The Time Of Your Life

I love teachable moments.  Since my background is in education, I’ve come to appreciate those times that pop up every now and then that lend themselves so easily towards a greater understanding of a complex thought or process.  This is especially sweet when it involves my kids!  Just last Sunday, my kids enjoyed the privilege of such a moment.  Here lately, every time we put our kids in the car, they think we should stop by a restaurant while out and about.  After worship last Sunday, they started the “Daddy, where are we going to eat?” questions again.  I gave them my usual answer, “Wendy’s.”  Now they used to get excited about that…now, they’ve come to realize that I mean Wendy’s kitchen , not Wendy’s Restaurant (for those of you not in the know, Wendy is my wife's name).  Last week we just happened to be on our way to Walmart to pick up a few food items before heading home so I decided to take the opportunity to explain why we eat at home.  I started by explaining that it usually costs our family at least $40 to eat at a restaurant like Chili’s (that’s their favorite).  Then, I explained that for $200 we bought groceries to feed our whole family three meals a day for a week.  After doing a bit of math with them to discover what 3 meals a day for a week of eating at places like Chili’s would cost, I asked them which was the better deal.  Of course, they agreed that eating at home was the way to go.  That’s when I dropped the bomb.  I said, “So, guys, we’ll eat out on special occasions, but doesn’t it sound like a complete waste of hard earned money to eat out all the time?”  To my surprise…and delight…they completely agreed.  I’ve always thought that eating restaurant food was a lot like eating money…it’s gone in no time and you really don’t have much to show for it…except a gut maybe!

Now, you may or may not agree with my thought processes when it comes to eating out, but I’m sure you’ll agree with me that money is an important resource.  Without it, survival becomes somewhat difficult.  However, as valuable a resource as money is, I can think of one that is infinitely more valuable…time!  I mean, I can always make more money, but no one has the ability to make time.  I can take something back to Walmart and get my money back, but no matter how hard I try I can never get my time back regardless of how unsatisfied I am with how I’ve spent it.  Generally speaking, we all come into this world with no money, but tend to increase that resource as we get older.  However, time is a resource that we continually lose the more we live.  Money is valuable, but time is invaluable!  In fact, at the end of their life most everyone would give all of their money just to buy a few more months, weeks or days of time!  

We’re reminded of this concept in the book of James.  In the latter part of chapter 4, James introduces us to a group of people who make all kinds of plans about how they’re going to spend their future.  Their pursuits are purely selfish and materialistic.  Worst of all, they carry on as if they had all the time in the world AND were actually in command of their time.  In today's world, they would be making a 5 year plan.  James reminds them of a few things.  First of all, their time is fleeting…”like a vapor” or wisp of smoke, each will come quickly to the end of their life and realize that time marches on.  And, sadly, it marches on without them!  Secondly, he reminds them that they are not in control...their idea that they are is a complete illusion!  They don’t know what’s going to happen later today, much less tomorrow!  We live in a world where all of our plans for this weekend or this summer can be cut short by one drunk driver at a stop sign.  We are not in control.  Finally, he reminds them that how they spend the little bit of time that they have is infinitely important.  He points out that “to those who know the good to do, yet don’t do it, it is sin.”  The way we spend our time matters!  We are all guilty of piddling away our time on momentary pleasures and worldly endeavors, all the while forsaking the things of great eternal worth that God has given us to do.  We can sit for hours in front of a computer, television or movie screen, then have the audacity to claim we don’t have time to study God’s Word, pray or share the Gospel with a lost soul.  We can involve ourselves in all kinds of selfish and vain pursuits...improving our golf game, our tennis swing, our physique...while completely ignoring our own spiritual health.  Our homes are full of children who drizzle away their time at video games, cell phones, sports and all manner of extracurricular activity, yet, as their parents, we excuse them from Bible study, church attendance, prayer and activities that would grow them spiritually because their lives are just “too busy”.  We work too hard, play too hard and have little time or energy left for the eternal things that really matter…and according to God’s Word, in doing so, we sin!

Ladies and gentlemen, we should be absolutely ashamed of ourselves.  And, for those of you who are reading this, I’m sure that some of you join me in that shame.  The sad truth, however, is that many will never even read these words because they don’t think they “have the time”.  Believer, our lives were meant to count for so much more than the pitiful temporal things we spend them on.  So the question is, how are you spending your time?  It’s a resource that you can’t get back, you know…  At the end of your life, you’ll get a tombstone with two numbers on it.  One will mark a beginning for your lifetime and one will mark the end.  In the middle will be a dash.  Can I ask you what your dash will stand for?  How will you spend the time of your life?