1 Timothy: Love From a Pure Heart, a Good Conscience, and Sincere Faithنموونە

Time is Finite

There is only so much time, only so many minutes, hours, and days. We do not get to know how much time we have. I often have the privilege of speaking with families when they lose a loved one. A brother, sister, mother, or father passes, and I am blessed with the honor of speaking with them. Do you know the number one thing I hear?

I thought there would be more time.

Far above anything else, this one phrase is what I hear: we all think there is more time. More time to say I love you, more time to go fishing with the kids, more time to take a vacation, more time to spend on important things. But we do not get to know how much time we have. We are not given a clock that tells us when we are reaching the end. We do not get a bank account for hours that we are able to see getting lower. Time is finite and unknown, and how we spend it matters.

When we are not wise with our time, when we are not careful with it, when we do not guard it, we slip into idleness. In Ephesus and other early churches, there was a registry of widows. The church would take care of these widows. The widows being cared for by the church were also to do the work of ministry. They were to spend their time wisely. They would visit the sick, care for orphans, and visit those in prison. They would make meals. They had work to do, they were not idle, they put their hands to productive work.

This was a major issue in Ephesus, and part of the reason for Paul’s warnings to women in the church. There were two groups, young widows and older widows. The younger widows were young enough to get remarried and raise families, so Paul urges them to do this.

They were not content with the work widows were called to do. Instead, they had too much free time. I love free time, but too much and you will find your hands idle, and when your hands are idle, they will wander into trouble.

The question I ask myself is this: If I am given a bank of hours, am I happy with how I am spending them? When I get to the end, will I say, “I thought I would have more time?”

I want to live in such a way that I say, I did it. My wife already knows that on my tombstone, I want it to say, “he loved well.” That’s my goal, and it will not happen through idleness.

The truth of how we spend our time, our money, and our energy will come out. If you are hiding things, it will be brought to light. It will come out. If you are secretly doing good, it will come out. When we look at what we are putting our hands to, are we happy with it if it were brought into the light, or would we run away?

We want to know we are being productive for the Kingdom of God. We don’t get to know how much time is left in the hourglass of our lives. What are you doing with your time?