It's Just A Matter Of Time!

"It’s Just A Matter of Time"

(Eccl. 3:1 & 2)

Does anyone here know what time it is? How do you look at the day and time we live in? Do you see this hour as if it is just one hour of millions you have in your life? Allow me to give you some possible measurements of time:

• 1 picosecond (1 trillionth of a second) - about the shortest period of time we can currently measure accurately

• 1 nanosecond (1 billionth of a second) - 2 to 4 nanoseconds is the length of time that a typical home computer spends executing one software instruction

• 1 microsecond (1 millionth of a second)

• 1 millisecond (1 thousandth of a second) - The typical fastest time for the exposure of film in a normal camera. A picture taken in 1/1000th of a second will usually stop all human motion

• 1 centisecond (1 hundreth of a second) - the length of time it takes for a stroke of lightning to strike

• 1 decisecond (1 tenth of a second) - a blink of an eye

• 1 second - an average person’s heart beats once each second

Then, we examine the higher, more tangible, elements if time:

• 60 seconds - one minute

• 60 minutes - an hour

• 8 hours - The typical workday in the U.S., as well as the typical amount of sleep a person needs every night

• 24 hours - a day. The amount of time for the earth to rotate one time on its axis

• 7 days - a week

• 40 days - about the longest a person can survive without food

• 365.24 days - a year. The amount of time it takes for the planet earth to complete one orbit around the sun

• 10 years - a decade

• 75 years - The typical life span for a human being

• 5,000 years - The span of recorded history

How is it we can measure time from its most finite position to its known extent, yet we cannot know, realize or accept what hour we are in right now?!

Jesus tells us in Matthew 25:13 - "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming." I have heard some say: "…I have heard preachers say for years that ’Jesus is coming.’" Then, here we are…2002…And, Jesus has yet to return! So, how does one answer this? How does one combat any doubt that might set in while we ponder that Jesus has yet to return? Let me put it this way: We must live minute by minute as if He was to return this very day! And, we must realize to our very core of being that at any moment…in a snap of a finger…we could be ushered out to meet the Lord!

So, when we examine the hour we are in, we must chase away all the besetting thoughts and notions that suggest to us that we have all the time in the world. As much as we may not like to think on these things, time does matter! The thing we call our lives are literally swallowed up by this one fact: Our lives are nothing more than a matter of time!

So, I wish to look at what time it is for us…Let’s examine three facts of what time it is for all of us:

I. It’s Time to Stay Close to The Lord!

(Isa. 55:6) "Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near." David Kimchi gives the true sense of this passage: "Seek ye the Lord, because he may be found: call upon him, because he is near. Repent before ye die, for after death there is no conversion of the soul." In this approach, we see that the Lord is poised and waiting for His children & the unsaved alike to seek Him! Friends, it’s time to seek the Lord…it’s time to draw close to Him!

(Heb. 10:19-22) "Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." Adam Clarke says this of this passage: "Let us come with the blood of our sacrifice to the throne of God: the expression is sacrificial." We must be sincere if we are to be right with the Lord in any shape, way or form. We cannot accept the lie of the devil when he tries to convince us that we can "part & parcel" our lives to the Lord; that is to say to live our