Sweet, Precious Time

Time is the most precious commodity.  It cannot be saved.  It cannot be purchased or bartered.  It cannot be kept.  Above all else, though, time is not an inherent right; it is a gift, the most precious of gifts.  Time is immaterial, yet real.  It is a passage of moments, a sequence of successive events.  Time is, at its heart, how we measure and quantify this phenomena.  Yet to think of time as merely a ruler for gauge the length of sequential moments would be to betray the fundamental nature of time: namely, that we only have so much of it.

Every human being is allotted the same 24-hour day.  We take this profound truth without much thought and little philosophizing.  In reality, we only ever consider the passage of time when its scarcity conflicts with our own convenience, or when our schedules seem "overstuffed" like pouring water into a full glass as it continues to overflow.

There is a rarity to time.  Because there will never be more now that there is.  No one can ever have two minutes in a single second or a year saved up for later use.  This is a simple and deep truth.  However, despite this reality, many people neglect the ramifications: if a person has only so much priceless time at his/her disposal, how he/she chooses to use that time is of the utmost importance.

This is what Paul means: "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil." (Eph 5:15-16).

Pair that with the psalmist: "O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!" (Psa 39:4).  And again, "So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom." (Psa 90:12).

In the end, there is no greater resource to any person than the resource of time.  It is necessary for all growth, for all healing, for all learning, for all relationships.  It could be said, with certainty, that without time--one of the great gracious gifts of God--no life could be, for it is in the confines of time that life occurs and is experienced.  Let us then never forget this startling truth, but let it burn within us an urgency to our devotion to the will of God!