Losing is a temporary setback while running out of time is a permanent defeat.
It’s generally accepted that time is the most precious commodity we have.
Why?
Do I really need to take up some of our most precious commodity to explain it? 🙂
Everything we do in life is measured by time. Work starts at 8:00. The soccer game starts at 3:00. Dinner is served at 6:00. Our favorite show comes on at 7:00. (I know that’s “old school” now with streaming services – but just roll with it.)
I don’t think that anyone likes the idea, if you really think about it, of wasting time. While it’s okay to waste things like milk that’s hung around in the refrigerator a little too long, wasting time is different. You can always go buy another carton of milk. Time? It’s gone.
There are a number of ways that people try to manage time. There’s “To Do Lists”, “Action Items”, and “Reminders”… all of them are good and reasonable. It works well for some while others find it only adds to the frustration of knowing that they didn’t get everything done that they wanted to. Any hands raised on that one? Uh. Yeah.
Today’s Tiny Words. Big Life. Bible verses find the Apostle Paul talking to the leading thinkers in Athens. He is there after fleeing Thessalonica and Berea because some of the Jews wanted to kill him or imprison him. It seems that in those days, Athens was a lot like America today. There are many gods worshipped by many people. In Athens, there was even a statue paying homage to “The Unknown God”… I suppose that’s what you get when a bunch of “thinkers” are running the joint…
Paul proceeds to tell the “thinkers” that the One True God is not made by human hands, nor is He served by human hands. He says that God has “marked out the time” for all nations and He has “set a day” when He will judge the world.
So, we’re back to time.
The Tiny Words. Big Life. “AHA!” moment is this: Your soccer game is not important. Of course, I’m speaking “big picture” here. Who cares if you miss a TV show? Watch it tomorrow. The only time that matters is the time we spend living in the glory of God and advancing His kingdom on earth.
Just remember, when we pass from this earth, there’ll be no more time given. You won’t get an overtime to win the game. You won’t be able to put “Repentance” on the “To Do List” to try again tomorrow. None of that. It’s over.
So live each day with purpose and don’t “run out of time” because eternity will last forever – which is a long time.
Acts 17:24-31
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”