#1529. To make the most of time, offer your time to God (2/6/26)

Welcome to this Come to Jesus Daily Devotional (currently posted on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday) as we continue our Stewardship series.

As stewards, we understand that our time is God’s time and is to be offered to Him for His purposes.

To watch this devotional, please select the link below:

1. We are stewards of God’s time

Making the most of our time begins with understanding that our time belongs to God. The prayer of this psalm reveals the heart of a good steward — one who humbly offers their time to God and asks for His help in using it wisely.

We must not waste what does not truly belong to us. Therefore, to use our time well, we must live as though Jesus is truly Lord - not merely in word, but in reality.

In the past, factory workers would ‘clock on’ by placing a card into a machine to record when they began and finished work. This was because they were being paid for their time. While at work, their time belonged to their employer. In a far greater way, our time belongs to God. He has given us life, and it is to be used for Him.

2. Stewards of time do what’s important to God

Secondly, making the most of our time requires understanding what is truly important and what is not.

The prayer in this psalm is a pursuit of ‘a heart of wisdom’ - for only through God’s wisdom can we use our time well.

I find the ‘four quadrants’ idea regarding the use of time very helpful. Simply put, it describes spending our time on things that are:

i. Urgent but not important.

ii. Urgent and important.

iii. Neither urgent nor important.

iv. Not urgent but important.

(This method is often attributed to Dwight D. Eisenhower and is commonly called the ‘Eisenhower Matrix’.)

We can probably all see that if we spend much of our time in the third quadrant -  the non-urgent and non-important - we waste both our time and our lives. Like me, I’m sure you sometimes spend too much time there through pointless distractions and entertainment!

The key issue in our use of time is knowing what is important to God and giving ourselves to those things. We must not allow urgent matters to dominate our lives so completely that we neglect what truly nourishes our souls and bears fruit in our service to God.

Response

Take a moment to pray and offer your time to God. Use today’s verse as a guide in prayer:

This year we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of CCP; to watch our anniversary video, please select the link below:

Community Group Study

(This week is ‘SIV’ (Serve, Invest and inVite) Week, so we’ll be focussing on this during our time together. 

1. Notices

It might be good to begin with notices. Please share from this week’s Church News. 

2. Worship together

Let’s begin our time together by lifting our eyes and hearts to worship our great God. Perhaps you have readings and songs that you would like to use together. Let’s be open to the gifts that the Spirit wants to give in order to encourage one another.

3. Study and pray together

(This week is ‘SIV’ (Serve, Invest and inVite) Week)

On Sunday, we continued our stewardship series by looking at how we manage our time—a critical factor in how effectively we live out our mission. If we aren't intentional with our time, the urgent, day-to-day pressures will quickly crowd out our ability to make deliberate investments in our community.

What is SIV? 

SIV stands for Serve, Invest and inVite. This is our very simple strategy to help bring our community to Jesus. We believe that God has placed us in relationships and in specific locations to be 'salt and light.' and to ‘fish for people’.  We can effectively bring people to Jesus by: 

• 'Serving' them - Demonstrating the love of Christ in practical ways; 

• 'Investing' - Investing in the ‘people of peace’ those whom we feel the Spirit is leading us. 

• 'Inviting' - Inviting them into our homes by showing hospitality and inviting them to church events, to Alpha, and ultimately, inviting them to come to Jesus through the gospel. 

In your groups: 

• Share stories – Have you had any recent opportunities to Serve, Invest in, or Invite someone toward Jesus? Let’s encourage one another by sharing stories of how we’ve seen God at work through simple faithfulness.

• Think about practical next steps – Who might God be placing on your heart at this time? Are there any “people of peace” (see note) in your life—those who seem open, welcoming, or receptive to spiritual conversation?

Pray together:

• Pray for courage, wisdom, and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit in our Serve, Invest, and Invite opportunities.

• Pray specifically for the ‘people of peace’ in our lives - that God would open hearts and deepen relationships.

• Pray for our Alpha ministry and Phil Mash who heads up this team 

• Pray for our mission in Roehampton - that He would lead us in reaching that community with the gospel. 

• General prayer: how do people want prayer at this time?