The Sanctification of Time

If there's one thing it seems our society is starved for today is time. No matter how many "to-do lists" you put together, no matter how organized you appear to be, at the end of the day it just doesn't seem like there are enough hours in the day. You can wake up early and go to bed late and it still seems like you can't get everything done that "needs" to get done. This is a universal dilemma, but one that has been thrust upon us by cultural society. 

God knew what He was doing when He put 24 hours in a day. He knew what He was doing in allowing the sun to be up for roughly 12 hours a day. I do not believe it is the will of God for society to be "hustle and bustle" 24-7. The God we serve is a God of rest (Genesis 2). And He has structured time in order for His Creation to get the rest we need in order to sufficiently glorify Him. Therefore, we don't need to be pressed about "getting more done in the day." We need to learn the art of "the sanctification of time."

The word, "sanctify," means, "to set apart." In a Christian context, it means, "to set something apart unto God for consecrated and sacred purposes." When we learn the sanctification of time, we learn how to structure our days, our weeks, our months, our years, our decades and our lives so that our time is sanctified unto Him (Psalm 90). This is not natural. If it were, more people who are industrious and successful would've learned how to do it. It's supernatural. And the reason the sanctification of time is supernatural is because it requires the leadership of the Holy Spirit to do it. If you don't submit to the leading of the Spirit in regards to the sanctification of time, you'll operate in the restlessness of the flesh, even if your intentions are good.

One of the first areas of time that we need to sanctify is our mornings. The first part of your day should be sanctified, set apart, unto the Lord. A lot of people go to the gym first thing in the morning, or get a cup of coffee and catch up on the news. Wrong. When you wake up to see another day by the Grace of God, you need to enter your waking hours in communion with the Father. This does not need to be sporadic; this needs to be every day. Let me also add, the earlier the better. The earlier you can wake and "seek His Face," the better you're going to function in your day. Why? Because you've started your day hooked up with Him Who is in control of your day. You're more "plugged in to God," if you will. So we need to be diligent about sanctifying our morning time.

We need to sanctify time to fellowship with the saints (Hebrews 10). You would think this would be basic, but you hear of more and more individuals that don't make it a priority to worship and fellowship with other believers in Christ. Notice I didn't say "go to church." There's a shift taking place in the Body of Christ where the traditional, Sunday morning worship experience will not be sufficient for the manifestation of the Kingdom of God. A lot of times we as believers will express more concern about whether a person is going to church as opposed to whether or not they're actually saved! (Trust me, I've done it) No. God is doing a new thing. But whether it's in a traditional setting or not, we can't be "Iso-Christians" – isolated unto ourselves. We have to make sure that we find a place where we can share our faith with other believers in Christ. The Lord is faithful.

Then saints, we need to sanctify time during the Holy Days. I don't have time to fully elaborate on this now, but God has certain Appointed Feasts according to the Jewish Calendar, that are to be set apart and sanctified unto Him. The primary appointments are in the Spring and in the Fall. I can assure you, when we enter the New Hebrew Calendar Year in September of 2015, that is a time that you want to make sure is sanctified unto the Lord. Let us be mindful saints. Let's not just be busy around the clock trying to get secular tasks accomplished. Let's make sure that we're vigilant to execute by faith the sanctification of time.