Greetings and welcome to 2022. One thing we know from Scripture and from our personal experiences in life is that no one is guaranteed to see tomorrow. James, the half-brother of Jesus wrote, "Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that" (James 4:13-15). While it is wise to plan for tomorrow, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, Provides her meat in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest (Proverbs 6:.6-8), the only moment we have is the present one. Dr. Benjamin Mays, the mentor of Dr. Martin Luther King wrote a short poem on the subject of redeeming the time (see Ephesians 5:15,16). To “redeem the time: means “to buy it back” or live with the awareness that once time is gone it is gone forever. So Mays penned,” I have only just a minute, only 60 seconds in it. Forced upon me, can’t refuse it, didn’t seek it, didn’t choose it, but it’s up to me to use it. I must suffer if I lose it; give account if I abuse it. Just a tiny minute, but eternity is in it.” How true that last thought is especially true for the Christian, “eternity is in every minute which God has given to us. This is why we must “set our sights on things above and not on the things of this earth” (Colossians 3:1,2). Think about how long it might take to hand a gospel tract to someone, or share “a word appropriately chosen” (Proverbs 25:11). A single minute of your life can make an eternal difference in the life of someone else. I would challenge everyone who names the name of Christ to make it your aim in 2022 to do away with everything that is robbing you of precious time which can be better spent in more important matters. That might mean turning off the TV, getting off social media, ridding your life of things (even possessions) which clutter it up, and shutting off the many voices which compete for your attention. You have been given 31,536,000 seconds to use this year. Some of those seconds have vanished away, how will you use the rest of them?
Keep pressing on,
Pastor Tom
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