Time as a Commodity in God’s Kingdom

We rarely consider Time as a commodity in God’s Kingdom. Time is the only truly scarce commodity. Time is the only element of human existence that cannot be acquired, reused, or stored for later use; It passes with a constant flow that cannot be interrupted. Every single moment of your existence is unique. It cannot be replicated. There are no givebacks, takebacks, or mulligans. Yet we live our lives as if time were endless.

Colossians 4:5-6, “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

We do not treat time nearly as valuably as it is. How much time do we waste daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly? How many opportunities pass with the perception that they, or something better, will pass this way again? We live our lives without a true sense of urgency.

Ephesians 5:15-17, “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”

God’s Favor

Do we live with an eternal point of view? We should use every moment we have available to us to pursue God’s favor. Not just His favor on us but His favor on all we interact with. For we do not know the time left for ourselves or the people we interact with daily. There are seasons throughout our lives. Each season requires diligence; every season should elicit the utmost importance at the time.

2 Corinthians 6:2, “For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”

Kaki King once said at the Ted2008 convention (I’ll paraphrase), “As I was thinking about my place in the universe, if time can reach forward and backward infinitely, that means every point in time is infinitely small and therefore somewhat meaningless. We don’t really have a place in the universe. But nothing else does either; therefore, every moment is the most important moment there is right now.”

Ecclesiastes 3:11, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”

Live Every Moment

We can glorify Christ in every moment of every day, but the noise and clutter of the world often rob us of those opportunities. We are to reflect Christ in every situation, but we lose that opportunity when we let the world creep in.  Intentional rest, crucial for sustaining life, holds paramount importance to the weary soul.  It is part of the tapestry of our lives, but only a part.

1 John 2:17, “The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”

There will come a time when there is no more time. We will face that moment with a ledger that chronicles what we did with the time God allotted us. It is at that moment that we understand the true value of time. It is then that we itemize lost opportunities and lost souls. The coulda, woulda, shoulda of our life will be on full display. We have an opportunity now to impact our eternal story dramatically. But it is to be done with intentionality.

John 9:4, “As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”

God wants to blow us away.