JOB 14:1-2 – Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble. He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not.
THEME OF THE DAY: TAKING INVENTORY OF OUR LIVES. Life may be viewed like the changing of seasons in nature. I am not referring to summer giving way to autumn, then the barren winter followed by resurrection spring, though the seasons are great illustrations of the changes in our spiritual lives. What I am pointing to is that every season has a time, and change is associated with that time. King Solomon recognized this in his Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes . . .
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what 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 seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, 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 for war, and a time for peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8).
Apart from salvation, one of God’s great gifts is time and He shows no partiality when it comes to time. Each person is given 168 hours a week. John Blanchard once said, “To waste time is to squander a gift from God.” That is a serious statement and one we should consider on a regular basis, maybe even weekly. We would call it “taking inventory of our lives” meaning we ask and answer the question, “What am I investing my time in – the passing things of this world, or what will last forever – people?”
Every Christian is in the people business, yes, even introverts. God gave us the Great Commandment in two applications; love toward Him and people . . .
“But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets”” (Matthew 22:34-40).
As Christians, we are commanded to, responsible for, and privileged to lovingly invest in people. It is what we may call “gospel investment” and no Christian is exempt. Oh, the investments will look different with people, but it will have the same goal and impact. We will call it “gospel investments” toward people. The question now becomes, “Are we making gospel investments toward people?” That means actively sharing the gospel with the unsaved and actively encouraging other Christians with the gospel. To do so means wise and intentional use of our time.
Life is short. Invest our time in what matters – people. They will last forever, and God has left us in this world for the gospel, and that means investing in people – unsaved and saved.
PRAYER: Father, make me aware of the brevity of my life, and the investments I am making in my life.
REFLECTION: Do periodic evaluation of your life and see if your investments are eternal or temporal.