Make Time Count

Pastor Dan Delzell of Redeemer Lutheran in Nebraska wrote in Christian Post (June 8, 2024), “If you only had weeks to live, what would you do?” That’s a powerful punch in the gut. Try drifting off to sleep with that question burning a hole in your head. It’s a question you cannot answer for anyone else, nor they you. A determining factor in such pondering will always be, what do you think of your life up to now?

I knew a man who lived life on his own terms. It was hard living, indeed. He earned—and wasted—a fortune. He cheated on his wife. He drank gallons of coffee every day (not a sin, but still...), and he always had a cigarette dangling from his mouth. He treated most people around him with disdain; his native language was “ridicule”—when he wasn’t cursing up lightning and thunder. Okay, even then.

When the call came that he was dying of lung cancer, we went to visit. In the course of our discussion, he assured everyone, “I don’t have any regrets.” Kathy and I looked at each other, trying our best not to show shock and dismay. How, we wondered, could anyone facing death as he did, hold that cavalier 'tude? He had once served the Lord. He had some good qualities, like helping others. But the weight of his choices through all those years would have crushed most of us. Thankfully, he repented of his sins before he breathed his last.

As I examine my past life, I can’t help but list some regrets. The older I get, the more I have. Dan Delzell writes, “Do you realize you are on a sinking ship [like people on the H.M.S. Titanic], or are you living in a spiritual fog? When Jesus returns to Earth one day, everything will instantly change.”

If it took you many hours to work your way through Delzell’s question and make some changes, it would be time well spent. In fact, even huge winnings at the casino wouldn’t be nearly as valuable. I’ll go out on this limb: there are few things in life as valuable as figuring out what you would do if you knew you would die in a few weeks—then put those changes into practice.

Building off Delzell’s Titanic motif, “The bottom line is that the world is a sinking ship, and you and I are on it.” You may live for months, years, even decades yet, but getting things right is never a waste of time. And since you might also have a few days or weeks (or just minutes) to live, there’s no time like right now to put things right.

I’m going to make my time count. Oh well, no sleep for me tonight!