Christian Living

Considering TIME

by Ramona Cook 
02/19/22
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Have you ever wondered why we were told to “number our days”?

 It is to cause us to think about the brevity of a day and of life.

Twenty-four hours seems like a reasonable amount of time until you break it down into minutes. 24 hours = 1,440 minutes. In our culture we generally live those hours in groups of 3. 480 minutes each. 8 hours for sleeping, 8 hours for working, and 8 hours to do everything else there is to do.

Fortunately, the things we do in a week are not all required of us every day but some things are; we prepare food, eat, wash the dishes, bathe, commute to and from work, do house keeping, yard work, watch television, and/or play computer games, talk with friends and family. IF there are children in the house then the “must dos” are exponentially increased. Is it any wonder that we are exasperated by our seeming lack of productivity?

Somewhere within that 24 hour period of time it is necessary, according to the Scriptures, to read some Bible. WHY? Because it is from that Book that we find WISDOM for living life successfully.

“Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto WISDOM.” Psalm 90:12

Wisdom is dirt level practical.

God is eager for us to be successful at our work all of our lives. He wants us to succeed. He wants us happy and safe, and inside The Book are Life Instructions to make certain the days we spend on this earth are the best possible.

We tend to compartmentalize our lives into two separate divisions. One being spiritual and the other being physical. The truth is that we are put together as ONE unit. Wherever we go the whole thing goes. Whatever we do, the whole thing does.

Generally we think that everything outside Church activities or praying or Scripture reading is physical. But no, our physical and spiritual is intertwined, wrapped as one thing. Even if a person does not THINK they are spiritual, they are. Because we are all made with a body, a mind, and a spirit. So what does that look like in REAL life?

Col. 3: 23 gives this instruction. “Whatever you do, do it heartily, as UNTO THE LORD, and not unto men.”

IF I wash the dishes my mind is understanding that Jesus wants me to wash my dishes, on time if possible, and to do them well, realizing that He is pleased that I am being responsible to Him in my behavior. He notices and He will give me favor, whereas other members even of the family may think it just my duty and think nothing more of it. Yes, the Lord is concerned about the bigger things we may do, but His focus is on the details of our lives and our hearts.

This rule applies to every thing we do whether at home where it is not seen by many, OR at the job, or in a Church in front of people.

God does not put His seal of approval on slack workers and sloppily performed work. Read Proverbs and gain wisdom about these matters.

We must cultivate a consciousness that we want Jesus to approve our work. It is necessary too to remember that The Lord also wants us to play and to enjoy life. Our wisdom is shown when we can find balance.

However, there are so many distractions to take our attention from enjoying our productivity. Those are not all bad things and not all good things. There is no way for any one to live and not make decisions or choices and so, we do make choices. We chose the things we do and also what we do not do.

We are instructed in Scripture to WRITE the Vision, or Goal, and to make it PLAIN, or detailed.

People who accomplish things they want to do have written goals. They have a To Do Today list, a Short term list, about 6 months, then a Long term list projected to about 5 years. They check along the way what they need to do to bring the goal into their lives. Yes, God makes plans, some of them VERY long term. He approves of this method.

Of course wisdom would advise us to be flexible when it is necessary. For instance, if a neighbor calls asking us to take them to the emergency room, and we are into our schedule, we can’t say, “No, that we are too busy.”

Jesus tells us that “What ever you do to the least of these, my brothers, you have done it also to ME!” Think on that statement.

We also have to apply that verse in recall when the children, or a family member, need attention, or help, or are sick. Applied, but Flexible.

All of LIFE is about TIME. Using Time wisely and efficiently. Being pleasing to the Lord because we remember that whatever we do we do for Him and He appreciates it. He also rewards it.

 Using time wisely, numbering our days, is about making good and right choices. God’s blessings are shed only over the Path of Right Living.

There is a Path of Wrong Living, that is on the devil’s turf and he has nothing to give anyone but a hard time, and he loves doing it. So chose to not walk on that path and get clobbered all the time, maybe even killed.

We have heard the excuse, “The Devil MADE me do it.”

Here is the TRUTH. GOD WILL NOT make us do right!

The Devil CANNOT MAKE us do wrong.

God gave us FREEWILL. The devil can tempt us, but cannot make us chose wrong. God will encourage us to do right but will not lift a finger to make us chose right. The decisions are made by us and we own them, whether the decision is right or wrong it is ours.

God has given us the skinny on this subject: You will grow whatever you sow.

Serious stuff to think about.

But the ONE most serious decision is whether you will ask Jesus to forgive the sin you were born with, because it is genetically inherited from father Adam and mother Eve. We have inherited sin and we commit sins because of that sin. Jesus said, “I am THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE, no man comes to the Father God, except through Me.” John 14: 6

Jesus said, “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.”

That is why Jesus shed His blood on the Cross, so He could provide the blood offering for our sins.

When we make that decision and ask Jesus to be our Savior, He comes to live inside this Earth Suit with us as Holy Spirit. This is the decision that will enable, empower us, here on earth and then take us to Heaven when the days of our life on earth end and we count them no more.

It all happens “IN TIME.”

The choices we make each day command our way and the choices are ours to make.

Ramona: 02/19/2022