There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a
time for every event under heaven-- A time to give birth and a time to die; A
time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted. A time to kill and a time
to heal; A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to weep and a time
to laugh; A time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to throw stones and a
time to gather stones; A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing. A time
to search and a time to give up as lost; A time to keep and a time to throw
away. A time to tear apart and a time to sew together; A time to be silent and
a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate; A time for war and a time
for peace. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)
It should be said that although
God is the Master of time, we are not. In
fact, we are pretty much the slaves of time. The clock is always ticking, and there is
never quite enough time left. It seems
that we are always running out of time.
Time passes so quickly.
Deadlines are upon us before we know it and we feel the intense pressure and
stress that these fixed moments in time cause us. If only we could in some way
s-t-r-e-t-c-h time. But we cannot.
The founder of Microsoft,
Bill Gates, a man who has amassed around billions of dollars in personal
wealth, was asked what one thing he wanted. He replied, "More time." Indeed. We would all like more time. Time is a ruthless taskmaster and presses our
lives.
But for all of our
frustrations concerning time, we must remember that time may be less real than
we think. Do you suppose that God has a
calendar in heaven? What kind of watch
do you think God wears on His wrist? There
is no time as we know it in heaven. There
God lives in eternity, which is not time drawn out, but timelessness. The concept of time is a convention for the
benefit of man so that our lives can experience some sense of order and
successiveness.
Time certainly has a definite
impact in all of our lives. And we deal
differently with time in different stages of our lives. When we were young we tended to wish time
away. We were always waiting for
something---for some future event to happen. It might have been a birthday, or a vacation,
or Christmas. Time seemed to move
incredibly slow back then. And the time
between the present and that longed for event was always wished away. We always wanted to grow up more quickly.
To some degree we still do
this. But this is a false dealing with time. By wishing for some future day to
arrive we may miss the present entirely. But we still wish. We wish for the day that we
will graduate from high school, then college. We wish for the day we will be married to the
one we love. We wish for the day we will
begin that new job. We wish for the day
we can buy that new home. We wish for
the day when our children will be on their own. We wish for the day when we will retire. These are all good milestones, but what about
today?
You see, if we are always
living for some future event, we are wasting today. If we never learn to live in "now,"
one day we will look back on our lives and conclude that they were wasted
waiting for the next thing to happen. Behold, now is "THE ACCEPTABLE TIME," behold,
now is "THE DAY OF SALVATION.”
So, make the most of the present and you will discover you
tomorrows will grow in promise and success.
Scripture to Claim:
This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us
rejoice and be glad in it. Psalms 118:24
