The Use of Time by Stephen Baker
Subtitled Living for God Moment by Moment, this helpful book encourages believers to make life and its opportunities count for eternity. We know that eternity is endless, limitless, and timeless, but life is very different – it has a limit for every one of us, and that limit is often called a lifetime. No one knows how much of that is in front of us, and what is behind us has passed and cannot be changed.
This new book is part of A Christian’s Guide series from John Ritchie Publishers and is a much needed guide to something which affects us all. It is not a self-help manual disclosing new or not so new techniques which are marketed in business or academic circles, but a practical and down to earth discussion of everyday life, and how to take time and make time for what matters.
There are 15 short chapters, each easy to read. The first three deal with the concept of time, what it actually is – a measure of reality throughout history and throughout life so that we make decisions based on it. It may be difficult to define what time actually is, and to put that into words, but we do discover every day how quickly it passes. “Time flies,” we say!
From this basis, chapters 4 to 12 focus on very practical matters – Time for Private Devotions, Time to Pray, Time with your Wife and Children, Time for your Local Assembly, Time to Learn, Time to Evangelise, Time to Work, Time to Rest (compare Eccl 3.1-8). Towards the end there is a timely(!) warning about Time Wasting, and then some helpful practical advice about using time effectively and efficiently, impacted as most of us are by the demands of emails and IT, and by over much attention to social media. In Chapter 14 we read, “As time is such a limited resource (and one of your most valuable resources), we need to use it very carefully. Once it has gone, it cannot be reclaimed.”
Stephen Baker’s earlier book in this series (The Money Maze, 2021) deals with the Christians’ responsibility in the use of money and possessions. This one deals with our responsibility in the use of time. Both money and time have limits which may be quite different for different people, but all of us are accountable for what we have of each, and how we have used them. This book reminds us that we are accountable to the Lord for how we use everything which He has entrusted to us.
The guidance in these chapters is valuable for everyone, but it will be particularly helpful to younger believers faced with the pressures and challenges of finding time for necessary family responsibilities, for increasing work demands, and for willing involvements in service for the Lord in personal life and in assembly fellowship.
