Time is Ticking

Time is ticking for all of us. While we are young we think we have all the time in the world. As we age and look back over the span of our lives we wonder where all the time went. We are given the same amount of time on any given day. The question I am pondering today is how to make the most of the time entrusted to us.

So much of our time is predetermined. The student has to attend so many years of school in order to graduate. The worker must put in a day’s labor to earn a day’s pay. Though the job may change work takes us a good deal of our lives. No matter how high a person’s energy level, we all require sleep. Granted some get by on less than others but we all have to have sleep to survive. This takes more time.

This does not include the time it takes shower or bathe. Time is needed to get dressed, to eat, and to clean the house, mow the yard, and wash the clothes. There has to be time to grocery shop. The student athlete must, not only, attend class, do homework, but also practice before and after school and then there are games to play.

Ps 90 has a great deal to say about time. First, the psalmist says we may live to be seventy or eighty years old. As we look back over our life spans we will see a great deal of labor. I know people who work seven days a week. They never take a day off and their bodies never get to rest. I know people who work all day and then come home to work more at night. In the process spouses and children get neglected.

I know I am a borderline workaholic. If I were not married and did not have children and I would work more. There are always sermons to be studied, books and blogs to write, people to minister to, events to plan, and a church to lead. No matter how hard any of us work there will always be more work to do. That is part of the curse of Adam and Eve’s sin. Even when we finally get caught up the vicious cycle of labor starts all over again.

I write this on Monday morning. Sundays I expend myself preaching, teaching, and leading. By Sunday night I am exhausted. When morning came this morning I did not want to get out of bed. In the back of mind is the fact that I have to prepare a midweek message as well and preparing another Sunday message. These things keep coming back around. It is kind of like having multiple research papers due every week for the rest of your life.

You mow the yard and the grass grows again. You wash the dishes and they the sink is filled with dirty ones after the meal. You wash the clothes and they get soiled again. You sweep the floor and it gets tracked up again. You change the oil in the car and before you know it times flies by until you have to do it again.

The other thing Ps 90 says about getting older is not only can we look back on all the labor at the end of our lives but we also are able to look back on all the sorrow. Who reading this has not experienced your fair share of sorrows. From declining health, to broken marriages, lost jobs, cancer, rebellious children, to tragic and premature deaths life is filled with sorrows. Fractured family relationships add sorrow on top of sorrow. Frayed friendships deepen the pain of the soul.

We can learn something else about time and life. Even if we live long enough to grow old too soon life is gone. There is an ending point to life for all of us. I think of it often. How long will I live? What is that appointed moment of the time line when my days will expire? For most people it comes sooner than we think.

Reading this can sound depressing but that is not my intention nor the Psalmist’s point. Here is what he wrote in [Ps 90:12] “So teach us to number our days that we may present to you a heart of wisdom.” The point is not to take life for granted but live wisely.

I know of no other way to do that than to live in fellowship with the God that created us. Living this way is living your life with purpose. You are not just marking time. God has a purpose for our lives. There is great value and meaning in that for us. There are things we were put on this earth to do. So do them for the glory of your Maker. While you are doing those things, enjoy God on the journey.

Enjoy God? Yes. Enjoy Him. This is a foreign concept for many of you. You have been taught to fear Him, obey Him, and to serve Him but not to enjoy Him. Enjoy living your life with Him. Slow down in devotions. Linger with Him longer. Walk with in at the beginning of the day. Talk to Him more often. Enjoy Him.

One last thing, to live wisely means to enjoy the people God put in your life. For me that includes my wife and kids. I get to enjoy friendships built over the years. I get to enjoy the people from past congregations I have served and the people of Faith Community Church where I currently serve.

Enjoying God and enjoying family and friends is about as sweet as life can get. You will notice I said nothing about riches, possessions, and successes. None of these things matter at the end of life. At the end it will come back to our relationship with God and our relationships with others. Live wisely for the time is ticking on us all.