What’s Up?

It can be amazing how fast time flies by and you find yourself running to catch up. I was talking about how March arrived overnight, when New Year’s Day felt like yesterday. In the past few days, I have had to ask myself, ‘What’s up?’, when it felt like there were not enough hours in the day. I am normally a well-organized person. I plan my work and responsibilities ahead of time and try to get things done with minimal stress. Lately, I’ve found that my planning isn’t adequate to take care of the many things that crop up unexpected. Or maybe too many things are cropping up unplanned. It can get really overwhelming. And I don’t like to be overwhelmed.

Right before our eyes, March will be over and we will enter April, the second quarter of the year. We see time flying by!

Time is the currency of our lives. When we spend time, we spend our lives. As the clock ticks by the second, our lives are ticking away, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock. It then behooves us to pay attention to the use of our time. How are we spending this time? If we spend it well, we will get the benefits and the rewards of that investment. However, if we don’t and the time is wasted, then it is lost forever! Think about it, all that time wasted in front of the television! Or spent sleeping. And for those of us living in Lagos, all that time spent in traffic!!!

For a while now, I have tried to maximize time lost in traffic by making sure I have a book I can read or music or messages to listen to while stuck in traffic. It has helped me a lot, as I have achieved two things by doing this: I take my mind off the traffic and at the same time, I get to enjoy a book or a message. And most importantly, my time ends up being invested and not wasted.

Once in a while, we need to do these evaluations by ourselves, without being prompted. That way, we ensure that we are making the most of our days. The sum total of our lives is the addition of all the moments of each day. What will our lives add up to? A quick evaluation will give us an idea. After all, it is what we spend our time doing that determines what we end up with. If we spend our time eating, we end up with an obese body and all the complications that come with that. If we spend it exercising, we end up with a trim and fit body that can last for years without disease.

In the same vein, the time spent on spiritual exercises yields fruit and determines our spiritual progress and advancement. Do you spend time praying, seeking the face of God and studying the Bible? Do you spend time with believers and working in the service of God’s kingdom? You will reap the benefits at the time you need it most, and most importantly, when you get to heaven, an abundant harvest will await you. Doing otherwise means you will have trouble both in this life and the life to come. Which would you rather have?

Wisdom to use our time properly is required. And for this, we still need the guidance and help of the Holy Spirit. Our human bodies will not ordinarily want to fast or pray or read the Bible, as there are always many things demanding our time and attention. However, if we seek God’s help and admit our tendency to want other things more than His presence, He creates in us what He knows is best for us, a hunger and thirst after Him. And we are thus saved from ourselves.

Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin. Romans 7:24-25 NLT

We need to be saved from ourselves! What we have, what we inherited from Adam and Eve is a fallen nature that does not seek after God, but seeks after itself. What I will eat, what I will drink, what I will wear, what I will have, what I will enjoy. A fallen nature preoccupied by itself alone. Selfish, wicked, abusive, ungrateful, unholy, uncouth! That is how we are without God. When we encounter Jesus, and we allow Him have His way with us, He transforms us from the inside out, to loving, kind, tenderhearted people, who care not only about ourselves and our needs, but about others. That is why we need Jesus so desperately. Without Him, we are done for!

So, what’s up today? God is up! As our Helper, Saviour, Redeemer!!! He is the One Who has numbered our days and made a plan for our lives. We are not here by accident. Every moment and every detail of our lives was planned before we were ever born. He is the One Who can help with our usage of time, because He knows what we are meant to be doing at every point in time. He is our Teacher and our Guide. When we lack wisdom, He said we should ask Him. He shows us the way to go. We are the sheep of His pasture. He is our Shepherd, the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls.

Ask Him today for wisdom to number your days, wisdom to use your time well. Time flies! Before we know it, it will be over and then we will have to give account. May we not be found wanting on that day. Amen!