How many times have you heard someone make a comment about something terrible that happened with them involved, and then you hear that person say “Thank God it was not my time yet”
What is time? We see time as being seconds, and a number of seconds makes a minute, a number of minutes make an hour, a number of hours makes a day, a number of days a week and we can add time to time and end up with centuries, even as many as we probably cannot calculate yet as humans.
But did you know that time can stand still? Now you probably think you missed something while you were growing up and going about your ways every day. Well, the truth is that if you have ever been in a situation where your life was in danger or you met the love of your life, you would agree that time stood still, even just for a moment, in your mind and life… That experience where time stood still, had no impact on anyone on this planet except yourself, and when reality set in again, you probably realised that it just felt like “forever and day” but that in those few seconds, a few seconds passed by, seconds which could have changed your life forever…
In my experience, when time stands still, it is to give you an opportunity to try and rectify the situation, it is an opportunity to inspect your entire life and existence in a few seconds, and for some, it’s the opportunity to right the wrongs in your life before you meet our Maker…
You see, time is different for all of us. Some are lucky, and have just reached that teenager stage, where life is a “jol” and nothing really matters, because tomorrow is another day and yesterday does not really feature much. For others, reaching that milestone age of 21, is such an event in our lives, that we forget about everything that happened the past 20 years, and we just focus on what that number 21 will unlock for us. For some, that bigger number of 30 has arrived, benefits galore, saving on insurance, getting some perks for making the time we had, count.
Now you are probably wondering what time has to do with you, and if it really does make a difference what you do with your time.
If we look at scripture, The King James translation of James 4:14 is quite a subtle wakeup call for us. It reads “ Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away” . The contemporary English translation reads “What do you know about tomorrow? How can you be so sure about your life? It is nothing more than mist that appears for only a little while before it disappears. “
Now we already know that the Word of God is the truth, it’s basically GOD in written form, to help us, guide us, equip us, warn us, comfort us and protect us. So, in my mind, if there is a very specific sentence in the Bible, that is so direct, that it cannot be misinterpreted or understood wrong, and it basically comes down to our lives, yesterday, today and tomorrow, it must mean that it is important.
Let’s get back to the statement of “It was not his / my time”. When we study the Bible, we see that Jesus walked this earth for a period of time. He was born, had a childhood, grew up, faced humanity and then, Father GOD decided on a TIME for Jesus to be sacrificed on the cross for our sins.
The night before Jesus was crucified, He had some time on His hands and He spent a lot of that time speaking to Father GOD. In Matthew 26:39, we read a prayer that Jesus prayed to the Father. “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will but as You will”
Do you think this prayer was to tell Father God that He made a big mistake? Do you think maybe Jesus was telling Father God that it was not His time to die? Do you think maybe Jesus got some serious doubts about having to die for humanity and our sins? Don’t feel bad if you though so, I think many saved Christians think the same, because we don’t understand the deeper meaning of it. Hosea 4:6 is quite clear, where Jesus said “My people are destroyed for the lack of knowledge”. You see, Jesus knew that we would sometimes not understand. He knew that we would not have the knowledge of the meanings. He knew we needed some serious help, even while He was walking this earth. He also asked Father God if it was really his time to go, asking the question, but completing it with the confirmation “Not as I will, but as YOU will”, leaving that decision to Father God.
How does this tie up with time and how we spend it, that is the question that you should ask yourself. I am sure Jesus had some amazing times while growing up, He had such amazing times with the disciples, and He always wanted to teach the truth and how to live a great life, how to be humble and serve Father God in what they did.
A lot has changed over the years and time has become so valuable to us, that we put a monetary value to our own time when we must do things for others. There are so many sayings, “Time is Money”, “Time is of the essence”, “Time waits for nobody”, “It was not his time yet”
Do we really need to be involved in a life-threatening situation before realising that time is not ours to play with? Do we need to survive a car-accident and miraculously climb out of the wreck, to realise that God has a greater purpose with our lives and saved us from that accident so that we have more time to do His great work? How many things must happen in our lives for us to realise that we are wasting so much precious time, on nonsense, on things of this world, always trying to make more money, more friends, more influence, more and more…
I want to challenge you today, to take just a little bit of your time, and invest it in Jesus, just like He invested His entire life to saving us. Take just 5 minutes of your day and say a prayer. Take 5 minutes of your day and read a Bible verse. Take 5 minutes of your day and encourage a person who just needs a word or two to make them feel better about themselves. Take 5 minutes of your day to be thankful that you are alive. Take 5 minutes of your day and better yourself, equipping yourself with knowledge about God, the Bible, Jesus, and instead of browsing Instagram for the latest pictures and posts of people you don’t even know, why not secure your future by making sure that your name is written in the book of life.
It’s a hard pill to swallow sometimes if we are told what we should and should not do, but would you rather be on Instagram when Jesus comes to fetch His bride, or would you want to be part of that bride? It should be an easy answer to an easy question, it all depends on how valuable you think your time on this earth is.
Keep in mind that one day when you leave this earth, you don’t take your cell phone with you, you don’t take your fancy car or house with you, you don’t even take the underwear you are wearing with you. Should you really spend your time on these things that you know will stay behind?
It took me 3 near-death car accidents to realise that God has a bigger and more important vision for my life than I ever could imagine. It took 3 near-death accidents for me to see that I was wasting my time on stupid things that I thought was important, things that I thought made me a better person in the eyes of many. I just wish I realised that many years earlier, because I can now only imagine how much I could have done for the Kingdom of God, how many people I could have spoken to and talked about Jesus and the eternal life that is waiting for us. Don’t make the same mistakes I made. When we are young, we always know better than our parents. We think we are untouchable. We think we have so much time to waste before getting serious about life. It was not my time yet, not even one scratch, not one broken bone, I am sure there were a few Angels working overtime to keep me safe.
In the end, we will all be responsible for what we have done on earth. Don’t hide your talents because of what someone said to you. Don’t hide your feelings because of what someone said to you. Don’t stop following your dreams because of what someone said to you. Remember that when you follow your heart and your dreams and someone has something stupid to say about it, they usually don’t even have a dream of their own to begin with, so stop spending your time trying to make other people accept your dreams and plans. The time you spend trying to impress people, could be the time you needed to spend time with Jesus, and making sure that your future is much more than a nice house or car, but eternity in Heaven with our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
Time waits for no-one, change your attitude today, become selfish with your time, make your time worth it, and remember at the end of the day, time spent on nonsense can never be recovered, make your time count.
“Father God, we are truly thankful for Your Son Jesus, who died on the cross for all humanity to be allowed to live. We cannot thank You enough Father God, for taking the time to plan our existence. Please help me to be more connected with You and to spend more time with You, focussing on You and what You have done for us. Thank you for always being there when we need You. Thank You that You did not have an excuse of not having time for us when we needed You. I pray that you help me to understand more about what I read in the Bible and to unlock the secrets that You have left for me to find on my own time. Thank You for never expecting more from me than I was able to do or give or experience. Please help me to forgive others like You have forgiven us so many times. Please help me to be available for You to mould and to shape the way You want me to be, more of You and less of me. Please send your angels to protect us in these trying times where no certainty exists about the day of tomorrow. We love and honour You Father God, and we pray this in the precious name of Your Son, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Amen and Amen”
