Living a Life that Matters

Wednesday, November 13, 2019
by Dr. Paul Chappell

“Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds: That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.”

Colossians 4:2–6

All of us get the same number of precious seconds every day—86,400. No one gets additional time in a twenty-four hour period to accomplish what they want to do. The difference between those who live a life that matters and those who do not is largely found in the way they use—or fail to use—their time. The Bible speaks of “redeeming the time” which means that we are to obtain the maximum benefit and usage of the time we are given. One of the most important ways in which we can and should do that is by doing what needs to be done without delay.

Oswald Sanders wrote, “Procrastination, the thief of time, is one of the devil’s most potent weapons for defrauding us of eternal heritage. The habit of ‘putting off’ is fatal...its power resides in our natural reluctance to come to grips with important decisions. Making decisions, and acting on them, always requires moral energy. But the passing of time never makes action easier; quite the opposite. Most decisions are more difficult a day later, and you may also lose an advantage by such delay.”

There are opportunities that will come today that will never come again. If we keep putting things off, we will never accomplish what God has prepared for us to do. Though there are times when patience is required, more of our problems come from putting off what we should do rather than doing it too quickly.

Today's Growth Principle:
Time that we waste today can never be recovered in the future, so we should use our present moment to honor God.

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The heavens declare the glory of God,
            and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
            and night to night reveals knowledge.

--Psalm 19:1-2

A story is told that during the French Revolution, a patriot said to a citizen, “We’re going to remove every vestige of God in France. We’re going to tear down every church and any reference to God in our country!”

So the citizen replied, “Well, you’re going to have to pull down the stars in the sky as well!”

William Herschel, one of the developers of the modern telescope, was one of the first people in the world to see visibly through the telescope what had previously been invisible. He’s quoted as saying, “Dear God, I’m thinking Your thoughts after You!”

You can look into the macrocosm of the galaxies or the microcosms through the microscope and see the intricacies of creation. In fact, the period at the end of this sentence consists of trillions of atoms, each one of them created and fashioned by God Himself.

Try this: Go outside; get quiet; and marvel at creation. And as you do, ask yourself, “What is this telling me about God?” Look at the way a bee pollinates a flower or an ant builds his mound piece-by-piece. Then look up in awe of God, knowing He made those to show you His glory!

GOD CREATED THE UNIVERSE TO DECLARE HIS GLORY. SO LET CREATION ITSELF TEACH YOU ABOUT GOD.