Time

Time

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth.

Ecclesiastes 12:1, NIV

Jay Thomas, the college pastor at my church, recently shared an illustration he had heard from Alistair Begg. Imagine someone told you that each day he was going to place $86,400 in your bank account. Your job was to spend all of it every day, and anything you didn’t spend by midnight would be lost. You’d probably spend a fair amount of time figuring out what you wanted to do with the money! Jay went on to say that even though most of us will never have $86,400 deposited in our bank accounts each day, every one of us is given 86,400 seconds of time to use each day. The question is, How are we spending all those seconds?

I am indebted to Sunday school teachers and youth workers who encouraged me to memorize Bible verses like the one above. I am also indebted to my parents, who built healthy opportunities, disciplines, and boundaries into my life, all of which helped me to use my time wisely. Now that I’m an adult, I’m no longer accountable to my parents for how I use my time, but I am accountable to God. And although I don’t have the youth of my childhood, I don’t yet have the limitations mentioned in Ecclesiastes 12:2-5 of dim eyes, trembling limbs, loss of teeth, or deafness to music. So, if God wills, I still have time to remember my Creator and honor him throughout the 86,400 seconds of each day I have left!

Little drops of water, little grains of sand,

Make the mighty ocean and the pleasant land.

So the little minutes, humble though they be,

Make the mighty ages of eternity.^a

Father,

Please help us to make each second of the day count for you and your Kingdom. In Jesus’ name, amen.