I remember a busy farmer, who
had barns full of dairy cows and acres of crops to care for, telling me,
"Pastor, I'd like to come to your religion class because I know how much
my wife gets from her church, but I really haven't got time!" Here was a
man who was probably speaking his honest conviction, but he was a man with bad
priorities.
I responded, "Howard, I
spent 18 years of my life on the farm and there's one thing I learned. There
are some things of which I never said, ‘I haven't got time. Have you ever once
said, ‘Tonight I haven’t got time to milk the cows? How did you get them milked?’
Howard’s answer was simple. ‘I took time.’ Again I asked, “Have you ever once
planted and watched a field of wheat mature till it was dead ripe and then
said, “Sorry, I haven't got time to harvest it”? How did you find time? Again
his answer was simple, "I took time."
I
continued, "Howard, one of these days you will quit harvesting wheat and
milking cows and then you will wish you had taken time to get ready for
eternity!" Howard decided he would take time, and to this day he is taking
time to spend with His Lord and to nourish his faith with the bread of eternal
life.
You see, it's not really true
that we don't have time; we all have exactly the same amount of time. We have
24 hours in every day. We have 168 hours in every week. Time is precious. It's
the one commodity we can't store up; we either use it or lose it.
So we do well to set proper
priorities. Every week can be divided into three categories of 56 hours each -
56 hours for God, family and recreation; 56 hours for work and occupation; and
56 hours for rest. And there is ample time for each category. I know a lot of
devout Christians who are a living proof of this. The man who takes time to
spend with his God will never regret giving priority to learning to live and
learning to die with our gracious God who provides all necessities for both (Reborn
to Multiply, pp. 50-51, by Dr. Paul J Foust).
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