Monthly Message - OCT 19
86,400 seconds a day
Sid Caesar was a well known comedian and actor who asked the question, "Do you know how important 'now' is?" He went on to say, "Enjoy it as much as you can, because no matter how much you want to hold on to 'now,' it's going to be 'was."'
As we grow older there is a tendency to live in the past. It is not wrong to recall the past to learn lessons that will help us in the future, but to dwell on what might have been is a total waste of time. Jan Ruhe said, "Do not give any time to your past, you can't change what happened five minutes ago."
As a new year begins, last year becomes "was." It's gone. It is in the record book, so to speak. We can't change what happened last year, but thankfully we can be forgiven for what we did and should not have done, or did not do and should have done. Let us resolve to try to make better use of our time than perhaps we did the past year.
We are one year closer to the return of Jesus. Our salvation is nearer now than ever before. Let us face the challenge of a new year with the determination to live this year in renewed dedication to God. Since we can't change our past, we need to do with our past exactly what God is willing to do about our past sins. We find out from the prophet Isaiah, "Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back."
If God is willing to put our sins behind His back, then let us do the same. We have trials and sorrows in life, but like Isaiah we know that they benefit us, that suffering and struggles can form positive characteristics in our behaviour, and that God treats us like sons with loving discipline. We must learn from our mistakes, resolve to do better, ask for forgiveness, and then put them behind us and go on. We should quit wallowing in self pity and get on with our lives by spending the seconds, minutes and hours of each new day in the new year profitably for Jesus and God.
Paul J. Meyer said, "Most time is wasted, not in hours, but in minutes. A bucket with a small hole in the bottom gets just as empty as a bucket that is deliberately kicked over." We spent every second of last year. If we live and Jesus does not come back this year, we are going to spend every last second of this new year. There are 86,400 seconds in every day so that means that last year we spent 31,536,000 seconds, one at a time, and, if we live another year (God willing) we will spend the same number again.
What do we do with our spare moments, time when we are between scheduled events, time we can fill with so called "time wasters" such as TV, iPads, Netflix, Facebook? Jim Rohn said, "Time is our most valuable asset, yet we tend to waste it, kill it, and spend it rather than invest it.”
Let us invest our time this year profitably in service. How much of our time can we spend serving God? How many of the 86,400 seconds we get every morning do we spend thanking God for His blessings on us? Jeremiah tells us, "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your (God's) faithfulness."
Knowing that the Lord's blessings are new every morning, Jeremiah Jeremiah explains, "I say to myself, The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him. The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD."
Let us use our time wisely. "Time is amazing. We spend it and it multiplies, we invest it and it intensifies, and we ignore it and it will pass us by." So let us resolve as we face the gift of some 31 plus million seconds this new year, that we will value them and wisely invest them praising God for His faithfulness in giving us new every morning another 86,400 seconds to spend in His service.
Let us seek Him and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.