6-SPARE TIME

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God, Amen

Lesson No. (6)

References:
Text:"Redeeming the times because the days are evil"
(Ephesians 5:16)

Notes For Servants:
1. Apply the lesson yourself this week before you deliver it. Try to
manage your time so that your lesson become effective not just theory.
2. Time is a gift is given to you should use it wisely and you should
give God His portion of that time.
Objectives:
General: Pray for your children during the week.
Specific:
1. Remind them of the importance of time.
2. Explain how can we easily loose track of time.
3. Describe the benefits reaped by an organized life versus the disasters
that can happen due to untidiness and the lack of organization.
4. Prepare some tips to help your children make useful plans for their
time.

Instructions:
1. Church occasion
2. Allow time for questions.
3. Take note of the absent children.
4. Remind them to give to the poor.
5. Report any question or concern that you cannot handle to Abouna or
to your servant.

Lesson

Spare Time

"Redeeming the times because the days are evil." [EPHESIANS 5:16]
Emptiness can result from having a lot of spare time, and the worst kind is
internal emptiness. Emptiness can be spiritual, psychological, emotional, or
intellectual. Emptiness is a life of nothingness. The person who is satisfied
spiritually, mentally, and emotionally, cannot have the feeling of nothingness.
The person who sets his objectives in life and knows the means to achieve
them, will not know emptiness. The person who has his spiritual life in good
shape and is lined up on the right track and has a plan to combat difficulties in
all facets of life will not feel emptiness, but will have fulfilment and feel on
various occasions that he does not have enough time to cover all his plans.
Sometimes he may even be in a race with time and achieve in a short time
what someone else may not achieve in years.
There is really nothing called spare time, but the problem is that we sometimes
live in emptiness. I know a well-known person in the church who always says,

"I wish the day had forty-eight hours so I can fulfil all the many obligations I
have for which twenty-four hours will not suffice." This proves that a person
who has spare time is equal to a person who has an empty life. So, let us think
of some ways and means to have accomplishments in our life.
Some principles for solving the problem of spare time:
1. The time we lose cannot be regained. There is a saying, "Time is so

valuable, if you lose it, you'll never restore it." Also, time is a double-
edged sword, you can use it wisely for your benefit, or you can use it

foolishly for your destruction.
2. If you do not use time now to its fullest, you may not find time
tomorrow. "Go to the ant, O sluggard, study her ways and learn
wisdom, which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat
in the summer and gathereth her food in the harvest." [PROV 6:6-8]
3. The abilities and skills that God grants you, such as the ability to
learn and memorise, will not last forever. Eventually, they fade, so it is
better to use them while you can.
4. All that you can store now in your memory and all that you can
achieve through good deeds have their bearing on your future. If you
have a large storage of good deeds and well-invested time, you will
double your life. I heard a monk saying, "I have a memory in every
corner in this monastery, and with each brick, I have a story." This
means that this monk contributed to every event in the monastery, big
or small, and received the blessings of working hard to accomplish it.
What The Holy Bible Says About Time:
The Bible instructs us to use our time to its fullest advantage both for us and
others.
In Ephesians 5:16, we read, "Redeeming the time because the days are evil."
In the Gospel of St. John 9:4, we read, "I must work the works of Him that
sent Me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work." God
Himself sanctified work, He worked, He is working, and He shall work
without ceasing. "My Father worketh hitherto and I work." [John 5:17]
How To Do Good Deeds:
Move in many directions to discover your talents, faculties and gifts such as
art, music, writing, painting, reading, sewing, needlework, sports, etc.
Discover your talents and abilities and use them in a beneficial way to help
yourself and others. This will help us all to grow in spirit. Those who achieve
this status lead a spiritual life are the source of our spiritual enrichment too,
such as St. Athanasius, St. Cyril, in the fourth and fifth centuries and in this
century His Holiness Pope Shenouda the Third, our present Patriarch.
Conclusion:
The Difference Between Emptiness and Rest:
• In Genesis 2:2, we read, "And on the seventh day, God ended His work
which He has made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work
which He had made."
• In Exodus 20: 10, we read, "But the seventh day is Sabbath of the Lord thy
God; in it thou shall not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor
thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is
within thy gates."
• On the seventh day God rested from all His work which He had done. There
is a difference between nothingness and rest. After a long day of work, you
need some rest to renew your physical, emotional, and psychological strength.
God Himself sanctified rest, so He rested on the seventh day.

May God grant us wisdom to use our time well, for His glory and for the
benefit of ourselves and others. Amen.

Prayer:
0, Lord, let every day in our life be fruitful, even every hour.
Forbid to let even one minute pass without doing a good deed.
Help us to build up our souls and the souls of others too. As Thou with Your
Heavenly Father and Your Holy Spirit did in the past, do now. Share the work
with us Thou, our Lord, and Your Heavenly Father and Your Holy Spirit now
and ever; Amen.