“Making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”
Ephesians 5:16 (NIV)
Make the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. It is easy to allow the daily challenges of life to consume all of our attention. We may become so obsessed with worrying over them that we waste a great amount of our time. Ephesians 5:16 warns us of daily troubles but tells us to make the best of them despite these challenges and difficulties.
Time is a resource unlike any other. Time is a non-renewable resource and it is the only resource that cannot be produced. We cannot save or store time as we can other resources. We cannot cultivate, plant, and grow it as we do grains, fruits, and vegetables. We cannot breed and raise it as we do livestock such as pork and poultry. We cannot drill for it as we can water, gas, and oil. We cannot mine it as metals and minerals. We cannot harvest time and we cannot generate time. We cannot manufacture time in any kind of way.
Time is a gift from God and He gives it to us freely. We cannot buy it, sell it, or trade it and we cannot stockpile it. Just as swift as time comes, it also goes. Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever and never to be recovered. Time is spent one moment at a time. One minute; one hour; one day; one week; one month; one year at a time. Eventually, before we realize it, our entire life is behind us. The way we spend our time is the measuring stick we use to gauge the quality of our life. The way that we live our life is the way we will be remembered. The only thing left will be the influence we have made on the people we encounter and any impact we may have made on the world. To waste time is to waste life, but to live our life is to reverence the precious time that we have. We may live life trying to measure up to some idea of success, but if our life is not in harmony with our Creator, as the Lord of our life and the Master of the Universe, then we have wasted time.
Many people waste so much time trying to manage time. We may become so involved with such a busy schedule and trying to accomplish so many things before the day is done…things that seem so urgent and important, but when you look at them with a clear perspective, you see they are so minute and small compared to the grand scale of life. When all is said and done, it seems that all is vanity.
Reflections:
What influence have I had on the people I have encountered?
What impact have I had on the world around me?
What is the meaning of my life and is it significant?
