“Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”–Ephesians 5:16  An article in “Senior Living” presented this scenario:

” Imagine if you were to check your bank account one morning only to find a direct deposit for $86,400. And it goes on for weeks!

Each morning you find a new deposit for this amount…but soon realize that your balance is not carried over to the next day. Instead, it is deleted each evening and the next morning you begin again with a new balance of $86,400.

What would you do when you finally realized your account balance would be deleted each evening if you didn’t use it all that day? Of course…you’d withdraw the balance left over each day!

You and I have such a bank account called time. Each day we are credited with 86,400 seconds. And every night that which we have not used is deleted from our account. However, our time accounts do not allow overdrafts, loans, or savings options.

We must invest our time wisely in this life.”

Good point! My cell phone plan has what they call “Roll-over minutes”, where my unused minutes are carried over to the next month, but life isn’t like that. There are no roll-over minutes in life. You use it or you lose it. You can’t add a second to the time you’ve been alloted for today. That should motivate us to use our time wisely. Don’t misunderstand—I’m not a time management nut. I believe you can use time wisely by taking a nap or by playing catch with your kid, etc. But, you have to admit we do waste a lot of time on things that are frivolous–silly stuff that doesn’t really matter. Our time is short. We should make every minute count. We should determine to use our time in the best way we can for God’s glory and the good of others.

“Live as though every day were your last–and someday you will be right.”

“And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me” (John 11:41).

This is a very strange and unusual order. Lazarus is still in the grave, and the thanksgiving precedes the miracle of resurrection. I thought that the thanksgiving would have risen when the great deed had been wrought, and Lazarus was restored to life again. But Jesus gives thanks for what He is about to receive. The gratitude breaks forth before the bounty has arrived, in the assurance that it is certainly on the way. The song of victory is sung before the battle has been fought. It is the sower who is singing the song of the harvest home. It is thanksgiving before the miracle!

Who thinks of announcing a victory-psalm when the crusaders are just starting out for the field? Where can we hear the grateful song for the answer which has not yet been received? And after all, there is nothing strange or forced, or unreasonable in the Master’s order. Praise is really the most vital preparatory ministry to the working of the miracles. Miracles are wrought by spiritual power. Spiritual power is always proportioned to our faith.–Dr. Jowett

“A wise man will hear, and increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels.”–Proverbs 1:5   If the truth be known, you know very few people who are true students of the Bible. Even many Sunday School do not fit into that category. Most church members would rather read what someone wrote about the Bible than to read the Bible itself. Now, I’m not against reading good books, commentaries, and dictionaries, etc., but none of these can take the place of the Bible.   Some people read daily devotionals and books from the latest best-sellers list, but they don’t spend five minutes a day reading God’s Word. And, out of those who do read the Bible regularly only a very few really study it. It’s no wonder that they are spiritually malnourished, weak and susceptible to sin. They are starving themselves. They feed on junk food rather than the milk and meat of the Word. Listen, serious Bible study is not just for preachers and teachers, it is the duty and should be the delight of every Christian. You will never become the person God wants you to be without it.   We have only so much time—don’t use all your time studying resources about the Bible, study the Bible itself. J. I. Packer said, “If I were the devil, one of my first aims would be to stop folk from digging into the Bible.” Sadly that is exactly what he has done in the lives of many and, oddly enough he has even used “Christian literature” to do it.   “The treasures of the Word of God are great beyond compare; But if we do not search them out, We cannot use what’s there.”         -author unknown

We tend to worry about our life more than anything else. The following quotes, from a sermon by Robert Morgan, helps us put this in its proper perspective:

The Lord has a job that only you can do, and He has placed us here for a certain period of time to do it. The 17^th century British preacher, Thomas Fuller, once said: God’s children are immortal while their Father hath anything for them to do on earth.

David Livingstone, in a letter describing the death of Bishop Mackenzie, March, 1862, said: Men are immortal until their work is done.

On Thursday night, September 21, 1871, Charles Spurgeon was preaching at a church in Newington, England, and this is what he said to the congregation: Whatever occurs around us, we need not be alarmed. We are immortal until our work is done. And amidst infectious or contagious diseases, if we are called to go there, we may sit as easily as though in balmy air. It is not ours to preserve our life by neglecting our duty. It is better to die in service than live in idleness-better to glorify God and depart, than rot above ground in neglecting what He would have us to do. Unto God belong the issues from death. We may, therefore, go without temerity into any danger where duty calls us.

The Bible says: My times are in Thy hand, or, as the old song says, “We’ll work till Jesus comes, then we’ll be carried home.”

Sometimes the work God has for us to do is within the parameters of our church ministries. We’re always looking for teachers and musicians and greeters and ushers and nursery workers and children’s ministers–and about a thousand other kinds of ministries. Often our ministry is outside the organized programs of our church. It might be caring for a loved one in a nursing home, volunteering at the Crisis Pregnancy Support Center, or seeking to win your co-workers to Christ.

I read about a woman who went to her pastor complaining of her work environment. It was so crass and crude, her co-workers used bad language, and she was the only Christian there. “I don’t think I can put with it!” she said. Her pastor asked her just one question of five words, and it completely changed her perspective. From that point, she understood why God had placed her there, and she went to work each day with a new purpose and attitude. His simple question was: “Where do you put lights?”

There’s a need, and we must fill it. There’s a work, and we must do it. There’s a crown and we must win it.

“Follow after patience” (1 Tim. 6:11).

Patience is the guardian of faith, the preserver of peace, the cherisher of love, the teacher of humility. Patience governs the flesh, strengthens the spirit, sweetens the temper, stifles anger, extinguishes envy, subdues pride. It bridles the tongue, restrains the hand, tramples upon temptations, endures persecutions, consummates martyrdom.

Patience produces unity in the church, loyalty in the state, harmony in families and societies. It comforts the poor and moderates the rich. It makes us humble in prosperity, cheerful in adversity, unmoved by calamity and reproach. It teaches us to forgive those who have injured us, and to be the first in asking forgiveness of those whom we have injured; it delights the faithful, and invites the unbelieving; it adorns the woman, and approves the man: it is beautiful in either sex and every age.

Patience is clothed in the robes of the martyrs and in its hand it holds a scepter in the form of a cross. It rides not in the whirlwind and stormy tempest of passion; but its throne is the humble and contrite heart, and its kingdom is the kingdom of peace.(Author unknown)