Probably most of us have expressed these kinds of frustrations:

“I’m so swamped that I can’t even take a break!”
“I’m always busy putting out fires, and never feel like I’m really accomplishing anything.”
“I’ve been working so much overtime that I can’t recall when I last had dinner with my family.”
“There’s so much to do, that I’m not sure where to begin.”
“After a hard day at work, all I want to do when I come home is veg-out in front of the TV.”

We live in a crazy busy, fast-paced world, and often have a lot of demands on our time. However, our time is a finite resource. There’s a limit to the number of tasks we can finish in the time that we have. If we’re not careful, the days, months and years can pass by us and we can start to regret what we didn’t get done or wish we’d used our time differently.

No one wants to live this way. But what can we do about it? Some people turn to time management experts for advice. Plenty of books and articles have been published to help people better manage their personal lives and households, and become more productive at work. A lot of this information can be helpful, particularly when we’re looking for specific strategies to help us navigate our modern world.

But really, the first place we should look to for guidance is God’s Word. The Bible actually has a lot to say about time management—not so much in terms of improving work efficiency or productivity, but rather to help us live truly successful, balanced lives. Ephesians 5:15-16 instructs us to “walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” To “redeem the time” means to make the best use of it—to invest our time in endeavors that are pleasing to God, instead of being driven by the pulls of the flesh. Similar passages teach us to “number our days” and be mindful about the brevity of human life (Psalm 90:12, 39:4-5; James 4:14). Doing so can help motivate us to use our time wisely and not waste it.

Scripture clearly spells out what our top priorities should be, and provides guidelines for how we should organize our time. Five of these time management principles are outlined below. Each are as relevant today as when they were first penned.

1. Make what has eternal value your top priority

Matthew 6:33 tells us what the top priority should be: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” This means investing our time and energy in things that matter to God. Most importantly, we should be making time each day for prayer, Bible study, and meditation on biblical truths—which draw us closer to God. When we put God first, the other aspects of our lives fall into place.

After our relationship with God, other top priorities are our marriages and families—including our church family. To properly care for our families (as we’re instructed to do in 1 Timothy 5:8) takes time. We also need to be nurturing connections with friends, particularly church brethren, so there can be that mutual support (Hebrews 10:25), and making time to serve others—including people outside of our social circles (Galatians 5:13, 1 Peter 4:10).

In everyday terms, having a long phone conversation to “catch up” with a friend, visiting a lonely widow, sitting around the dinner table and talking with family members about their day, and engaging in conversations with church brethren about meaningful topics or even playing games with them to get to know them better—are all examples of time well spent.

Everything just mentioned has eternal value, meaning these uses for our time bestow honor to God and have a value and meaning that transcends our physical existence. That is what God wants us to prioritize. Matthew 6:19-20 instructs: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” We should not preoccupy ourselves with totally selfish goals or on things that only have a temporary worth for this present age (if that).

Obviously, we’re physical beings and a lot of what we have to do each day relates purely to earthly matters—like earning a living, doing housework and yardwork, meal preparation, etc. That’s to be expected. But if we’re working so much or if “nonessential” activities (like playing computer games, scrolling through social media feeds or binge-watching TV entertainment) absorb so much of our discretional time that we have no time left for what has eternal value, that’s what we need to rethink.

2. Have a plan for how you will invest your time

Be intentional about making priorities happen. Set set aside a regular time each day for prayer and Bible study. Use a daily or weekly planner and write in important appointments, meetings, events, etc. Then figure out where you have blocks of time that you can dedicate to family, service projects or other top priorities and schedule them in. Be willing to say “no” to activities and undertakings that pull you away from what’s more important, or require more energy than you have to give.

Planning is certainly a biblical concept. Proverbs 21:5 states, “The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty surely to poverty.” In Luke 14:28, planning is likened to counting the cost before building a tower. When we plan, we’re more likely to achieve desired goals. Conversely, if we’re always doing things off-the-cuff or going through life just reacting to circumstances rather than planning ahead, we’ll likely neglect what should be our most important priorities.

3. Tune out distractions

Proverbs 4:25-27 (English Standard Version) underscores the importance of keeping an undistracted and focused mindset: “Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.”

This can be a challenge to do. During our workdays, we’re often bombarded with phone calls, text messages, emails, social media notifications and interruptions from coworkers, diverting our attention from whatever we had been doing and ultimately making us less productive. Solutions from time management experts include keeping your office door shut, disabling digital notifications when working, and coming up with self-imposed restrictions for how often you check your phone.

From a biblical time management standpoint, what we need to be doing is not allowing the “cares of this world” (Mark 4:19) to distract us from what has eternal value. Even constructive pursuits can become distractions to avoid—if they steer us away from God. In Luke 10:38-42, we read about Martha, who was sidetracked by the dinner she was preparing rather than giving her attention to Jesus Christ. Keeping our eyes fixed on God’s priorities for our lives can help us stay focused on what’s most important and avoid being detoured by distractions.

4. Don’t postpone doing what’s important

There may be things on our “to-do” list which we know are important, but we delay doing them because we don’t want to push ourselves right now or we’re busy with other pursuits. For instance, we may have become estranged from a once-close relative and know we need to talk things out, but we tell ourselves we can wait and face that situation sometime in the future. Or, perhaps we know we should be keeping the Sabbath, but that would necessitate giving up our weekend job, and so we decide to put off doing that until maybe next year.

The potential snag is that we may not have next year or “later on” to do what we need to do. This is a sobering reality, but something God wants us to understand. Proverbs 6:4 (New Living Translation) warns: “Don’t put it off; do it now! Don’t rest until you do.” Proverbs 27:1 (NLT) adds: “Don’t brag about tomorrow, since you don’t know what the day will bring.” The point is, we aren’t given any promise of tomorrow. If there are crucial situations needing to be addressed, we should do so now, while we still can. We don’t want to be on our deathbeds, wishing we’d reconciled with a friend or spent more time with loved ones.

5. Work hard, but don’t be a workaholic

Scripture encourages and commends hard work and diligence. Proverbs 13:4 (NLT) reads, “Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper.” Other verses in Proverbs tell us that “the hand of the diligent makes rich” (10:4) and “will rule” (12:24), and that “in all labor there is profit” (14:23). In the New Testament, we’re admonished to work heartily (Colossians 3:23), and told if we don’t work, we should not expect to eat (2 Thessalonians 3:10).

That said, we shouldn’t let ourselves become consumed by work. God designed our bodies to need regular periods of rest. Most importantly, He established the Sabbath as a day each week to rest from our physical labors, focus our minds on Him, attend church services, and fellowship with brethren (Exodus 20:8-10).

We also need a certain amount of sleep each night (generally 7-10 hours) to allow our bodies and minds time to recharge. Scripture portrays sound sleep as a gift from God (Psalm 127:2, Proverbs 3:24). In addition, it’s helpful to set aside time during the weekdays to relax and unwind. Jesus himself modeled this. During his earthly ministry, he occasionally withdrew from the crowds to renew his strength. He encouraged the disciples to do the same, inviting them to “rest a while” after returning from a long journey (Mark 6:31).

Time spent resting, which can include participating in leisure activities, helps refresh us physically, mentally and emotionally. Most of us function a lot better when we have some “elbow room” built into our schedules.

The takeaway

The main takeaway is we need to think about how we are using our time, each and every day. The apostle Peter wrote that we will “give an account” to God for the way we use our lives and what we accomplish (1 Peter 4:3-6). How we spend our time is how we spend our lives. We shouldn’t want to misuse any of the time God has allotted to us.

And we likely won’t—IF we’re striving to see our lives as God does and value what He values. Even if we look nowhere else for information about time management, living by the biblically-based time management principles addressed here can help us make time for things that really matter, curb busyness and find real meaning, purpose and balance in our lives.