How does anyone really define this word?
Is it that time is just a number?
No.
How about, “Time flies when you’re having fun?”
What if you are miserable? Does that make time slow down?
“Time heals all wounds.”
That is not true. Especially for me. I will get to that soon.
How about, “Better late than never?”
“Time is money?”
So, my question is, now that I turned 69 years old,
“Where did all the time go?”
Imagine with me, for a moment, that your bank account has just been credited with $1000.00. And let us imagine that this happens every single day at noon. This money is not allowed to be carried over from one day to the next. The entire balance is deleted each evening at Midnight. We basically have 12 hours to spend it, or withdrawal it.
What would you and I do?
Well, we would get that cash out every day, before it is deleted. Or at least spend it.
You and I have a bank of sorts.
It is called time. Yes, 24 hours in every day.
Most Americans sleep six to eight hours a day. We work approximately eight to ten hours a day. On average, we will have around eight hours to relax, play, study, or go shopping with that imaginary $1000.00.
(You can quit fantasizing about that part of the story now).
What that tells me is two things. If we work 5 days a week, then we have two play days. The normal person will spend quality time with their families, or friends, or even co-workers. Single people may use their time wisely.
Some, not so much. Hangovers hurt.
Time. I venture to say that this bank of time, if not spent properly, is gone. No way to get it back or carry it over to the next day.
Once it is gone, it is gone. Forever.
To my point now.
I can tell you the scripture about this.
The book of Ecclesiastes emphasizes the cyclical nature of life, with specific seasons and times for various activities.
Ephesians, on the other hand, encourages Christians to be wise and make the best use of their time, as “the days are evil.” Ephesians 5: 15-16.
The Book of Acts, in Chapter One, acknowledges that God has a specific timing for an event, which is not always revealed to humanity.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 declares,
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.”
God exemplifies the Mastery of His Providence over mankind. We will not figure out our Heavenly Father.
Not in a zillion years.
To my message. If they are true, the averages I spoke about in a day’s time, then the question begs to be answered,
“What am I doing with my time? Truly, what is my priority, or priorities?”
We only have a certain balance of time in the bank of our lives. Time is not in a bottle, no matter what Jim Croce says in his song from 1972.
“If I could save time in a bottle, the first thing that I'd like to do; is to save every day, ‘til eternity passes away, just to spend them with you.”
It is a great song for lovers.
It speaks of the fact that time can’t be caught, kept or spent out of a bottle of any kind.
“So, Mr. Croce, you don’t mess around with Jim, or Leroy Brown either.”
Tugging on Superman’s cape will end your ability to have any more time to spend.
Every person who reaches a certain age, like me, does not dwell on time. I am concerned about it from the advantage of experience over lack of time spent doing certain things.
There is a truth to “experience is the best teacher.”
I would have served myself better in my younger years by having listened to the teacher.
Case in point.
Rebellion was growing in me the last full year I spent in High School. Mom had just died when I was a freshman. I could have cared less about being in school. I only went, after she was buried, to find my drug connection.
I quit school, long before I quit school.
You know what I mean. I checked out, months before I quit going to school physically.
I did garner a perfect record on my report card in those final months. My Daddy had to go to the principal's office to discuss my issues in school. Mom had died, and there was my Daddy in the office of the principle with his freak son, Joe. My hair was down past the middle of my back. I wore tie-died shirts, commonly called Nehru.
They would be considered Vintage now. Bell bottom jeans and Dingo boots.
The principle said to my father,
“Mr. Wilkins, your son comes to school on time.
That is the good news.
He leaves for lunch and never returns.
That is the bad news sir.
Do you know where he goes?”
My Daddy had no clue because he worked hard and was not aware of my issues yet.
“Well, Mr. Wilkins, your son Joseph has a consistent report card. He has made straight F’s.”
My Dad was floored, and he knew I was out of control at 16 years old. He could do nothing for me, and I did not want counseling or any help. It was because I had no clue “time” was running out for me, very soon.
I quit school completely before the first week of my sophomore year began.
“Goodbye Duncanville High School. Hello to more time to do drugs.”
And that I did quite well.
From ages 16 through the middle of my 18th year, I had developed a $200.00 a day habit of shooting Meth into my veins. I did armed robberies, and burglaries, to support my habit.
I did work a full-time job though.
At least I was consistent about that.
Daddy never knew the worst of my young life.
I am glad he was spared from seeing me go to prison.
I say spared rather lightly.
He was murdered in November of 1974. Just eight months after I turned 18.
He was spared the hard way.
I was a casualty in the making.
Time?
“Where did it go?”
Without question, I did it to myself. I wasted time.
All of it from age 15 through 21, and beyond.
Without question, we are all called to be good stewards of the time God has given us.
We are called to be more than managers of our time.
We are specifically called to REDEEM the time.
Your BANK of time does not allow you to borrow from tomorrow. There is no roll over minutes. You and I only have access to our time account for what is in it today.
If time is money, then how do we save it?
We can’t.
There are no overdrafts in the time account.
No setting aside for a rainy day either.
We do things in life to save time. We pay someone to do our yard work. Clean our house. We order online, so we don’t waste time shopping. We drive faster than we should.
“Time Management” has become one of the buzzwords of American Culture. Everyone is pushing harder, multi-tasking, and trying to accomplish more in the same amount of time that it took a month ago.
With no extra pay, mind you.
“Man is like a breath, his days like a fleeting shadow.”
Psalm 144:4.
Breathe deep now.
Come out from the shadows of a busy life and live for once.
You and I are running out of time, especially if we do not know Jesus. Even if we love Him, we waste time trying to figure out the complex issue of faith.
Using our time wisely is a life-long school we attend and never graduate from.
Mistakes in school can be corrected before the final exams come.
Mistakes with our time cost us everything.
For some of us, divorce looms because we are workaholics.
Many housewives, spend too much time doing laundry, and watching soaps.
Oh, yes, let's call them homemakers or housemakers.
Some men became home wreckers, not appreciating all that their wives did for the family.
Do not want to offend anyone.
“This is equal opportunity marriage counseling! For free.”
Let us remember the “Leave it to Beaver days.”
Dad worked. Mom stayed home and took care of the children. Before and after school, until Daddy came home.
America was better off back then. Not any neighborhood watch groups in the 1960’s.
You could leave your front door unlocked at night back then.
Now, deadbolts, doorbell cameras and watch dogs are the norm.
Let us not forget these calmer eras in history.
Sitting on the front porch after dinner was the norm.
Now, some well-to-do homeowners must have a deck out back.
Can’t see criminals from a back yard deck.
Ecclesiastes 1:6 declares,
“The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.”
Sounds like reality to me.
“What profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, yet loses his soul? What will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
Mark 8:36.
I squandered time in my youth. I have wasted time in not seeking God with all my heart at times too.
We have all sinned and fallen short.
In my case, I crashed and burned in my sin.
As you and I grow older now, think about what is said in this short story about time.
I will leave you with a poem I wrote while in prison in 1977 after my Salvation in Jesus.
From Your Embrace
Tick, tock, do pendulums swing? No time for games, no church bells ring. I see the sand in an hourglass true. Each grain that falls, is me and you.
We have some time to get things right; to fix what’s broken and stop the fight. The way we were, does not define...Who we are now, because of time.
Jesus said, “You need eyes to see.”
Father time keeps ticking. “What will you be?” “Lost in sin, and wasting time?” Can it be worth these simple rhymes?
“I wanted to Lord; I was going to get saved. But there’s no more time for your banner to wave.”
Empty promises and broken dreams have stolen your time, and now you scream.
What shall I do, as the pendulum swings? I want to hear those church bells ring.
May I receive His mercy before it’s too late? As eternity waits, our ill-gotten fate.
As the sands of time will stop one day.
