Time ticks by as the earth turns and slowly makes its revolution around the sun (or not so slowly!). And one thing is for sure, even if the clock stops, time doesn't. It is one thing in this world that we can depend on. It doesn't change it's course and slow down or speed up according to what happens in our world. It just continues on its steady, endless journey.
But while time will go on for eternity, what we do with it now will determine whether or not it will go on
without us.
Time is a precious gift. We have been given full and free access to its every second. And actually, everyone does something with every second. It is not something that we can choose to leave on the shelf and not use. So, now it's time to ask ourselves a question: "Where do all the minutes go?"
....Hopefully not into a trash can behind us.
We are involved in a cosmic war. (Sorry, you're enlisted.) God needs soldiers, disciplined and determined, who will go and wrest souls from Satan's grasp. But the enemy has devised every distraction imaginable to drug us into a stupor that will cause us to become oblivious to what is really going on. And unfortunately, he has been quite successful. It's as if a building is burning, and people are screaming for help inside, and we are standing on the sidewalk with our phone, busy on Facebook. Shocking, isn't it? But friends, that is exactly what we are doing. I am appalled as I look into the "trash can" behind me, and see the irretrievable moments, carelessly squandered, that could have been spent in prayer, in study, in service, in reaching out to humanity. The Master will hold us accountable for every minute He graciously gives us. (See Matt.25:14-30)
If the time we as Christians waste would be spent pouring our lives out for the Gospel, imagine how much sooner Jesus would come! How many more souls could be won for the kingdom! If our eyes could be opened, as God opened the eyes of Elisha's servant,* we would see the angels holding back the four winds, whistling, straining to blow hurricane-force upon this earth. They are giving us extra time... They are waiting.
But they won't wait much longer.
When will we wake up? When will we realize that we have no time to waste?
The choice is yours. The choice is mine. What will we do with our time?
"The crisis is stealing gradually
upon us. The sun shines in the heavens, passing over its usual round, and the
heavens still declare the glory of God. Men are still eating and drinking,
planting and building, marrying and giving in marriage. Merchants are still
buying and selling. . . . Pleasure lovers are still crowding to theaters, horse
races, gambling hells. The highest excitement prevails, yet probation's hour is
fast closing, and every case is about to be eternally decided. Satan sees that
his time is short. He has set all his agents to work, that men may be deceived,
deluded, occupied, and entranced, until the day of probation shall be ended and
the door of mercy be forever shut. The time is right upon us when there will be
sorrow that no human balm can heal. Sentinel angels are now restraining the
four winds, that they shall not blow till the servants of God are sealed in
their foreheads; but when God shall bid His angels loose the winds, there will
be a scene of strife such as no pen can picture. . . . "
-In Heavenly Places p. 342
"Angels are now restraining the winds of
strife, until the world shall be warned of its coming doom; but a storm is
gathering, ready to burst upon the earth, and when God shall bid His angels
loose the winds, there will be such a scene of strife as no pen can picture. .
. .
A moment of respite has been graciously
given us of God. Every power lent us of heaven is to be used in doing the work
assigned us by the Lord for those who are perishing in ignorance. The warning
message is to be sounded in all parts of the world. . . . A great work is to be
done, and this work has been entrusted to those who know the truth for this
time. "
-Maranatha p.266
* 2 Kings 6:15-17
