This verse is a burdensome comfort to me. It's a burden in that it reminds me how precious time is, especially when this passage is taken into context with vss. 15 and 17. It's a burden even more so, because it brings into sharp focus a more serious issue. What do we do with our time?
I'm an arrogantly certain user of time. My professional work speaks of this. I don't mean to say this in a proud way, but if I didn't have a solid grasp of time, and how to use it, I wouldn't have the job that I presently have. I have to meet a complex web of deadlines in order to harvest, clean, schedule, load, truck, and ship soybeans from Virginia to multiple worldwide customers. If any one of those deadlines is not met on time, then the entire equation falls apart, and it's my neck that is choked.
I say all of this to say that I'm constantly aware of time. It is a large part of who I am. It has been for a very long time in all of my professional work from teaching to farming. Full disclosure, however, I'm terrible with time, and that depresses me.
I'm 35, and relatively successful at the things I've done with my time by most of the world's standards. I've earned awards, raises, better jobs, bought a house.... I can't help wondering, however, if I could have done more.
Film-maker and entrepreneur Casey Neistat comes to mind. Because of poor choices in his youth, Casey was at the bottom before his adult life even began. He had to grow up fast, which means that he didn't have time to waste. He focused his attention and used time well (or at least it appears that way). He simply does, and does more. He does it all because he has people relying upon him. First, it was his son Owen, and then it became his wife and newborn daughter that sparked Neistat's insatiable work drive. To provide for them in the way that he feels they need to be provided for, he does not waste time. (Check out what he has to say about time management and productivity).
Because of that drive, and obsessive desire to use time wisely, Casey is quite successful in what he does. Using him as the world's standard, how do we as Christians compare? Here is where I reveal my time wasting. If I spend 20 minutes checking Facebook, 30 minutes reading various articles I found on Facebook, another hour or two checking facts from those articles, or scrolling through some other social media site every day, let alone watching sports, listening to people talk about politics, or program binge watching, hours wasted start turning into days wasted. Over time you get the picture.
Sure, many would say that a lot of that spent time might have been tied up learning good things. Let's be honest. No one cares that Sevilla FC won the Europa League in 2014 and 2015. It may have been fun for the moment, but then it's over, and even the players move on, looking to fulfill that winning buzz again in the next game or tournament.
I'm not attacking sports. I'm not even attacking entertainment (politics qualifies, see Neil Postman's work - Amusing Ourselves to Death). God does want us to enjoy the fruits of our labor. What I am attacking, and revealing about myself in the process, is the amount of time spent on such trivial matters. Believe me, in the long run, no one cares about what color Starbucks coffee cups will be from November to January. No one cares about who will break the internet next. No one cares what dress will be worn by such and such and so and so. No one cares, because in a short while no one will be talking about it. That's what history teaches us. General history books simply become smaller every year, because trivial details vanish in place of those things that matter. The rest becomes trivial details for board games that only reveal who has the largest garbage brain.
Because of that drive, and obsessive desire to use time wisely, Casey is quite successful in what he does. Using him as the world's standard, how do we as Christians compare? Here is where I reveal my time wasting. If I spend 20 minutes checking Facebook, 30 minutes reading various articles I found on Facebook, another hour or two checking facts from those articles, or scrolling through some other social media site every day, let alone watching sports, listening to people talk about politics, or program binge watching, hours wasted start turning into days wasted. Over time you get the picture.
Sure, many would say that a lot of that spent time might have been tied up learning good things. Let's be honest. No one cares that Sevilla FC won the Europa League in 2014 and 2015. It may have been fun for the moment, but then it's over, and even the players move on, looking to fulfill that winning buzz again in the next game or tournament.
I'm not attacking sports. I'm not even attacking entertainment (politics qualifies, see Neil Postman's work - Amusing Ourselves to Death). God does want us to enjoy the fruits of our labor. What I am attacking, and revealing about myself in the process, is the amount of time spent on such trivial matters. Believe me, in the long run, no one cares about what color Starbucks coffee cups will be from November to January. No one cares about who will break the internet next. No one cares what dress will be worn by such and such and so and so. No one cares, because in a short while no one will be talking about it. That's what history teaches us. General history books simply become smaller every year, because trivial details vanish in place of those things that matter. The rest becomes trivial details for board games that only reveal who has the largest garbage brain.
All of these issues plague the Christian's ability to do more. For instance, I once heard CLA lawyer David Gibbs explain how his son began reading the Bible through EVERY MONTH! The first thought is, wow, that guy must have a lot of time on his hands. He doesn't. Gibb's son, David Gibbs III, began reading the Bible through every month during his college years. He worked a full time job at the same time as he attended college. David III continued reading the Bible through every month as he attended Duke University's Law school, and graduated at the top of his class. Oh, and he still worked a full time job, supported a wife, and had children. Today, Gibbs III is a full time lawyer, who has been before the Supreme Court. He still reads the Bible through monthly.
Gibbs has the same amount of time as you and I. He has 24 hours. He just uses them better. He doesn't waste time. He fills time with things that matter.
Gibbs has the same amount of time as you and I. He has 24 hours. He just uses them better. He doesn't waste time. He fills time with things that matter.
What matters then? Nothing on this earth. Solomon saw it all, had it all, and did it all. He was left depressed at the end of his life. He did not redeem the time. He did not use his life to serve God. Upon looking back at his life, as he records in Ecclesiastes, one can feel the utter hopelessness of it all. Then Solomon's wisest statement, if that can be qualified, is made when he says that serving God is all that matters.
How does one serve Him then? Christ has called His followers to do only two things essentially - Evangelize and Disciple. Everything we do must be wrapped in context of those two issues. Our work, our play, our life must exemplify Christ in those commands to service. These things cannot be accomplished well, however, if we're entangled with the affairs of this world.
I already hear the cries, especially from the political realm. "We have a responsibility to vote, etc..." Fine, vote then. Just know that the only thing that changes with elections are the people in office. The system, and those who work in the system do not change every time a new politician is elected. Those politicians are short term, the system is long term, and it doesn't rely upon your votes.
"But what about different causes that we need to stand for!?!" Who's cause is it?
Don't waste your time. It's all you have, and then you won't have it anymore. It's too precious. Cut the nonsense out, and add value, real value. Count the cost, and realize that serving Christ, the way He commanded and exemplified, is what makes our time worthwhile. Otherwise, in the long run, we're all dead, and it's all vanity.
