You can’t predict tomorrow and your yesterday’s are gone.
All you control is time you have today.”
–Red Steagall (“Failure”)
“But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in time of trouble.
–Psalm 37:39 (NASB)
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There’s a solitary rider trailing me,
I know he’s out to bring me down, Like he did to so many of my old friends,
But somewhere up ahead, just a silhouette on the sky with my back to the setting sun
I’ll make my stand.
Now this shadow that I can’t seem to shake is not flesh and blood,
This is a stranger each man faces in his own mind filling him with fear and doubt
And behind it all is that old outlaw Time.
Now as I go along he steals from me my way of life, my woman’s love, my peace of mind.
If I could see him I’d hit him, if I could reach him I’d kill him,
That old outlaw Time.
I’ll make a stand, go against any man, and I’ll beat his hand or he’ll beat mine
But there’s no way to win, no way to win against that old outlaw Time.
–Bob Nolan
Time! We’re allotted only so much of it. Everyone on the face of the earth has twenty-four hours in a day, sixty minutes in a hour. Most people will spend more than one-third of their life sleeping. So what happens to the rest of the time?
What did you do with your time last year? What is used to profit the kingdom of God, or spent on the kingdom of self? Time is one of those precious commodities that we have been given by God and yet we so very often don’t think of Him when we live it. How we spend our time is one of the things that the Lord will judge us for. He will look at our lives to see if we have been good stewards of the time He has given us.
Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.”
–Revelation 3:2-3 (NASB)
Wake up! Redeem the time for the days are evil (Ephesians 5:16). Be alert, be mindful of how you use your time in 2022; that includes not only the year, but each day and every hour of that day. Use it wisely, use if for the Lord. Make yourself a better person, do good, and be faithful to the One who has given you eternal life. The days are truly evil and you are disillusioned if you think they will get better. The only thing, I repeat, the only thing that will make the days better is for a national repentance, an awakening back to the truths of God’s Word.
Yes, Time is an outlaw that gains on all of us. If you don’t think so take a glance in the mirror. How’s the figure? How many gray hairs can now be counted? Crow’s feet at the eyes, and on I could go with the things that Time has brought about. Some have lost loved ones and you are alone due to time. Time is sometimes subtle and sometimes a raging storm, but either way there is nothing we can do about time except live it the way that the Lord would have us to do. Yes, we all have twenty-four hours, sixty minutes, but only God knows the length of time we have on this earth. Use is wisely for His glory so that time will not matter and you can live in eternity with the Lord, the Giver of time.