WHAT TIME IS IT?

Romans 13:11 “And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.”

How would you like to receive a check everyday? It would be the same amount as everyone else in the world. No matter how you spent it, you would get the same amount the next day and the next day. Wouldn’t that be nice? Well each and every one of us gets the same amount of time everyday. Each of us has 24 hours in a day. That’s 1440 minutes, and 86,400 seconds. How do you spend your 86,400 seconds?

Time is such a strange thing. It goes at the same speed. It neither speeds up nor slows down. An hour is always 60 minutes, and a minute is always 60 seconds. There are always 24 hours in a day. There is no way to get more time. You can’t buy and sell time. Every single person on the planet has the same amount of time in the day. The rich don’t have more and the poor don’t have less. The old man in India has the same amount of time as the young girl in Canada. No matter how wise or foolish we are with our time, we get the same amount every day. You can’t put time in the bank for another day. Every day we are presented with another 86,400 seconds to use.

Paul is telling us that while each of us gets the same amount of time each day, that won’t last forever. Because our time is short, Paul tells us that we should be mindful of what time it is. He tells us to “wake up” or be aware.

When we are awake we are aware of what we are doing. When we are asleep we aren’t aware. We aren’t aware that we are snoring or tossing and turning. When we are asleep, we have no idea what is going on around us. Paul is saying that it is time for us to wake up. Paul isn’t talking about physical sleep. He is talking about spiritual sleep. Spiritual sleep manifests itself in indifference to what’s going on in the world around us.

We may need to evaluate how we spend our time. Then we may have to make some changes. Paul says that the night is over, and it’s time for a change. Paul says, “The night is far gone; the day is at hand.” When the night is over and we wake up in the morning, we make changes. We change from our night clothes into our day clothes. We don’t wear our pajamas to work. We fix our hair. We change to scent of our breath by brushing our teeth. If you have a baby in the house the first thing you do is probably change a diaper. We make many changes when the night is over. Paul is talking here about time.

How do we spend our time? Paul tells us in verse 14, “Make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” We will spend our time gratifying the flesh or gratifying Christ. There is no other option. It’s not both. It’s either or. We must choose which we will gratify. Will we spend our 86,400 seconds per day gratifying our flesh, or will we spend it gratifying Christ?

The question we must ask ourselves is, “How am I am going to spend my 86,400 seconds each day?” Let’s commit to spend those 86,400 seconds each day living for Jesus.