“1 After the uproar was over, Paul sent for the disciples, encouraged them, and after saying good-bye, departed to go to Macedonia. 2 And when he had passed through those areas and exhorted them at length, he came to Greece 3 and stayed three months. When he was about to set sail for Syria, a plot was devised against him by the Jews, so a decision was made to go back through Macedonia. 4 He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from Asia. 5 These men went on ahead and waited for us in Troas, 6 but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread. In five days we reached them at Troas, where we spent seven days.

7 On the first day of the week, we assembled to break bread. Paul spoke to them, and since he was about to depart the next day, he extended his message until midnight. 8 There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were assembled, 9 and a young man named Eutychus was sitting on a window sill and sank into a deep sleep as Paul kept on speaking. When he was overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead. 10 But Paul went down, fell on him, embraced him, and said, “Don’t be alarmed, for his life is in him!” 11 After going upstairs, breaking the bread, and eating, Paul conversed a considerable time until dawn. Then he left. 12 They brought the boy home alive and were greatly comforted.”

Acts 20:1-12

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Our Western culture is very time conscious. We want things to begin and end on time when we say they’re supposed to and to 3-5 minutes beyond that begins to encroach into personal territory. I have heard preachers apologize for the length of a church service because people were making decisions and getting baptized. I have seen people rush out the moment the invitation hymn started. I grew up at a mega-church and there were days where the number of people leaving at invitation became such a distraction (because they wanted to get out of the busy parking lot and off to lunch early) that the Senior Minister had to take time to explain to people why it was rude and inappropriate to leave right as someone was being given the opportunity to have their eternal desitination changed. Wouldn’t that be worth sticking around for? Wouldn’t that be worth celebrating? The population of Hell has just been decreased, let’s praise God together for that, right?! But people still hold their own schedule and time as more valuable. There is still an issue with ‘timing’ at church services. “Let me have my hour and then let me go.” It’s a self-centered focus that has nothing to do with the Gospel message and everything to do with honoring self. 

Paul knew his time in Troas was short, he was leaving in the morning, so he wanted to invest in this church family as much as he could before he left them. This meant a marathon session of unpacking the Word and filling their hearts with the things of God. And so Paul began speaking. It became dark, so they lit a few lamps. It got darker, so they lit a few more. They grabbed every lamp they could, so that everyone could see and be seen, and they invested themselves in the exposition of the Word and the Gospel message. It was time well spent. They were disciples of Jesus, after all, and so what better use of their time than to see what their Master desired of them, to learn more of what it meant to walk like Him? And so, no one was trying to leave, rather, they were settling in for the night to hear what mattered most. They wanted to hear from God. 

We devote so much time to so many things, but how much of our time is truly well spent? How much time do we spend that is truly devoted to God each week? Are we tithing our lives like we tithe our income? Are we serving, worshipping, reading the Word, all in equal measure, so that we grow closer and closer to Christ every day? Is our time well spent? Or is much of it wasted? How much is spent in front of screens, time we call ‘me time,’ that should be spent in other, more God-honoring ways? Is there work that needs to be done? A neighbor that needs to be reached? Can we find a few more minutes to crack open our Bibles and listen for the voice of God? 

This isn’t to make us feel guilty, thinking about these things. It is to help us remember what our priorities should be, and what it means to have time that is truly well spent. Because we spend our time in ways that we would never spend our money, or any of our other resources for that matter. The one thing we often claim is most important is often the one thing most poorly used. 

We have been commissioned to GoLove people in Jesus’ Name. That is our primary responsibility as His disciples, to share His Gospel. But how much of our time is devoted to that task? How much of our lives do we actually give to see others come to Him, to make sure they hear about Him, to speak into their hearts of the infinite grace of God poured out for us through Immanuel’s veins? Is our time well spent? 

I pray that God is merciful. I also pray that our eyes are opened & that we all become better stewards of the time He allows us to use & occupy.