It’s About Time

Many years ago, a traveler to the state of Kentucky saw a statue of the famous racehorse, Man of War. At the base of that statue was the inscription, “This is the fastest horse the world has ever known.” Underneath that inscription some wag wrote, “This is the fastest world the horse has ever known.”

Illustrating the fast pace of modern life, Dr. Russell Bennett spoke of an incident that occurred at the Atlanta airport several years ago. An elderly gentleman approached a ticket agent to ask when the next flight departed for Montgomery, Alabama. The agent replied, “At 3:10 pm.” Then the gentleman asked when this plane would arrive in Montgomery, Alabama. The agent answered, “At 3:12 pm.”

The inquirer’s eyes widened (for he had forgotten that Montgomery is in a different time zone than Atlanta). Breaking this silence, the agent finally asked, “Do you want to buy a ticket?” “No, Ma’am,” the gentleman answered, “but I would sure like to see that thing take off!”

All this is old hat to the younger folks. One college student called to see how long it took to fly from Atlanta to New York, and when the agent said, “Just a minute,” he thanked her and hung up!

Well, this is the fastest world the horse as ever known! As Alvin Toffler documented in his book, Future Shock, the metabolism of history has sped up to an incredible pace. The urgency to redeem the time, therefore, is especially needful in our generation.

Back in Sir Walter Scott’s day, it was customary for people to have a sundial on their lawn, at the base of which would be inscribed some pithy saying. The saying Sir Walter selected originated not from a poet or philosopher but from Scripture. Every time Sir Walter looked at his sundial he saw the words of our Savior, “Work for the night cometh.” Because, yes, soon and very soon, our time will be over and the opportunity to labor for the Lord will be gone.

Many wonder and wander … without direction and without any sense of urgency. C.E. Montague tells how he first realized the urgency of time. He heard a sermon in which the minister said, “I find it set down in the tables that the average duration of life after age 21 is 36 years. We may hope for a little more, we may fear a little less, but speaking generally 36 years or 13,000 days is the term in which our task must be accomplished.”

For Montague, it was the reduction of this matter to days that brought the point home. Likewise, Thomas Chalmers experienced a dramatic turning to the Lord in his own life which he explained by saying, “Mathematician, though I was, I had forgotten two magnitudes—the shortness of time and the vastness of eternity.”

Due to the marvels of modern medicine, the life expectancy we have today is significantly longer; but even so, from incubator to old age, our life expectancy is only about 28,000 days. That’s it!

So what are we going to do with the time we have? Are we going to fritter it away by overextending ourselves at work or by watching too much TV at home? Are we going to give big chunks of our time to entertainment as we neglect the assignment God intended us to fulfil? 

Dr. Clarence McCartney, the well-known Presbyterian minister, often preached a sermon titled, “Come Before Winter.” Once a year for forty years he preached this sermon, the title of which came from words Paul wrote to Timothy.

It was while Paul was jailed in Rome that he penned a request for his protégé Timothy to visit him. Accompanying this request was Paul’s desire for a coat he had left to be brought, along with some old books. Then, adding urgency to his words, Paul concluded his letter with the petition to “come before winter.”

These latter words were triggered by the fact the Mediterranean became impossible to navigate at that time of the year. Therefore, if Timothy were going to come, he needed to do it before winter.

Upon hearing Dr. McCartney preach this sermon, an alcoholic returned to his hotel room with those words “come before winter” ringing in his ears. When he later opened the refrigerator that day to get a can of beer, the Lord seemed to say to him, “This is your hour! If you’ll put that away, you’ll gain a victory. But if you take a drink, the longed-for-victory will forever elude you. Come before winter!”

Rising to the challenge, the alcoholic began a journey that led to lifelong sobriety. 

On another occasion, a young medical student heard this sermon and immediately felt impressed to write that long-overdue letter to his mother. Although he needed to study for an exam that day, those words, “come before winter,” just wouldn’t leave his mind. So he wrote the letter he knew he needed to write, telling his mother how much he loved her and how grateful he was for all she had done for him.

Within a week word came that his mother was taken to the hospital and that her situation was serious, so he needed to return home at once. Unfortunately, by the time he arrived, his mother had already died. But under her pillow was that letter he had written, a letter that had meant so much to her! 

The words, “come before winter,” declare God’s message not to trivialize time, but to use it wisely and use it well.

Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the story of three devils in residency training for their mischief-making on earth. When asked to report the strategies they will use, the first devil said, “I will tell men that there is no God.”

“No, no,” said the Master Devil, as he shook his head in adamant protest to this approach. “That will never work!” he said. “If people look up, they’ll see millions of little lights that tell them there has to be a God!”

The second devil in training then spoke up and said, “I’ll tell men that there is no hell.” Once again, this strategy was immediately rebuffed by the Master Devil when he said, “That will never work, either, because there’s enough suffering on earth to convince men there has to be a hell.”

Then the third devil in training offered his strategy, “I’ll tell men that there is no hurry.” With that, the Master Devil’s eyes lit up with glee as he said, “Yes! Go and tell them that and you will ruin them by the multiplied millions.” 

There is no hurry … how that message has done incalculable damage! Because whenever delay follows truth, so, almost always, does disobedience.

You've heard the old Latin phrase, tempus fugit, which means time flies. The Roman poet Virgil first used it in 29 BC while Jesus was still alive. And since then, time hasn't slowed down a bit.