Age, that undefeated foe, has reared its head more often than any other enemy known to our bodies. Its inescapable grasp has taken down the brightest of minds; crippled the most amenable feet; halted the progress of a million ambitions. The conclusion of all science, research, and medical advancements has failed to conquer it. The collective doctors of the world have produced only a handful of coping mechanisms to deal with the issue they cannot reverse.
There is no pause button to Time. Prayer won’t remove the blot that it leaves upon our days. Even the holy scriptures give no way out as it regards generations of men and women, coming and going; their birth and inevitable death. In fact, the Bible says that there is an appointment coming to everyone who lives: It is appointed unto man once to die. Heb. 9:27
The young stare Age in the face without regard of its power, but in time, Age will brand itself upon their face. Youth decry Time’s slow movement while the old revile its speedy pace. The young think that the aged cannot understand them and all their dilemmas, not knowing that Time has offered Wisdom and Understanding beyond the telling. The cumulative years say, “How much trouble we could have avoided had we known then what time has taught us now.” Yet the young cannot hear it because though Age diminishes hearing, some things cannot be heard with youthful ears.
The fact remains that we all have a designated amount of time to live and what we do with that time is perhaps the most important decision we will ever make.
Time is the greatest commodity.
Time is worth more than all the world’s treasures.
It is the currency of a man’s life spent at his will, often with regardless abandon.
It cannot be harnessed or corralled. It cannot be sped up or slowed down. It is just that amount that must be managed.
Whatever we do with such a thing cannot be undone or redone. Our days will come and go whether we offer our input or not. Hours, days, and weeks tick by irrespective of our intentions. Only our actions; our doing will matter. For this reason we must be found busy doing the Father’s business. We must keep teaching, praying, and witnessing. Our lives are racing by therefore we must redeem the time because the days are evil.
David understood this great truth when he wrote: Psalm 39:4 “LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.” Psalm 39:5 “Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity.” Acts 13:36 “For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:” He served and then passed away. He worked and spent his time “doing” and then the end came. It was fast and certain. It was irreversible and predictable. Thus he said, Psalm 102:11 “My days are like the evening shadow; I wither away like grass.”
We are racing the clock both of this world and in our individual lives. We cannot afford to spend our days flippantly or without purpose. Our moments cannot be recaptured and for that we must seek to live prudent and wise. Upon seeing the condition of this world, with prophecies unfolding before us, I am pressed to declare these words: Rev. 1:3 “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.”
Pastor Jeffrey Harpole