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As humans we really do have an extremely limited understanding of time in relation to eternity.
“You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in Your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.” (Psalm 139:16 NLT)
“You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live, and we are not given a minute longer.” (Job 14:5 NLT)
So, unlike the Rolling Stones song “Time Is On My Side”, the fact remains that time is definitely not on our side. And we can’t “Turn Back Time” as Cher sang.
Some of us may live to seventy or eighty years or even longer due to doctors, modern lifestyles and medicine.
But as the Bible says in Psalm 90:10 “Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty. But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and we fly away.”
So, what should we do with our time that we have left?
How should we be spending our time?
Most Christians will have heard at least something of Charles Finney (1792-1875) the great American Presbyterian minister and leader in the Second Great Awakening in the United States. Finney was a revivalist preacher who brought thousands to Christ.
But much fewer Christians would have heard of Daniel Nash (1775-1831) who served Christ as Charles Finney’s personnel intercessor.
When God would direct where a meeting was to be held, Nash would slip quietly into town and seek to get two or three people to prayer with him for the salvation of the people of that town.
One account states: “Charles Finney so realized the need of God’s working in all his service that he would send Nash on in advance to pray down the power of God into the meetings which he was about to hold.”
Not only did Nash prepare the communities for preaching, but he also continued in prayer during the meetings. “Often Nash would not attend meetings, and while Finney was preaching Nash was praying for the Spirit’s outpouring upon him. Finney stated, ‘I did the preaching altogether, and brother Nash gave himself up almost continually to prayer.’
Even those who are physically incapacitated in one way or another will have to answer for how they spent their time.
William Carey (1761-1834), the great missionary to India often credited with starting the modern missionary movement and who said “Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God” had a sister Polly.
Polly was an invalid who for 52 years could only do two things apart from eating and sleeping. One was writing and the other was praying.
She encouraged William in his missionary work and prayed daily for him. Praying for God’s protection over him and his fellow missionaries and praying for the salvation of the people William Carey reached with the Gospel.
Polly also prayed for the translation of the Bible into the Indian dialects, and she also prayed that new Christian converts would become firmly grounded in love.
In fact, she prayed all of the prayers God taught her to pray for William and his associates in ministry and as a result of her prayers, great things were done around the world.
God can use you, whether you are able-bodied or an invalid, for the extension of His Kingdom here on earth.
So, what should we do with our time that we have left?
How should you be spending your time?
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