No Time To Waste
What is time? It is the most valuable commodity anyone of us could ever hope to maintain because once it is gone, it can NEVER be recovered ... time lost is time lost forever ...
I know for a fact that I waste this valuable resource that I have been given ... I waste it by filling my days, hours, minutes with mindless entertainment (Sudoku, for those who are as addicted as I am is certainly a big time waster!), talking the hours away on the telephone, sitting at my computer and surfing the net or typing emails ... I really don't think I understand the true value of time. Do you?
I've often pondered over the fact that when we can see a finite date and time to a particular event or activity that we are undertaking, we tend to somehow enjoy it more or appreciate it more or value it more and we take it less for granted because we know that on a particular date, at a particular time, we will no longer have the opportunity to enjoy the pleasure of that experience any longer and it will then become yet another file in the old memory bank of experiences and adventures. Why is it that we take the commodity of time so for granted? Why is it that we believe we will live till we are 90 in the shade, so to speak, without considering that today might be the last day of our lives.
Now before you get upset, I'm not a pessimist, I am actually a very happy, positive person ... but the reason I am thinking about these things is because in 7 more sleeps, I will be leaving my home, my friends and everything that I possess to go overseas on an adventure holiday and also to spend some quality time with my family who I love and miss dearly. And just lately, as I've travelled home on the ferry, the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge and even just the harbour itself, have all seemed to be so much more beautiful and impressive than they are, especially at sunset. It is almost like my mind has automatically switched to the mode of "countdown" and I must be more aware of my surroundings as soon I will not be able to experience seeing these things and these people on a daily or weekly basis and therefore, I need to ensure that my memory bank is fresh with new and lasting images and experiences that will draw me back at the end of my holiday.
By the same token, I am really excited about the thought of the actual holiday and the time that I will be able to spend in some foreign places, meeting new people and experiencing exciting adventures in the African bush as well as bonding again for special time with my close family ... and these experiences are also bound within a finite period of some 5 weeks so again, I will undoubtedly, value every moment of these upcoming 5 weeks more highly and the memories of the experiences will be burned brightly and permanently in my memory bank.
So what is my point here ... I guess my point is that tomorrow may never come and we may be here today and gone tomorrow without having any say in the matter ... there is no time to waste! The Bible has clearly indicated that Jesus will return but that no one in the whole world will know the hour or the day on which he will return. Now you might say "So what! Who cares?" ... to which I would reply, you should care because the reality is that Jesus is coming back, and when he returns in glory, he will bring judgment to this earth and people will live in fear and trembling because God is a God of Justice and he will not tolerate sin. God's wrath will come upon this earth and upon all those who have rejected the gospel of Jesus Christ and who have turned their backs on God and chosen to put their faith, trust and hope in things of this world. Believers or followers of Christ will also face judgment, however, we will have Jesus standing in front of us and he will be our rock and shelter because he has already stood trial for our sins and he has paid our penalty on the cross through his blood.
So what does this all mean for us now? It means that we should spend almost every waking moment that we have sharing the gospel of Christ with people who we meet on the street, people who we see every day at work, people who we have been friends with for many years yet have been too afraid to tell that we are Christians, people in far away places who are unreached by the gospel ... our family ... starting close to home is not always the easiest place to start but it's at least a good starting point because it will be joyful when you stand side by side with your family in heaven one day and rejoice for taking that moment of courage and using it to not only bring God glory, but to bring your family into eternal life with you.
Matthew 24: 3-51 sums up what I am saying ... read on (even though it is quite long, I guarantee it is good stuff and quite relevant to what is going on in our world today) ...
3As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"
4Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 5For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. 6You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8All these are the beginning of birth pains.
9"Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
15"So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. 18Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. 19How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. 22If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'There he is!' do not believe it. 24For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible. 25See, I have told you ahead of time.
26"So if anyone tells you, 'There he is, out in the desert,' do not go out; or, 'Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. 27For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
29"Immediately after the distress of those days
" 'the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.'
30"At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. 31And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
32"Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
The Day and Hour Unknown
36"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
45"Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, 'My master is staying away a long time,' 49and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
If that passage does not urge you into action for God, I don't know what will because there is "no time to waste" ... the coming of our Lord is an inevitable certainty and I urge to consider the case for Christ. If you are reading this and wondering what to do next, my first piece of advice would be to pray to God asking him to forgive you for your past sins and acknowledging that you want to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour and that you want to live the rest of your life following him. Then thank God for his grace and mercy to you and ask for his guidance and his wisdom to continue walking closely to him. I would then highly recommend that you find a local church where you can ask the Minister to assist you to find out more about Christianity through courses like "Christianity Explained", "ALPHA" and of course, you would need to get a copy of the Bible and start feeding yourself and building yourself up in God's word, God's truth. And PRAY ... pray some more ... pray about everything that is happening in your life and ask for God's help and his Holy Spirit to fill you up and strengthen you with his mighty love which is unfailing. Amen to that !
So ... if you have just prayed that prayer for the first time ... welcome brother or sister in Christ ... welcome to God' family ... the road will be long, the road will not be smooth and it may even become bumpier than ever before but God's strength will be living in you and he will sustain you through every trial that comes your way. I want to tell you that if you prayed that prayer, there will be a party in heaven tonight and all the Angels will be rejoicing with God and with Jesus that another stray sheep has come home to the fold.
This is the beginning ... but there is "no time to waste" ... do God's work and he will work in you !
God Bless you !
Noosh :o)
I know for a fact that I waste this valuable resource that I have been given ... I waste it by filling my days, hours, minutes with mindless entertainment (Sudoku, for those who are as addicted as I am is certainly a big time waster!), talking the hours away on the telephone, sitting at my computer and surfing the net or typing emails ... I really don't think I understand the true value of time. Do you?
I've often pondered over the fact that when we can see a finite date and time to a particular event or activity that we are undertaking, we tend to somehow enjoy it more or appreciate it more or value it more and we take it less for granted because we know that on a particular date, at a particular time, we will no longer have the opportunity to enjoy the pleasure of that experience any longer and it will then become yet another file in the old memory bank of experiences and adventures. Why is it that we take the commodity of time so for granted? Why is it that we believe we will live till we are 90 in the shade, so to speak, without considering that today might be the last day of our lives.
Now before you get upset, I'm not a pessimist, I am actually a very happy, positive person ... but the reason I am thinking about these things is because in 7 more sleeps, I will be leaving my home, my friends and everything that I possess to go overseas on an adventure holiday and also to spend some quality time with my family who I love and miss dearly. And just lately, as I've travelled home on the ferry, the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge and even just the harbour itself, have all seemed to be so much more beautiful and impressive than they are, especially at sunset. It is almost like my mind has automatically switched to the mode of "countdown" and I must be more aware of my surroundings as soon I will not be able to experience seeing these things and these people on a daily or weekly basis and therefore, I need to ensure that my memory bank is fresh with new and lasting images and experiences that will draw me back at the end of my holiday.
By the same token, I am really excited about the thought of the actual holiday and the time that I will be able to spend in some foreign places, meeting new people and experiencing exciting adventures in the African bush as well as bonding again for special time with my close family ... and these experiences are also bound within a finite period of some 5 weeks so again, I will undoubtedly, value every moment of these upcoming 5 weeks more highly and the memories of the experiences will be burned brightly and permanently in my memory bank.
So what is my point here ... I guess my point is that tomorrow may never come and we may be here today and gone tomorrow without having any say in the matter ... there is no time to waste! The Bible has clearly indicated that Jesus will return but that no one in the whole world will know the hour or the day on which he will return. Now you might say "So what! Who cares?" ... to which I would reply, you should care because the reality is that Jesus is coming back, and when he returns in glory, he will bring judgment to this earth and people will live in fear and trembling because God is a God of Justice and he will not tolerate sin. God's wrath will come upon this earth and upon all those who have rejected the gospel of Jesus Christ and who have turned their backs on God and chosen to put their faith, trust and hope in things of this world. Believers or followers of Christ will also face judgment, however, we will have Jesus standing in front of us and he will be our rock and shelter because he has already stood trial for our sins and he has paid our penalty on the cross through his blood.
So what does this all mean for us now? It means that we should spend almost every waking moment that we have sharing the gospel of Christ with people who we meet on the street, people who we see every day at work, people who we have been friends with for many years yet have been too afraid to tell that we are Christians, people in far away places who are unreached by the gospel ... our family ... starting close to home is not always the easiest place to start but it's at least a good starting point because it will be joyful when you stand side by side with your family in heaven one day and rejoice for taking that moment of courage and using it to not only bring God glory, but to bring your family into eternal life with you.
Matthew 24: 3-51 sums up what I am saying ... read on (even though it is quite long, I guarantee it is good stuff and quite relevant to what is going on in our world today) ...
3As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"
4Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 5For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. 6You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8All these are the beginning of birth pains.
9"Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
15"So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. 18Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. 19How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. 22If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'There he is!' do not believe it. 24For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible. 25See, I have told you ahead of time.
26"So if anyone tells you, 'There he is, out in the desert,' do not go out; or, 'Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. 27For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
29"Immediately after the distress of those days
" 'the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.'
30"At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. 31And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
32"Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
The Day and Hour Unknown
36"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
45"Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, 'My master is staying away a long time,' 49and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
If that passage does not urge you into action for God, I don't know what will because there is "no time to waste" ... the coming of our Lord is an inevitable certainty and I urge to consider the case for Christ. If you are reading this and wondering what to do next, my first piece of advice would be to pray to God asking him to forgive you for your past sins and acknowledging that you want to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour and that you want to live the rest of your life following him. Then thank God for his grace and mercy to you and ask for his guidance and his wisdom to continue walking closely to him. I would then highly recommend that you find a local church where you can ask the Minister to assist you to find out more about Christianity through courses like "Christianity Explained", "ALPHA" and of course, you would need to get a copy of the Bible and start feeding yourself and building yourself up in God's word, God's truth. And PRAY ... pray some more ... pray about everything that is happening in your life and ask for God's help and his Holy Spirit to fill you up and strengthen you with his mighty love which is unfailing. Amen to that !
So ... if you have just prayed that prayer for the first time ... welcome brother or sister in Christ ... welcome to God' family ... the road will be long, the road will not be smooth and it may even become bumpier than ever before but God's strength will be living in you and he will sustain you through every trial that comes your way. I want to tell you that if you prayed that prayer, there will be a party in heaven tonight and all the Angels will be rejoicing with God and with Jesus that another stray sheep has come home to the fold.
This is the beginning ... but there is "no time to waste" ... do God's work and he will work in you !
God Bless you !
Noosh :o)
posted by Vanoosh at
3:55 pm
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