The new year is upon us. How fast the days, weeks, months and years fly by. You’ve no doubt recently heard someone ask, “Where did the time go?” More of a statement than a question, we say it often as we scurry through life. But the Christian should seriously ponder that very question as we search our hearts before God at the beginning of a new year of service to the King.

The Bible has plenty to say about time. This precious gift God has given us is often squandered in the hours and days we spend in worry, stress and busyness. We have just struggled through one of the most hectic seasons of the year. But is that what God intended? I’m sure you know the answer to that question.

Time itself refers to "a particular portion or part of duration, whether past, present or future; a season; or duration" (Websters 1828 Dictionary). In short, time has a beginning and an end. We most often think of time in terms of weeks, months and years and the seasons they bring. But the Bible also talks of the times of life and death (Genesis 18:10; I Samuel 4:20), distress, fear and trouble (II Chronicles 28:22; Psalm 56:3; Psalm 27:5). Times of need, health, healing and old age are all part of our earthly lives (Hebrews 4:16, Jeremiah 8:15; 14:19, Psalm 71:9). There are appointed times, evil times and times of war and peace (Genesis 18:14, Psalm 37:19, Ecclesiastes 3:8). The wisdom of Solomon reminds us that every season of life has a divine purpose in God’s plan (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

And what about the end times? While the child of God looks forward to heaven and the end of grief and strife, consider that our time to serve Christ will end as well. Whether that end is brought about by our death or the return of the Lord, the fact remains that our days are numbered. The time for using our talents and gifts for Christ will end. Our time to study, pray and worship will end. Even more sobering is the realization that our time for witnessing to lost friends and loved ones will also end. One day their lives on earth will end, too. Will those souls meet that end without Christ and spend eternity in hell? Or did we use God’s precious gift of time wisely so it made a difference in someone’s eternal destiny? The rich man in Luke 16 lifted up his eyes in hell and begged that someone be sent to warn his brothers about that place of torment. The life he spent enjoying worldly wealth and riches ended in tragedy for him and his family.

How we spend our time is our choice, of course. Free will remains the fall or salvation of man. But the Bible sums up the Christian’s call in I Corinthians 6:19-20:

What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

That price was the precious blood of Jesus Christ He shed on Calvary for you and for me. My prayer for Redeemed Baptist Church is that we, in the power of Christ and with renewed zeal, share that old, old story of love and redemption to all those who would receive it. Whether our time is short or long, may our days be used to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to a dark and dying world.

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