What would we do if we received $86,400 each day that we could spend any way we wanted? Every evening every dollar we had failed to spend would be canceled out. Most of us would try very hard to spend every dollar every day.
Instead of dollars, each of us is given 86,400 seconds to spend each day. If we fail to use the day’s deposit, the loss is ours and we can never carry forward any part of one day’s allotment to the next.
It is easier to dream about spending dollars than it is seconds, yet there is a time-worn saying that “time is money.” People frequently talk about saving time, but that really is impossible. Every second of each day is spent. It may be spent wisely or foolishly, but either way, it is gone forever. No one ever has come to the end of the day and found that he had 10 or 20 thousand seconds left over that he could keep for the next day.
Time is the only way in which we have all been truly created equal. The rich do not have more or the poor less, yet everything we are or ever will be is determined by the way we spend our time.
The difference between those who will be in the kingdom and those who will be thrust out is how they spent their time.
How do we spend our time? There are certain things that we all do every day that are important yet, they will have no lasting value when we come to the end of our days. Most of us brush our teeth daily, and it is a good thing to do. Yet we cannot lay claim to being godly because of sparkling teeth.
We need to put great value on our time and realize that there is not an inexhaustible amount of time left. We have all heard it said that our days are numbered, and this actually comes from scripture: “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” said the Psalmist.
Do we number our days? How do we number our days? Are we making the best possible use of our time right now? Hopefully we are using our time well by reading this meditation, but what are we going to do next?
We often sing, “Life is the time to serve the Lord, to do His will, to learn His word; in death there is no power to know, far less in wisdom’s way to go. Then what your thoughts design to do, let willing hands with zeal pursue.”
Let us then heed the advice of Paul who told us, “Look carefully then, how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”
The Lord’s will is that we be saved and He has given us the time to serve Him. How many of the 86,400 seconds He gives us each day do we spend in service to Him?
Solomon told us, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” Let us live as well as sing that, “Life is the time to serve the Lord, to do His will, to learn His word.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One