Time

​On the bottom floor of a cheap motel near Fort Leonardwood, Missouri, a bespectacled man works late into the night cleaning piles of laundry.  His eyes reveal his loneliness.  Room 111 tells the story of a feckless life.  On the table beside an old television sits a black Bible underneath a plate, a notepad, dust and her descendants.  In the chaos of the surroundings a parable is born of a man whose dial is stuck in the shadow of futility.  

How many people wear the pain of frustration from their daily execution of this thing we call life?  Worn out by conflict, illness, and the stressful myriad of events, circumstances and self-centered focus too lengthy to enumerate, the end result is a disheveled existence.

Time is neither merciful to those who suffer or a benefactor to those who celebrate.  She merely marches hourly hand by hand across the vision of a race marked by birth and death.  Yet like the Russian proverb says, “Every day is a messenger of God.” C.S. Lewis wrote, “Where, except in the present, can the eternal be met?”  The spirit that recognizes God’s signature and obediently heeds His call “Night will no longer exist, and people will not need lamplight or sunlight, because the Lord God will give them light.” The promise follows, “And they will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:5).

Yesterday, today and perhaps tomorrow is shaped by a 24-hour period centered on the earth’s sun.  But the quality of our eternity is determined by our relationship to God’s Son. Charles Haddon Spurgeon wrote, “A man's heart has only enough life in it to pursue one object fully.”  If your life is unbalanced what is your heart pursuing? If we desire to know the One who made us we should give Him our prized time—not our spare moments. 

So spend your time:  
with zeal in His Word to know Him; 
with prayer that listens and conveys truth;
with honor in conduct free of regrets; 
with wisdom for that which brings blessing; 
with love for the perfect Lover . . . all to His glory, all for His praise—forever!
 
Meditation
Ecclesiastes 3:11--He has made everything appropriatein its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts, but man cannot discover the work God has done from beginning to end.
 
Inspiration
It is impossible for a saint, no matter what his experience, to keep right with God if he will not take the trouble to spend time with God.—Oswald Chambers in Not Knowing Where
 
©2000 Daniel York  ARR. Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)