (prayer, church) and “regular time” (everything else), I began to see all of life as sacred space. My classes became opportunities to steward the mind God gave me. My friendships became contexts for showing Christ’s love. My struggles became spaces to experience His faithfulness.
The result: When you practise God’s presence throughout your day, you’re never wasting time because every moment becomes infused with purpose. You’re not just going through the motions—you’re walking with God through every motion.
8. Using Your Unique Season Wisely
Time stewardship looks different in different seasons of life, and good stewards recognise and honour the season they’re in.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 declares, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” God doesn’t expect the same things from you in every season. A student’s schedule will look different from a young professional’s. A single person’s rhythms will differ from a parent’s. Someone in a season of grief will steward time differently than someone in a season of celebration.
The wisdom of seasonal stewardship:
Recognise your current season: Are you in a season of learning? Building? Resting? Transitioning? Grieving? Celebrating? Don’t try to live someone else’s season or rush into the next one. Be fully present in yours.
Accept the limitations of your season: You can’t do everything in every season. A student preparing for exams needs to say no to some social activities. A new parent needs to accept that productivity will look different. Someone caring for aging parents may need to reduce other commitments. These limitations aren’t failures—they’re part of faithful stewardship in that particular season.
Maximise the opportunities of your season: Every season brings unique opportunities. Student years offer time to learn and grow that you won’t have later. Young professional years might offer flexibility and energy for risks. Different seasons bring different gifts—steward them well.
Prepare for future seasons: While being present in your current season, also prepare wisely for what’s ahead. Students should develop disciplines that will serve them in their careers. Young professionals should build foundations for future family or ministry. Preparation is good stewardship, as long as it doesn’t rob you of presence.
I spent years frustrated that I couldn’t do everything I saw others doing. Why couldn’t I serve in multiple ministries like that person? Why didn’t I have time for extensive travel like my friend? Then I realised: they were in different seasons. I was a full-time student working part-time. That was my season, with its own set of opportunities and limitations. When I accepted that, I could steward my season well instead of resenting it.
A prayer for seasonal wisdom: “God, help me recognise the season I’m in. Give me grace to embrace its limitations and wisdom to maximise its opportunities. Help me not to waste this season by wishing for another.”
9. Investing Time in What Multiplies
Good stewards don’t just preserve what they’ve been given—they multiply it. Jesus’ parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30 makes this clear. The servants who were commended didn’t bury their talents; they invested them and saw returns.
The same principle applies to time. Some activities consume time and produce little. Others invest time in ways that multiply over time.
Time consumers vs. time multipliers:
Time consumers: Endless social media scrolling, excessive TV watching, gossip, worry, comparison, activities that don’t align with your values or calling. These don’t necessarily feel like waste in the moment, but they produce no lasting fruit.
Time multipliers: Learning new skills, building meaningful relationships, serving others, developing your character, investing in your health, creating systems that increase future efficiency, pouring into people who will pour into others. These might feel costly in the moment, but they produce fruit that lasts.
Examples of multiplying your time:
Invest in learning: Time spent reading, taking courses, or developing skills compounds over your lifetime. The skills you learn now will serve you for decades.
Invest in relationships: Deep, godly friendships multiply joy and divide sorrow. The time you invest in building real community will repay you a hundredfold through the years.
Invest in discipleship: When you pour into someone else’s faith, you’re multiplying kingdom impact. 2 Timothy 2:2 shows this multiplication: “The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.”
Invest in your health: Time spent exercising, eating well, and sleeping properly isn’t selfish—it’s multiplicative. A healthy body and mind allow you to serve better and longer.
Invest in systems: Time spent creating good habits, systems, or processes might feel like extra work now, but it saves enormous time later. An hour spent organising your files saves hours of searching later.
The question to ask: “Will the time I’m investing in this activity today produce fruit tomorrow, next year, and beyond? Or am I just consuming time?” Both consumption and investment have their place—rest and recreation are important—but good stewards skew toward multiplication.
10. Remembering That God Redeems Time
Here’s the beautiful truth that should encourage every imperfect steward: God redeems time.
Maybe as you’ve read this, you’ve felt the weight of wasted years. Perhaps you’ve calculated all the hours you’ve squandered and you’re feeling hopeless. Friend, hear this: God is in the business of redemption, and that includes redeeming time.
Joel 2:25 promises, “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten.” Even time that seems lost can be restored by God. Paul writes in Ephesians 5:15-16, “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” That phrase “making the most of every opportunity” literally means “redeeming the time.”
What this means for you:
Don’t be paralysed by past failures: You can’t go back and relive yesterday, but you can steward today differently. God’s mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). Yesterday’s poor stewardship doesn’t have to define today’s choices.
Trust God with the outcomes: You’re responsible for faithfulness, not results. You steward your time well and trust God with what He does with it. Some of your most “productive” days might look unimpressive, while some quiet moments of obedience might have eternal significance you’ll never see this side of heaven.
Remember that God isn’t limited by time: He can do more in a moment than you can do in a lifetime. When you surrender your time to Him, He multiplies it in ways that defy human logic. Think of the feeding of the five thousand—a small offering in God’s hands feeds multitudes.
God writes straight with crooked lines: Even our mistakes, our detours, our seasons of wandering—God can weave them into His purposes. Joseph’s wasted years in prison weren’t actually wasted; they were preparation. Your difficult seasons might be training grounds you don’t yet understand.
I spent years beating myself up over time I’d wasted, convinced that I’d fallen too far behind to ever catch up. Then I read Philippians 3:13-14: “Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.” I couldn’t change the past, but I could press forward in the present. That’s all God asks.
Final Note
Can I be honest with you, friend? Writing this has convicted me as much as it’s hopefully encouraged you. I’m not a perfect steward of my time. There are days I waste hours, weeks where I neglect what matters, seasons where I lose sight of eternity in the rush of urgency.
But here’s what I’m learning: stewarding time isn’t about perfection. It’s about direction. It’s not about never wasting a moment—it’s about the overall trajectory of your life moving towards God’s purposes. It’s not about cramming more into your schedule—it’s about filling your days with what actually matters.
God hasn’t given you time so you can impress people with your productivity or exhaust yourself trying to do everything. He’s given you time as a sacred trust—an opportunity to love Him, love others, and participate in His kingdom work right where you are.
You don’t need to have it all figured out. You don’t need to implement everything in this post perfectly. You just need to take the next faithful step. Choose one area where you know God is inviting you to steward your time better, and start there. Ask Him for help. He’s more invested in your growth than you are, and He’s more patient with your process than you’ll ever be.
Your time is a gift. Your life is a trust. And God has given you everything you need—including time—to do everything He’s called you to do. Not everything everyone else wants you to do. Not everything your ambition drives you to do. But everything He’s called you to do.
Take a deep breath. The weight of perfect stewardship isn’t on your shoulders—it’s on His. Your job is simply to be faithful with today. And by His grace, that’s exactly what you can do.
What You Can Do Next
Reflect: Look at the past week honestly. If your time use revealed what you truly worship, what would it say? Where do you see evidence of good stewardship? Where do you see room for growth?
Pray: Ask God to show you one specific area where He’s inviting you to steward your time more faithfully. Sit quietly and listen. What comes to mind? That’s probably where He wants you to start.
Act: Based on what God showed you, identify one concrete change you’ll make this week. Not ten changes—one. Write it down. Tell someone. Then do it. Small, faithful steps compound over time into transformed lives.
Journal: At the end of each day this week, write down one way you saw God in your ordinary moments. This practice trains you to see all of life as sacred and helps you recognise how God is already present in your time.
Share: If this post stirred something in you, share it with someone who might need the reminder that time is a sacred trust. We’re all stumbling forward in this together, and sometimes we need others to point us back to what matters.
