The advice from the chairman of the Congregational Christian Church of American Samoa, Rev. Elder Leatulagi Faalevao for leaders of government, church, villages and families is to make use of their time to serve God and others, instead of creating their own wealth and status.
Rev. Leatulagi led a National Council of Churches service at Kanana-fou Saturday morning to thank God for his blessings in 2015 and to pray for His guidance as the territory begins a new year.
Governor Lolo Moliga had sent out a memo on New Year’s eve asking members of the cabinet, and directors of authorities to attend the service, however it was not as well attended by directors as last year’s church service.
The CCCAS chairman said time is a precious gift from God, but no one knows how much time God gives them on this earth.
He urged leaders, people in positions of authority, youth and everyone to use their time on earth wisely to carry out the will of God and for the benefit of others. He said some people think of time as a luxury and will delay good deeds and work that they ought to do now.
He said time cannot be replaced once it’s lost and while money can buy cars, homes and other material things it cannot buy time.
Rev. Leatulagi quoted a verse from the book of Ephesians: “redeeming the time because the days are evil,” and said that when judgment day comes, God will ask if they have used their time on earth to serve His kingdom.
He said in workplaces, there’s more idle time than work, and there’s a tendency for people in positions of power to make simple things difficult, with a lot of run around, so that by the end of the day there’s no solution to a problem.
The reverend also urged leaders to be weary of the tireless efforts by the devil to lure them away from God’s will, by creating diversions such as sports, entertainment and other events which take up their time.
