It’s All About Time - Part 1 — Morning Devotions - Hope 103.2

It’s All About Time – Part 1 — Morning Devotions

Time is our most important resource. It is a gift from God and we need to use it wisely. We cannot store it, slow it up, hold it up, give it up.

By Chris WittsWednesday 15 Mar 2023Morning Devotions with Chris WittsFaithReading Time: 1 minute


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Transcript:

Have you heard people say, The clock is ticking—make the most of it today. I have, and I am conscious of time. I guess it becomes more meaningful as you get older in life.

I like the story of the man who worked at a factory. One of his main jobs was to blow the factory whistle at 5 pm to tell the employees the workday was over. He walked to work each day and passed a jewellery store where a beautiful grandfather clock was displayed in the window.

Every morning he stopped to set his pocket watch to match the time on the grandfather clock. One morning the store owner was out the front sweeping the footpath and the factory worker asked him, How do you keep such accurate time on that beautiful grandfather clock?

Oh, he replied. That’s easy. I set it every afternoon when the factory whistle blows at 5:00.

So you see how important time really is—people live by the clock. Why? Because time is important to all of us. It was Benjamin Franklin who once said, “Do not squander time, for it is the stuff life is made of”. We need to say to ourselves many times: make the most of the day we’ve got. Many people become frustrated because they seem to always fight the clock as a way of life. They stay up late, sleep as late as they can, and then rush frantically to school or work gulping down an unhealthy breakfast talking on their mobile as they go.

But have you ever noticed Jesus in the New Testament as One who never seemed to be in a hurry? Although he was doing the most important job in history—redeeming the world—he never seemed to be out of breath. And he only had a few years to do everything! He made time to consider the flowers and birds of the air. He had time for the little children and blessed them. In other words, time was his friend.

Make Time Your Friend

Is time your friend or your enemy? Do you say, I never seem to have enough time. If you want to think more about this, read the Bible because it gives us some tremendous insight into how time can become your friend instead of your enemy. God exists in a realm that is not bound by time or space. God doesn’t wear a watch—he is the creator of time and is greater than time.

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Listen to how Psalm 90 talks about it:

Our Lord, in all generations
you have been our home.
You have always been God—
long before the birth
of the mountains, even before you created
the earth and the world.

At your command we die
and turn back to dust,
but a thousand years
mean nothing to you!
They are merely a day gone by
or a few hours in the night. ( Psalm 90:1-4 – CEV).

Suddenly our time is up, and we disappear. (Psalm 90:10 – CEV)

Then verse 10 says,

We can expect seventy years,
or maybe eighty,
if we are healthy,
but even our best years
bring trouble and sorrow.
Suddenly our time is up,
and we disappear.

And verse 12 is a great prayer:

Teach us to use wisely
all the time we have
.

There’s that word ‘time’ again—we ask God to help us use the time we have wisely and well, that we won’t waste the years we have on earth.

Accept the Gift of Time From God

I think God is saying to us today, Treasure the time you have as a valuable commodity. And that makes sense—there’s nothing more important than time. How many years of life do you have? We really don’t know—many, we hope. God says to us that each day should be respected and treasured for what it is—a gift from him.

A year is important for someone at university who is studying to graduate in 12-months time. One month is very important—just ask a mother who gives birth to a premature baby. Each month really matters. How valuable is one hour? Just go to Sydney airport and speak to a busy executive whose plane was delayed for an hour. And so we could go on. Time really is valuable—treasure every moment you have because yesterday is history and tomorrow is a mystery.

Today is a gift—that’s why it’s called the ‘present’. But have you heard people say, Time is money? That’s not true—time is much more valuable than money. It’s impossible to make more time. You cannot store it, slow it up, hold it up, divide it, or give it up. You can’t save it for a rainy day. When you kill time remember—there is no resurrection.

But you can invest time—if you don’t use it you could lose it. We like to use time-saving appliances, but how challenging were the words of Billy Graham at a graduation ceremony when he said, “Time is the capital that God has given us to invest. People are the stocks in which we are to invest our time”. And as I think of that statement, I can say that where you invest your time reveals what is most important to you.

(To be continued in It’s All About Time – Part 2)