Will You Continue To Waste Time?

Good morning, world. Things are looking pretty good from the front porch of my farm in Virginia today. It was far too cold for me to linger on the front porch this morning but I have a great view from inside too so I savored the view in a warm house with a hot cup of coffee. This morning the moon was still visible as the sun was coming up and all I had to do was turn my head from one direction to the other to take in the beauty of both. One a sign of a new day, and the other a sign of the end of the night….neither of them ever sleeps. It isn’t possible to see them both at the same time – at least not with the human eye. It takes effort to look at what’s ahead and it takes effort to look at what’s behind…and it always comes down to choice. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow is promised to no one so it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to spend too much time focused on either one of them. It always comes down to choice. Today I choose NOT to obsess over the future or to dwell on the past…today I’ll be Living for today. Isn’t that the way you see it too?

Human beings are, by far, the biggest “wasters” of all God’s Creation. We waste money. We waste food. We waste water. We waste energy. We waste love. The list could go on and on forever of all the things we waste. But the most significant things we waste come down to time and opportunity. We waste time because we’ve convinced ourselves that there is no end to the time we have. We waste opportunities because we’ve convinced ourselves that there will always be another chance. Instead of valuing this new day as if it is the ONLY one we have, we waste time and opportunity because we’re too busy dreaming about the future or dwelling on the past. IMAGINE what would the world look like if everybody lived for today! There would be a roar that could be heard all around the globe as people simultaneously said things like “I love you” – “Forgive me” or “Do you know Jesus?”. It would be the most amazing sound on this side of Heaven! Instead, we waste our days and nights because we’re so convinced there will be plenty of time and opportunity later. But, what if there isn’t?

If today is our last one and we fail to say “I love you” or “Forgive me” it won’t be the end of the world. The ones we needed to say those things to probably already know we loved them and once we pass away most of the time they forgive us. But what happens when we waste Time and Opportunity to share the Good News…the one thing that matters more than all the rest and the one thing that lasts long after the world ends. What if YOU were the one God was calling upon to Share the Good News with a lost person BUT you ignored that Golden Opportunity because you were too busy lying to yourself that there is always another time or a 2nd chance? We don’t have to pay the price for our wrongs – Jesus died to pay the price instead. We won’t be “judged” for all the bad things we did because His blood covers them all. But how will it feel when we face our Maker only to have Him show us ALL the time and opportunities we wasted – ALL those times we could have (and should have) shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ with a lost person…but we put it off instead… because we were too busy dreaming about tomorrow or dwelling on the past.

I saw the sun and the moon in the sky this morning for just a few minutes before yesterday was completely gone and today showed up. I’ve chosen to LIVE today and won’t be wasting time or opportunity, that’s for sure. God forgive me if I ever overlook a suffering soul…if I ever make excuses for why I don’t love them enough to share the Gospel before it’s too late…if I lose my footing and get stuck dreaming about tomorrow or obsessing over the past when He has a Master Plan for my Life and today is all I have.

How about you?