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 your 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
