July 3: On the Good Employment of Time
Richard Challoner, Meditations (Part 2), Pages 7-9
[…]
Consider 2dly, the strict obligation incumbent on us, of employing our whole time to the best advantage. Our time is not our own;—it belongs to our Maker;—it is lent us by our LORD and Master. […] O! reflect at how great a price your dear Redeemer has purchased time for you. […] whatever length of time, therefore, God has allowed you, since you offended him by sin, has been purchased for you by the blood of Christ, in order that you might repent, and begin a new life. […]
Hello Readers, hope all’s well. Today I present another End Times post.
To be honest, today’s topic isn’t a purely End Times Topic. Today’s topic is one that applies all the time, no matter what’s going on. But like many other topics in Christianity, it’s never been as relevant and urgent as it is right now, at The End.
And that topic would be: Time. How precious time is, and what we should do with it. Now that the whole world has less time than ever, we need to think about time like never before.
Time Talents
Since I’m still on vacation, today I’m going to let someone else do the talking. Today I’m going to quote from a daily reader book that I’m reading through now. It’s one of these books with a short entry for every day. It’s called Meditations by Richard Challoner. To be more specific, the full title is Meditations or Considerations upon Christian Truths and Duties, for Every Day of the Year.
And who was Richard Challoner?? I’m not sure, and I don’t think it matters too much. He wrote this daily reader book on Christianity, and what he says we can take it or leave it, like I leave (ignore) all of the Catholic content he wrote. I skip over everything about Mary and everything that implies the un-Biblical works-based Salvation theology that Catholics are deceived by.
But there are things in this book worth reading. And today I introduce excerpts from the entries for July 1 and July 3.
The entry for July 1 stresses the importance and precious value of time. Time is not ours, we didn’t create it or earn it. God gives us every single moment of our lives both good and bad. But the time itself belongs to God. He gave us our time, and when we meet Him He will ask us (though He already knows the answer) how we used the time He gave us. Let’s take a look:
July 1: On Time and Eternity
Richard Challoner, Meditations (Part 2), Pages 3-4
Time is the measure of our lives; therefore as much as we lose of time, so much of our lives is absolutely lost. […] Our time is a talent, wherewith God has entrusted us and of which he will one day demand of us a strict account. […]
Consider 2dly, how short is the whole time of this mortal life; —a mere nothing when compared with eternity: see how very quickly it passes away. When past, it is gone; —it is no more; —it leaves no footsteps behind it. Time to come is not ours: we cannot promise ourselves one moment thereof. The present time is all we can call our own: and God only knows how long it will remain. […] Learn hence, O my soul, to set a just value upon the present time: learn to husband it well, and employ it wholly to the best advantage.
Consider 3dly, that as time is short, and passes quickly away, so all the enjoyments of the honours, riches, and pleasures of this world, being of a temporal nature, pass away with time; they are all transitory, uncertain, and inconstant.
I think this is fairly self-explanatory, right?? Time is precious beyond words, it’s all we have, and it’s not even ours. God gave it to us, God gave us every single second, and one day He will finish our time and we’ll have to tell Him what we did with the time.
This idea of time as talents (very valuable coins) can be traced to the Parable of the Talents, which is found in Matthew 25:14-30. I’ll let you read Matthew 25 for yourself, because I want to keep today’s post short. But one meaning of that parable is that God wants us to do good things for Him with the time He gave us (the talents), and on whatever day we go to meet Him or He returns to earth, we will have to explain how we used the time He gave us.
On that note, let’s move on to the second quote. The entry for July 3 is about how to use time well.
July 3: On the Good Employment of Time
Richard Challoner, Meditations (Part 2), Pages 7-9
Consider first, how inestimable a treasure time is, when well employed. Ah! Christians, every hour of time is of far greater value than all the kingdoms of the earth; because in every hour, if well employed, we may purchase an eternal kingdom in heaven: but all the kingdoms of the earth united together, are not able to purchase one hour of time, for the dying sinner. Ah! it is only when sinners shall see themselves upon the brink of eternity, when there shall be no more time for them, that they will begin to be convinced of the value of time, and of the infinite importance of employing it well. O! what would not the damned give for one of these hours?
Consider 2dly, the strict obligation incumbent on us, of employing our whole time to the best advantage. Our time is not our own;—it belongs to our Maker;—it is lent us by our LORD and Master. […] O! reflect at how great a price your dear Redeemer has purchased time for you. […] whatever length of time, therefore, God has allowed you, since you offended him by sin, has been purchased for you by the blood of Christ, in order that you might repent, and begin a new life. […]
We must use our time well—that’s a Christian duty. Our time is not our own, it was given to us by God. And every hour we have, we can spend working for God or pleasing ourselves.
We all know well how we can use time to please ourselves. These distractions can make us happy for a short amount of time, but they do nothing for God and don’t serve to advance the Gospel. Although I break with Challoner here, because I recognize the importance of pure rest time. Even God rested on the seventh day— there is an appropriate time for us to take a nice break and do the things we want to do. I mean, look at me … I’m on vacation!! We do need to be vigilant to make sure we only rest for as long as we need to, for an appropriate amount of time. But we do need that rest time.
But having said that, Challoner isn’t wrong. The time we have is precious, and we can use it to advance the gospel and introduce people to Jesus. We can use time to help others, to serve the poor and care for the needy. To visit the prisoner, and all the other Acts of Mercy described in Matthew 25. At any given moment, we have a choice of what we’re going to do with the time. We can use it to serve the Lord however we know how, or we can use it to serve ourselves.
But since our lives are so short and the pleasures of this fallen world so temporary, we’re going to regret our misuse of time when it’s over if we wasted our lives living for ourselves rather than for God and our fellow humans.
Now’s Our Last Chance
Perhaps you already have an understanding of this topic; there are many people who understand the true value of time. But there are also many people who don’t. And even for those who do understand the value of time, sometimes we backslide into old habits and misuse our time even when we know better. Romans 3:23—we all screw up sometimes.
But the topic of time has never been more important for everyone—Christians and non-Christians alike—then it is right now. Christian or not, everyone in this world can sense that The End Is Now. We have reached The End of the End Times and there’s no more time left. So what are we going to do with the few years remaining??
The New Testament lays out exactly what we’re supposed to do with our time. And nothing in the New Testament says we’re supposed to live differently when we feel The End coming and see the signs. Read and study the gospel, and spread the gospel. Follow the teachings of Jesus as best we can and perform the Acts of Mercy described in Matthew 25 and elsewhere. REPENT!! of our sins and turn to Jesus with all our heart. And so on.
That’s all we can do, which is good news because it’s all we need to do. Turn to Jesus now, turn to Jesus today!! And live for God as best as we can with the short amount of time we have left. For anyone who hasn’t used their time wisely up until now, that’s OK as long as we change our ways quickly. This world has run out of time and the party is over. We must take this last chance to surrender our lives to the LORD.
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Until next time, be strong and do good!
Your new best friend in Christ,
99:9
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2 comments on “Do Not Fear the End Times Part 114: Time Grows Short, Use it Well”