The Hour Is Closer Than We Think

The Hour is Closer Than We Think

Ephesians 5:15-18

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Every year it’s the same. Magazines and tabloids publish their year in review with pictures and stories recalling the people and events that made news over the past year.

They bring in the exerts who predict what will happen during the year. Some take it further, predicting what will happen in the future. These are usually based on the past, while others are baseless. And throughout the years they’ve been wrong. Some come close, but close only counts in horseshoes. Others have been so wrong that they read more like science fiction.

Back in 1967 experts predicted that by the turn of the century technology would have taken over so much of the workload that the average American work week would only be 22 hours long, and that we would work only 27 weeks a year. Therefore, the biggest problem that would face a person is what to do with all that leisure time.

Talk about missing the mark. The truth is that most of us are busier than ever just trying to stay afloat, and it seems that we’re always in a hurry. We walk fast, talk fast, and eat even faster.

And the people ask, “How will we deal with what tomorrow may hold. Will we make better use of our time? Will this year be a year of joy or regret? A year of great expectation or unimaginable dread?”

To make the most out of the coming year, the Apostle Paul gives us some really good advice.

“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:15-18 NIV)

Paul begins by telling us to not only to be careful, but to be “very” careful. Which is good advice when it comes to the future. We don’t know what to expect, because while we have 20/20 hindsight, we’ve got little foresight. You see, what has happened is that we have been in the reaction mode in what has been going on, rather than being proactive.

We’ve been reacting to what is going on around us. Instead, we need to start doing what is right regardless of what we perceive the consequences might be. I guess what I’m trying to say is that instead of letting God’s word lead us in these times, we let our opinions and the opinions of others sway our decision-making process.

This is why this piece of advice from Paul is so invaluable at this time.

Understand Our Time is Limited

“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise.” (Ephesians 5:15 NIV)

We need to understand that we’ve been allotted, or given by God a limited amount of time, which is at the heart of what the Psalmist is asking God.

“Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is.” (Psalm 39:4 NIV)

Thinking about how limited our time is, I remembered the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists from the University of Chicago has what is known as, “The Doomsday Clock.” It is a symbolic showing how close we are to global disaster. The last two times I looked at it was in 2012 when it said we were five minutes to midnight. But then, that number was cut in half by 2017, where it said it was now 2 ½ minutes. In other words, it was getting worse. Well, over the last two years the clock has been stuck at 90 seconds. This is the closest it has ever been.

Years ago, I found another program that is a bit more macabre and morbid. It’s the internet’s “Death Clock.” Once you enter in some statistics it tells you when you will die, in days, hours, minutes, and seconds. But what is really intimidating is that it ticks off the seconds right in front of you.

And so, Jesus gives us this piece of advice saying, “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:34 NKJV)

What Jesus is telling us is that instead of worrying about what’s going to happen tomorrow, we need to instead be focused on today, because none of us knows what tomorrow will bring. Therefore, let’s not waste the time we have worrying about what we have no control over, but instead, let’s be wise with the time we have.

So, how can we live for God today?

Don’t know if you knew this, but the two biggest times wasters are regretting things we did in the past or being anxious about what will happen in the future. And so, we’re engaged in a little game called, “I wish.” In other words, “I wish it were next week, or next year?” Or we say, “I sure wish this day, or this year were over.”