What Time is it?
What's the best use of your time? Liz and Lucille face difficult choices as they do their homework and a Bible study. What's your worst distraction?
Before You ListenLet's Get Started
Theme: Time Management
1. Sometimes it feels like there just aren’t enough minutes in the day to get everything done, but in Ecclesiastes 3:1, God shows how he has made time for everything he wants to accomplish. God gives us the gift of time as well. How do you fill your time?
2. Haggai was a prophet who had a message for God’s people. The people had returned from exile and had very eagerly laid the foundation for God’s new temple, but then they got distracted and forgot about it. They loved God, but they got used to living with no temple, and got busy with their own families and jobs. That work, however, was not going well. God told them,“You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away.” Haggai reminded them that God wanted them to put his work before their own (Haggai 1:1-15). God probably doesn’t want you to build him a temple, but as you listen to today’s episode, think about what work God does want you to do.
After you listen
Memory Verse
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens”
Quiz
Reflect
In this episode, Liz and Lucille are having a hard time fitting in all of their activities. Grandpa Anole helps them see what’s most important in using their time.
You have so many activities to fill your time, like good books, school, video games, Bible reading, household chores, sports, music practice, clubs, church, movies, and playing with friends. When you have so many choices, how do you choose? Matthew 6:33 gives us some good advice: “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” This takes some wisdom. Which of your activities count as seeking God and his kingdom?
Just like the people in Haggai’s time, you may often put your own good activities before the work God has for you. After a while, it just becomes habit. When the people of Israel did this, they discovered that their own work wasn’t satisfying them. God was trying to tell them something. If you’re feeling like you’re always busy but never getting anything done, God may be trying to tell you something, too! It might be time to think about what activities honor him, and to put those first in your weekly schedule.
Want to dig deeper and learn more about putting God’s work first? Check out Ephesians 2:10, Micah 6:8, and Ephesians 5:15-16.
Challenge
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 is a very famous poem that shows some “activities under heaven” that God has made times for.
A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to uproot.
A time to tear down and a time to build
A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to be silent and a time to speak.
A time for war and a time for peace
Try writing some of your own "time for everything" lines. Make sure you are thinking about putting God’s work first.
A time to ____________________ and a time to _________________________
A time to ____________________ and a time to _________________________
A time to ____________________ and a time to _________________________
A time to ____________________ and a time to _________________________
