Someone wrote, “If you had a bank that credited your account each morning with $86,000 that carried over no balance from day to day…Allowed you to keep no cash in your account, and every evening cancelled whatever part of the amount you failed to use during the day, what would you do? Draw out every cent every day, of course, and use it to your advantage! Well, you have such a bank, and its name is TIME! Every morning it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it rules off as lost whatever of this you failed to invest to good purpose. It carries over no balances, it allows no overdrafts. Each day it opens a new account with you. If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours. There is no going back. There is no drawing against tomorrow.”
That ought to make us think! Those who accomplish the most in life are those who value time. Here’s an example:
The great 19th-century naturalist and Harvard professor Louis Agassiz was once approached by the emissary of a learned society and invited to address its members. Agassiz declined the invitation, saying that lectures of this kind took up too much time that should be devoted to research and writing. The man persisted, saying that the society was prepared to pay handsomely for the lecture.
“That’s no inducement to me,” Agassiz replied, “I can’t afford to waste my time making money.”
The truth is that none of us can afford to waste time seeking fortune, fame, or fun. We spend time wise only when we invest it in the pursuit of God’s purpose for our life—things of eternal value. Naturally that leaves room for a certain amount of time for rest and recreation, but we have to keep it all in proper balance. A life well-lived is determined by time well-spent. Don’t waste it! You use it or lose it.
