If I Only Had The Time!

LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. - Psalm 39:4-5

In accordance with our time keeping system, each new day that the Lord allows us to remain here on earth brings with it a deposit into our life account of 24 hours of time. That is an equivalent of 1,440 minutes or 86,400 seconds of time for us to spend. How we spend the time that we have been given is strictly our choice; however, regardless of how we interpret the amount of the deposit, as hours, minutes, or seconds, there is one condition that must be met, and that is the entire deposit must be spent today. There can be no residual funds. At the end of the day when the Accountant balances the books, the balance in our account should be zero, and the next day a new deposit of 24 hours of time will be posted to our account.

So, what is this "time" that we speak of? Is it literal or is it merely figurative? Is it something that is tangible that we can reach out and grab and hold onto, or do we only sense that it is there and that it is constantly ticking away? Albert Einstein once said that the only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once. Harvey MacKay desceibed time as follows: "Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it you can never get it back.”

It is interesting to note that even though the same daily amount of time is deposited into each of our individual life accounts, there are still some people who feel that somehow their account must have been robbed or the deposit of time into the accounts of others is larger than their own. When asked to do something, these are they who constantly reply with, "If I only had the time!" or "I don't have time!"

If everyone has been given the same amount of time to spend each day, how can anyone possibly say, “I don’t have the time”? It is all a matter of setting priorities and managing the time that we have been given. We are all guilty at one time or another of putting all of our efforts into accomplishing trivial things in life instead of focusing on the overall bigger picture. As a result, we end up spending a lot of our valuable time on the things that matter least, and very little time on the things that matter most. Oftentimes we busy ourselves each hour of the day with things that we feel need to be accomplished, but in all of our business perhaps we need to pause for just a moment and ask ourselves the question, “In all of my business, what have I really accomplished?’ I humbly submit that sometimes we may be surprised to find that we really haven’t accomplished as much as we thought, or in some cases perhaps we really haven’t accomplished anything at all. We were just busy. Someone once gave this wise counsel: "Don’t count every hour in the day, make every hour in the day count.”

The Scriptures teach us that setting priorities and managing our time is to our great advantage. In Psalm 39:4 we hear the Psalmist exclaim, “LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am.” Then in Psalm 90:9-12 he gives us this gentle reminder:

9 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.

10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.

12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

The Apostle Paul in Ephesians 5:15-17 gave us this counsel: “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.”

Each of our days are filled with numerous activities. It is those activities that are the steps toward achieving the most of what God wants us to accomplish for Him. And so, setting priorities and managing our time all revolves around us being able to manage our daily activities and not allowing our daily activities to manage us. We are taught in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 that there is a time and a purpose for all things:

1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

I will conclude my remarks on this matter by citing an example from the pages of Scripture that beautifully illustrate the importance of wisely investing the time that we have been given and the end results of mismanaging our time and having our priorities set in the wrong order. I invite you to turn with me to Luke 14:16-24. As we read these words, think of how this example can be applied to our own lives.

16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:

17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.

18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.

19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.

20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.

22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.

23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

There is perhaps much more that I could say about this matter - if I only had the time! For now, I will leave these thoughts with you humbly in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Amen.

I do not mean to come across as being callous, cruel, or mean-spirited, but the older I get, the more discouraged and dishearten I become as I watch some of our young people - the future of our world, place themselves in a proverbial box called defeatism. Unquestionably, some of us have grown up in unfavorable conditions and in an unkind society that constantly reminds us, and in some cases has thoroughly convinced us, that our father never amounted to much, and our mother has never amounted to much, and so, as the proverbial apple never seems to fall far from the tree, we ourselves can expect to never amount to much either. The tragedy of it all is that society is not alone in painting this picture of hopelessness and despair, but that same picture hangs on the walls in our homes, as well as, in the classrooms of our schools.

I wish to send a very clear, precise, and concise message to our youth of today: the time has come for you to stop wallowing in the mud of hopelessness and slowly drowning yourselves in the sea called despair. Now is the time to break free from that proverbial box that you have found yourselves in, and from the strangling chords of the voices of naysayers who preach negativism and defeatism. Rise above your current station in life. You can if you believe that you can!

Maybe it is true that your father and mother have never done anything to make an honorable name for themselves, or have ever tried to get out of their current situations and better themselves. Maybe it is true that you were born in unfavorable and adverse conditions. Maybe it is true that all of your young life people have done nothing but knock you down and kick you while you were down. However, it does not have to stay that way. Though the night may seem dark and dreary, nighttime only last for a season and then the morning comes. And with the dawning of the morning comes a light of hope that shines bright as the noon day sun.

Now is the time for you to start realizing that you are not your father and you are not your mother. God Almighty has made each of us uniquely YOU. He has meted to you and me a measure of faith, hope, courage, talents, and abilities. It is time for you to put behind you those things that once were, and press forward to obtain those things that can, and (with faith, hope, patience, determination, and endurance) will be. Stop listening to the perpetual lies of those who do not have your best interest at heart, and start believing in yourself. You can do whatever it is you have a mind to do, and you can become whatever it is that you have a desire to become in life, but YOU have to believe that you can do it. If you cannot believe in yourselves, how can you honestly expect anyone else to?

Do not become discouraged if at first you do not succeed at doing something, but try and try again knowing that the road to success is often filled with potholes called failure. Many a success in life has been wrought through heartache and failure, so don't let that stop you. Even along the road of success will be hurdles and discouragement which you will have to get over, but don't let that stop you either. Continue to run your race with your head held high and a song of hope and gladness in your heart. You may not be the first to cross the finishing line, but then the winner of a race is not always necessarily the swiftest runner in the race, but he who runs his race well by remaining focused, staying his course, and enduring to the end.

There will be times along the way when you may become weary. Stop and rest for a little while if you must, but don't give up, give in, or quit. Remain focused on your goals and objectives. The finishing line is just in sight. You can make it. Yes you can! May God give you the hope, courage, faith, and determination to endure to the end. God bless you all!