One devilish soul scratched his head and said, “Why don’t we tell them there is no God.” The devil said that wasn’t bad, but he figured that would not get too many. Another demon said: “I know. Let’s tell them there is no hell.” The devil liked that one, but still, it was short of the mark. Finally, a third fiend spoke up: “Let’s tell them they have plenty of time.” The devil threw his head back and laughed a scornful and hellish laugh. “That’s it, my boy,” he said. “That’s it.”
My mother had a sampler on the wall when I was growing up. It was called “God’s Minute.” Here’s how it went:
“I have only just a minute,Time is very different from our other resources. We seem to be able to get a little more money, more food, more information. This, though, is the only right now we get. Ever.
Only sixty seconds in it.
Forced upon me, can’t refuse it,
Didn’t seek it, didn’t choose it
But it’s up to me to use.
I must suffer if I lose it,
Give account if I abuse it.
Just a tiny little minute,
But eternity is in it.”
We’re preoccupied with time. People are always taking time, or trying to find time, or losing all track of time. I suppose the most intriguing aspect of time for me is the enormous significance of single moments, little snippets of whatever time really is, that have such profound effect.
Take, for example, the moment the first light appeared in the first filament in the first light bulb. Or what about the moment it occurred to Albert Einstein that space and time are interdependent, that indeed time itself is relative.
What about the moment Jesus said: “It is finished.”
It seems to me that each of our lives could be filled with such moments, relative to our own circumstances, of course. If you’re anything like me, life is either something that was or something that’s going to be. Surely life, though, can be neither. Life is. This is our life, mine as I write this, yours as you read this. This is how we are spending our life now. We don’t accept that really. We have this intractable idea that life is something other than what life is right now.
St. Paul says in Ephesians 5: 15-17: “Keep careful watch over your conduct. Do not act like fools, but like thoughtful men. Make the most of the present opportunity, for these are evil days. Do not continue in ignorance, but try to discern the will of the Lord.”
The King James has verse 16 as “redeeming the time.” I like that a little better than the New American because it spells out what can be done with a moment. It can be redeemed. This is such a moment, isn’t it? Is this not a good one? When is a good one? Do we have plenty of time?
I find it a lot easier to look back in time and say, “My Jesus, have mercy on me,” than I do to look ahead and say, “My Jesus, change me.”
I know Scripture talks about everything having its season. Even Jesus spoke frequently about the coming of His hour. But Lot didn’t have much time to get out of town, and the Jews didn’t have much time to smear lamb’s blood on their doors. The tribes of Israel did not slow their march from Egypt as pharaoh’s army approached. Neither did Joshua hold back at Jericho, nor did Matthew tarry at the tax table. Jesus’ hour did come, though He sweat blood begging His Father to let it not be, not this way, not here, not now.
What if He backed down like I do all the time?
One thing I’m absolutely, positively sure of: This is the only moment I will ever have this moment. I can waste it or redeem it.
written by Thomas A. Russell
first published in the Lafayette Sunday Visitor on January 4th, 1987
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