When we look back at this year that has so quickly passed, there are probably quite a few of us that wonder whether we have accomplished anything worthwhile. Yes, we've all been very busy; but has the time that we've used really made a difference?
In 1988, a survey was conducted that determined that the average American would spend six months of his life sitting and waiting for stoplights to change to green, and eight months opening junk mail. It revealed that on average, we spend a full year of our lives looking for things we have misplaced (although I may have personally caused that number to be a little higher than it really should be). In fact, it reported that we use six years of our lifetime just eating (U.S. News and World Report, Jan 30, 1989, p. 81). Considering this report, it does seem as if a good portion of our time is wasted with things that just don't seem to make a difference in life.
Scripture makes it very clear that we haven't been given much time on this earth. The Hebrew King, David, long ago expressed the brevity of life when he wrote in Psalm 39:4-6, "LORD, make me to know my end And what is the extent of my days; Let me know how transient [or temporary] I am. Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; Surely every man at his best is a mere breath. ...Surely every man walks about as a phantom [or spirit]; Surely they make an uproar for nothing; He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them." We can live for our work here on earth, and earn money enough for a lifestyle that is full of things we can play with and enjoy--but in the end, they are still just things, and when we die, they will simply be given to someone else.
Often we make big plans--perhaps saving up for the purchase of a new boat, or decide that, "next year, we'll visit such and such a theme park;" yet, James, the brother of Jesus wrote, "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.' Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away." (James 4:13-14) There is nothing inherently wrong about saving money, buying boats, visiting theme parks, or even making a profit--unless that is what we focus on in life. This life is too short compared to eternity to focus on the things we find here on Earth. The wise man observed in Proverbs 27:1, "Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring forth."
So how should we spend the time we have here? How can we make a difference? Let's look in the scriptures and see what they have to say regarding our attitude, and the wise use of time.
First, we need to have the proper attitude with regard to the effort we put into everything we do. Several years ago, there was a young man working for a cobbler, or shoemaker. It was his responsibility to pound leather for shoe soles. A piece of cowhide would be cut to size, and soaked in water. He then pounded these soles until they were hard and dry. It seemed to him a tiresome job. Now, a block away, there was another cobbler who appeared to be having more success than his employer; yet the young man often noticed that the other never pounded the soles at all. Instead, he took them straight from the water and nailed them on, causing a spray of water as he drove in each nail. One day, he approached the rival cobbler. "Are they just as good as if they were pounded," he asked. With an evil look, the cobbler answered, "They come back all the quicker this way, my boy!" The young man returned to his employer and suggested that perhaps they were wasting time in drying out the leather so carefully; but the wise shoemaker said, "I do not cobble shoes just for the four bits and six bits that I get from my customers. I am doing this for the glory of God." (H. A. Ironside, Illustrations of Bible Truth, Moody Press, 1945, pp. 37-39)
This cobbler had put into practice what Paul the Apostle wrote to slaves in Colossians 3:23,24: "Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve." Similarly, we read in Ephesians 6:5-8, that they were to "...be obedient to those who [were their] masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of [thier] heart, as to Christ; not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free." Some men seem to work hard only when their employer is looking; then, it's often only an appearance of staying busy. In reality, though, even when his employer is absent, God is there--and He knows.
It doesn't matter what our task is on this earth, or what job we may do--whether it is acting as corporation manager, sawing wood, baking bread, or doing schoolwork--if we have the attitude in mind that what we do is for Christ, it's unlikely that any of our time will be wasted.
In addition to our attitude toward effort, if we are to make a difference in this life, we must have the proper attitude toward others. In chapter ten of 1 Corinthians, Paul was instructing the Christians there who were doing something that wasn't wrong in and of it's self, but which may have caused others to do wrong. In verse 31, he concluded, "Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." In effect, he said that whatever they did, they were to do it to bring God glory--which meant that they would have to consider how their action would affect those around them.
He also directed in Philippians 2:3,4, "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others." He continued by citing the example of Jesus Christ: how he left glory in Heaven for a cross on Earth--all for the sake of others.
Often, in our quest for happiness, we are quite willing to risk the wellbeing of those around us--especially our own family. We take a second job, or leave our children at a daycare simply because we are seeking what we think is a better standard of living, when what our family needs most is us--not things. Paul expressed an attitude of heart that we all should have, when in 2 Corinthians 12:15 he wrote, "I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls..."
But the key to making a real difference in life is to have the proper attitude toward God. It's not just Earthly things that we are to do with all our hearts, but spiritual things as well.
Jeremiah prophesied that after the nation of Judah had been in exile for seventy years, they would return. In Jeremiah 29:12,13, God said to Judah, "...you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart." The same principle is true for us today; we are to seek God with all our hearts--and if we do, we will find Him.
Yet to seek him isn't all that is required of us; once he is found, we must be obedient to His will. King Hezekiah provides a good example of service. We read of him in 2 Chronicles 31:20-21, "...he did what was good, right and true before the LORD his God. Every work which he began in the service of the house of God in law and in commandment, seeking his God, he did with all his heart and prospered." Everything he did in service to God and in following his commandments, he did with all his heart--and he was blessed in doing it.
Just as fog rolls in strong and thick, but when the sun is high, soon disappears, we too, come into life with strength and youth--but all too soon fade away. We have no promise of tomorrow. Jesus told a parable about a man who prepared for the future--but only for the earthly future. We read in Luke 12:20 that, "...God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?'"
There is a sense of urgency that we can see in scripture; although we read in 2 Peter 3:9 that God "is patient... not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance," the very next verse says that, "the day of the Lord will come like a thief"--which is to say, at a time that you don't suspect. For each of us, there will come a day of reckoning: either when we die, or when Christ comes again. We dare not wait; but rather, as Paul was told in Acts 22:16, "Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name"--the name of Christ Jesus. Today is the day to begin serving the God of heaven; tomorrow may be too late.
Life on Earth is very brief. There may not be much we can do about time used waiting for stoplights or eating; we can't ignore the laws of the land, or decide not to nourish our own bodies in an effort to not waste time. God doesn't require that of us; but we can use our time to accomplish worthwhile things--we can make a difference--if we'll have the proper attitude toward effort, toward others, and especially toward the Lord God.
