Abundant Life Episode 31

In this episode Saso and Ben discuss the topic of time, how short life is and how we should be spending our time.

1828 Websters

1. A particular portion or part of duration, whether past, present or future. The time was; the time has been; the time is; the time will be.

Lost time is never found again.”

Key Verse

Psalm 90:12

Time is the really the only thing that we have equal access to until we do not. Time is a gift from God and cannot be bought, borrowed or ever found again as the dictionary would define it. We cannot pause time and get an extra hour of sleep or to use it again once it has been used. Time is a precious commodity, and we often take it for granted the time we have been given.  

Why is time important?

The time for salvation is now!

2 Corinthians 6:2

Salvation is not something to put off as the wrath of God abides on everyone who has not put their faith in Jesus Christ

John 3:36

Only a fool waits until it is too late. We look at those that perished in the flood because they would not heed the warning that the waters were coming. Many today feel they are “good” but the time is now!

Hebrews 9:27

It does not matter who you are, how much money you have, how much you spend on health, or if you have a special diet, we will all face the judgment of almighty God. There is nothing wrong with living healthy but there is no “Cocoon” we can enter that will bring back the days of yesteryear. 

Life is short

There are two absolutes when it comes to life, first life is short and secondly we don’t know when our life will end. Death can be a sobering topic and a topic to be avoided, but the truth of the matter is that we will all die one day. Nobody gets a pass and nobody can avoid it. The question is, how will we spend our short time on earth?

In Psalm 90 we read this Psalm of Moses. The children of Israel were about to cross the Jordan into the promise land. After 40 years of wandering in the wilderness they were about to reach their destination. It’s as if this Psalm was written as a prayer of thankfulness, humility and blessing. However we see several verses that makes it quite apparent that the children of Israel had an awareness of how short human life is.

Psalm 90:10

It’s very similar to what James said on the issue of living a presumptuous life. He basically said, your life is like a vapor.

James 4:14

Time is such an interesting concept because people for centuries have been searching for a way to prolong their time on this Earth. There is nothing wrong with eating well and taking care of your body, but the fact of the matter is that our lives are in the hands of our Creator and He is the one that determines how many days we have on this earth.

Life is so short and precious and it reiterates once again why we must number our days. 70 when you are 15 seems like a long time but it really seems short the older, we get.

This episode is titled “A Dash of Time” but our life is the dash between the year we are born and the year we end. It is a dash from the time you are born to the time God decides to take you home or calls you to judgment.

The main problem is taking life for granted

The primary issue is that we get comfortable and complacent and therefore we take life for granted and foolishly we make the assumption that we will live to a ripe old age. We assume that we will be around for many years to come like the verse in Psalms which talks about 70 or 80 years, but the reality is that we just don’t know.

The problem with being comfortable and complacent is that we forget about God. Remember what the children of Israel did when Moses went up to Mount Sinai

Exodus 32:1

They completely forgot God and they became impatient with Moses and they gave themselves over to idolatry.

Remember David on the roof top, he was comfortable and complacent when He should have been on the battlefield with his army and in his complacency he fell into sin committing adultery and murder.

Just listen to this list of sin we find in 2 Timothy when we forget about God.

2 Timothy 3:2-4

When we don’t have our focus on Jesus, and if we don’t die to ourself daily, we will live a life contrary to what scripture teaches, we won’t bring our Heavenly Father glory because we will live for ourselves and the frightful part is that the Lord could call us home and we will give an account to Him for our time here on earth.

The times are evil

• Romans 1: 21-32
• Ephesians 5:16-17 

Far too often we waste our days with foolish things and do not take realize that I will have to answer for the time we wasted. We must walk in His will and not our own will. The example is Jesus stating, “Not my will but thine be done.” He showed what a surrendered  life looks like. 

Colossians 4:5

We live in a world that is devoid of wisdom, and we ought not to be one of these. We have the wisdom of God’s Word, and we need to be reading and applying the wisdom gave gives us in His Word. 

Proverbs 3:5

What will you do with your days?

There is this interesting story about King Hezekiah who was about to die, but the Lord extended his life 15 years.

Isaiah 38:1-4

It’s interesting that the Lord first warned King Hezekiah of his impending death. The King then prayed and God answered his prayer, not only by extending his life but giving him an absolute number of years that he was to expect.

King Hezekiah had something that we will never have and that is an absolute time table of when our life will end.

This begs the question. What will you do with your life?

Sometimes it gets overwhelming because you hear people who have a 5 year plan and a 10 year plan and your just trying to figure out what to eat for dinner. While I think it’s wise to plan, I think we should not presume we will have our next breath.

Therefore we need to God’s warning in Isaiah 38. We must get our house in order starting with me.

Am I saved? Are you saved? Have your repented of your sin and asked Jesus to save you? That is priority number one!

If you are saved, how is your walk with God? Are you like the Israelites, making a golden calf? You might say, I don’t worship idols. What is the priority in your life. Is it your work, you business, your hobby, your friends? What do you spend your time and money on?

Once we are saved we should be focused on growing in the knowledge and wisdom of Jesus. Our relationship with Jesus should be our TOP priority, because everything will flow out of that relationship.

Do you die to yourself daily? We must live lives of humility and self-control. You cannot get saved by your good works, the scripture plainly teaches this.

Ephesians 2:8-9

But the scripture teaches us that we God’s workmanship unto good works, in other words our good works are the evidence that God is working in our lives. 

Ephesians 2:10

Are you living to glorify God? Are you allowing God to sanctify you, to make you into the image of Christ.

We are each given 1,440 minutes each day, they are not guaranteed, but the question is what will you do with your 1440? Will you die to self, and live for God or live for yourself?

Time is something that we all have in equal quantities. No one can buy time or sell time, but the time on the earth is given by God alone. How are you spending your time on this earth? The term retirement is not mentioned in the Bible, and we must learn to number our days. 

This out to be our prayer every day that God gives us the gift of life which is the gift of time.

Psalm 118:24

May we make our days count for eternity and may we remember the words of adolescent Jesus who stated in Luke 2:49 “Will you be about the Father’s business?”.

Resources

• Abundant Life
• Christian Podcast Community
• Stay in the Fight Blog by Saso Mendez
• Are You Wasting Your Life – Coffey Evangelistic Meetings