TIME VALUED

Scour your systematic theology book on the topic of time and you’ll find eschatology. Turn on the radio and you’ll hear of time squandered. Wake up to an alarm clock screaming the time to you, punch in the time card at work to etch in history your punctuality at work, check the watch as the sermon is preached, flip the hourglass during the game, take the picture with the date stamped, clap your hands in time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, all the years of our life we are confronted, encapsulated and confined by time.

Time, if you can’t tell, has been on my mind lately. A 16 year old boy hit by a car and dies. A two year old son tossed off an ATV and his life is over. John Travolta’s son is taking a shower one second, and the next he is gone. Proverbs 16:31 says, “A gray head is a crown of glory; It is found in the way of righteousness.” In this respect, wisdom can be found by listening to those who have lived longer than you. I listen to those who have walked the earth longer than me and they say that time moves quickly. One second you are holding onto your baby girl and the next you are holding your granddaughter. Despite how long it may seem – it is all short.

Not surprisingly the Bible is saturated with time. It is of the essence; is it not? Time, like that which passes through it, is fleeting. As a child, I feared time – feared its ravages. I feared what I would lose to it. It was a strong man and a robber – and I a hapless victim who romanticized the passing of youth. Just as the preacher teaches in Ecclesiastes, “Vanities of vanity. All is vanity!” So was my life.

I want to take the lessons offered to us on time seriously. I want to make the most of the time given to me. In Ephesians 5:15-16 Paul writes “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, 16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil.” I want to be fruitful, being a faithful servant who is accountable with what he has been given (Matthew 25).

My ponderings on time have taken me thus far:
1. Time is a privilege: Not all beings are given the privilege to live in time.
2. With this privilege comes responsibility: Part of the vanity behind the melancholy of the passing of youth is thinking that somehow time should serve us, but yet has betrayed us. Rather, time serves as a tool to remind us that we are not to serve ourselves, but are to serve another – namely God.
3. Time is fleeting: Not just in the fact that every moment passes, but in that time itself one day will come to an end. The term “culmination of time” considering Jesus’ return is preferential to me because then we really will dwell in the house of the LORD forever and ever.
4. Time is incredibly valuable and it should only be spent on things more valuable than itself.