Nothing But Time
Mark Labberton
July 1, 2006
What practical fact of daily life most differentiates the person in the pew from the one in the pulpit? Is it wisdom? Education? Creativity? Compassion? Or faith? Hardly.
I think the factor that most distinguishes my life as a pastor and the people I serve is just time. No one has more time than a pastor.
This, of course, seems beyond outrageous to say. After all, the one thing I and every other pastor knows is this: we have no time!
So what am I saying?
Think about it this way. One of the primary human resources a congregation gives its pastor is the gift of time. By being paid to serve full-time, a congregation says, "We want you to have the time to exercise your gifts in leading us." Who else in our congregation is handed every week the overt gift of time to seek and serve God?
So why do we as pastors feel we have no time? Because we still never have enough! And, in fact, that's true. We don't.
That's why, before consulting the One-Minute Manager, we pastors need to learn more from the Lord of all eternity. The minutes matter because eternity matters. We try to solve the problem of time in a grassroots way, from the bottom up. In the end, that is precisely why there is never enough time: we are incapable of making more of it.
By contrast, what can help us is to receive the gift of time in a grateful way, from the top down.
Time is always and only a gift from God. A pastor is given time to help the congregation remember eternity. The clock causes us to forget that.
We are not called to use time as manic managers, but to steward it as watchful, temporary servants.
Time is not primarily for the sake of doing more. Time is God's gift for being and doing what matters. For this reason, our goal should not necessarily be to manage our ...
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