Number Your Days

Number Your Days

One of the interesting things in our culture,

is we are almost always conscious of

what time it is.

We wear watches,

or have cell phones with the time on it,

and whether we’re in an office or school

or car or hospital

or anywhere else we go during the day,

there’s almost always a clock somewhere nearby,

so at least a dozen times a day or more

we find ourselves looking to see

what time is it?

Probably the most common question

people ask about time, is,

What time is it?

Here at church we’ve got a clock in the back,

so I can make sure I don’t go too long,

and a lot of you check your watch or cell phone

because you know

we always end right about the same time,

within plus or minus 5 minutes,

and so you’re checking on how I’m doing,

and how close to the end we are.

All of us are very time conscious.

Now once in a while,

you might lose yourself in a novel,

or maybe in a hobby you enjoy,

and you get so wrapped up in it

that you’ll say, I lost track of time.

But even though we may lose track of it for a while,

we’re very quick to recover, we find it again,

and figure out what time it is.

Because we’re all very time conscious.

Now the problem is,

that’s not really the most important question

to ask about time.

This is the last message in our series that we called,

Times And Seasons,

and today I want us to learn to start asking

a better question.

The best question to ask, when it comes to time,

is not, what time is it,

but, what am I doing with my time?

Not, what time is it,

but, what am I doing with my time?

See, the problem with always asking

what time it is,

is that it’s a constant reminder

of something that is probably

the most depressing part about our lives,

It’s a constant reminder that,

your time is running out.

Aren’t you glad you came to church today,

Now you feel depressed,

because your time is running out.

But of course

you really couldn’t avoid being reminded of this,

even if you skipped church,

because we all have calendars

that tell us how fast

the months and years go by,

and we have watches that tell us how fast

the hours and minutes go by.

Some of you even have second hands on your watches,

which are there to remind you

just how fast its going,

because with that second hand,

you can actually watch your life slipping away,

right in front of your eyes,

tick, tock, tick, tock

my life is slipping away right now…

And of course, the older you get

the faster time goes by,

when you were a kid,

Christmas never got here, it took forever,

but when you’re an adult,

its like Christmas is here every time you turn around,

you didn’t even get the credit cards paid off yet

and its Thanksgiving again,

Now, the whole idea of time going by quickly,

is actually a biblical theme,

there’s a lot of scripture in the bible

that deals with the subject of time,

and how it flies by.

The first scripture I want to look at this morning

is some happy thoughts from the book of Job.

Job 7:6

My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and they come to an end without hope.

You probably won’t find that verse

on a hallmark card,

or a get well card.

That one’s not gonna cheer anybody up.

But that’s not all Job says,

Job 9:25 TNIV

My days are swifter than a runner; they fly away without a glimpse of joy.

I think Job really needed some Prozac,

he was a little depressed.

But this is a reminder

that every time we look at our watches,

or the clock on the wall

or our cell phone,

it’s a reminder that time is going by really quick.

We all know that as a kid,

we’re always waiting anxiously to get older,

we can’t wait to get another year under our belt,

but then at some point that stops,

usually sometime in your twenties,

and you start not being so thrilled

that you’re another year older,

And then there eventually comes a point,

and I don’t know if you’re there yet,

but there eventually comes a point where,

instead of thinking about how old you are,

you’ll start thinking about

how much time you have left.

Studies have shown that

this generally happens to people

sometime before they reach the age of fifty,

its not the same for everyone,

but at some point,

you stop thinking about your age,