Redeeming the Time
As the old year winds down and the new year is upon us, I have been thinking about time. You might say that time is on my mind. I will tell you why. I was reading about the life of the Scottish preacher Robert McCheyne recently. One quote stuck in my mind. It was this ... that he know that everyone he met would soon die and end up either in heaven or in hell. He determined then always to live with eternity in his mind. It drove him and God blessed him and his ministry because of it.
You see, time marches on. It stops for no one. Once a moment is past, it is gone forever. You can never get it back. So the Bible teaches us to "redeem the time." We are admonished to use our time wisely. We serve God by being a good steward of the time He gives us.
That brings me to another important lesson. There is no guarantee we will be alive tomorrow, or make it through to tomorrow night. The number of breaths we will draw before God calls us to our heavenly home is known to Him already. But none of us know. So, we go through life with the illusion that we are immortal. We live like we are never going to die. But in James, we are warned that such thinking is sin. It is presumptuous of us to say "next week or next year we are going to go and do such and such a thing." Instead, James tells us to say "If the Lord wills, we will do such and such." In other words, we need to live with eternity in mind. We need to live knowing that our end is rapidly approaching.
I had occasion to think about this during 2006. I had heart surgery just at the end of 2005 and gall bladder surgery in 2006. Off and on I have felt the twinge of pain in my chest that reminds me that I am a mortal being. And so is everyone else in the world. We are all mortal. For us Christians, we are getting ready for our heavenly service to our loving Lord. And the lost world goes on oblivious to their danger. But God has called us to be faithful to go into the world and tell them.
I resolve to go into 2007 with my mortality, and that of the people God brings across my path, clearly in mind. I am not sure how much time the Lord will grant me, but what time He does, I resolve to use it wisely. How about you?
As the old year winds down and the new year is upon us, I have been thinking about time. You might say that time is on my mind. I will tell you why. I was reading about the life of the Scottish preacher Robert McCheyne recently. One quote stuck in my mind. It was this ... that he know that everyone he met would soon die and end up either in heaven or in hell. He determined then always to live with eternity in his mind. It drove him and God blessed him and his ministry because of it.
You see, time marches on. It stops for no one. Once a moment is past, it is gone forever. You can never get it back. So the Bible teaches us to "redeem the time." We are admonished to use our time wisely. We serve God by being a good steward of the time He gives us.
That brings me to another important lesson. There is no guarantee we will be alive tomorrow, or make it through to tomorrow night. The number of breaths we will draw before God calls us to our heavenly home is known to Him already. But none of us know. So, we go through life with the illusion that we are immortal. We live like we are never going to die. But in James, we are warned that such thinking is sin. It is presumptuous of us to say "next week or next year we are going to go and do such and such a thing." Instead, James tells us to say "If the Lord wills, we will do such and such." In other words, we need to live with eternity in mind. We need to live knowing that our end is rapidly approaching.
I had occasion to think about this during 2006. I had heart surgery just at the end of 2005 and gall bladder surgery in 2006. Off and on I have felt the twinge of pain in my chest that reminds me that I am a mortal being. And so is everyone else in the world. We are all mortal. For us Christians, we are getting ready for our heavenly service to our loving Lord. And the lost world goes on oblivious to their danger. But God has called us to be faithful to go into the world and tell them.
I resolve to go into 2007 with my mortality, and that of the people God brings across my path, clearly in mind. I am not sure how much time the Lord will grant me, but what time He does, I resolve to use it wisely. How about you?
posted by John | Sunday, December 31, 2006
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