Time Waits for No One

Time Waits for No One

Thousands of years ago, “in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). In the first two days of time, the Lord set Earth into motion and crafted its self-maintaining system of weather patterns. He perfectly designed and refined the rotation of the Earth and its circuit around the sun to establish regular days, nights, and seasons. In this way “the heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork” (Psalm 19:1). Before He created, the Lord had the foreknowledge of how it all ends: His sitting on the throne for eternity. Within the relatively short time frame of creation to consummation, God fixed the proper time to send His Son to save humanity. He set the earth and its history in motion, and He maintains that motion until eternity. “He hath made every thing beautiful in its time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh for the beginning to the end” (Ecc. 3:11).

We humans have no control over the flow of time. We can observe time—1,000 years in a millennium, 100 years in a century, 10 years in a decade, 365 days in a year, 24 hours in a day, 60 minutes in an hour, 60 seconds in a minute; it provides a way for us to measure the span of a lifetime. What happens within that lifetime is up to us, but the outcome will be the same: time will continue until “he that sat upon the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new’” (Rev. 21:5).

Without Jesus, our life has no purpose beyond giving time something to push along. Our purpose in Jesus, though? “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to everyone” (Mark 16:15). If you have kids, your first priority is to draw them closer to Christ. If you are single, your first priority is to tell the world about Christ. In either case, our primary purpose is to “be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the world” (Acts 1:8).

Every day many pass on to the next life, and every day people here on earth say about someone who has passed, “I hope he REALLY knew Christ as his Lord and Saviour.” Some people are not easy to witness to, and many are wrapped up in this world, influenced by “seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron” (1 Tim. 4:1-3). Although these people are hard to reach, others—the worker at the checkout counter at the store, the neighbor walking down the street, and, as I mentioned before, your kids—are much easier to reach. As time ticks away, and as we live ignorant of when our time is up, we do know that Jesus said, “I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance” (Luke 15:7).

Knowing then that, as Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 says,

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace,

we must take the time we have on this earth to diligently spread the love of Jesus

Christ and warn the world of His wrath towards those who deny His free gift. Therefore, I urge you, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind,” for “this is the first and great commandment. The second,” we know from Scripture, “is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 22:37-

39). I would argue that the only way to clearly show your neighbors you love them is to share the gospel with them and warn them that "he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36). We should pray as Moses prayed, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). As we spread the word of “him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood” (Rev. 1:6) we should know that “thine ears shall hear a word behind thee,” the voice of our Saviour Jesus Christ, “saying, ‘This is the way, walk ye in it’” (Isaiah 30:21).

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The above article was written by Jonathan Thornton. He is a military veteran and member of NorthStone Baptist Church in Pensacola, FL. To offer him your feedback, comment below or email us at strengthforlife461@gmail.com.

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