Christian Living
You Have Sixty Minutes On The Clock. Go!
(James 4:14)
I have been given a most unique ability today. I have been blessed to have the power to limit your time on this Earth for the purpose of experimentation. I was trying to decide how long to give you, and I think that most everything of importance can be accomplished in one hour. One minute was not enough, and a whole day is for those who are lazy. You have been granted sixty minutes to do as you see fit, then the Angel of Death will take you. It won’t hurt, I promise. Ready? Set? Go!
What are you going to do? How many things do you need to do? How many apologies, love letters, and thank you notes do you need to get out there? Bills are not important right now. You won’t be coming back. If the cable gets turned off, so what. This is the time that you should be concerned about more important things. I’ll help you get started, and then you are on your own.
The first thing you better be concerned with is where you will spend eternity and your relationship with God, because very soon you will be standing in front of Him. If you do not know His Son as your savior, that is job one. You had better call a pastor, a friend that you know at work or somebody that you know has the information on how to be saved. You can call me if you want. I can help you there. If you are not right in His eyes, better get that straight as well. No sense taking that to Him and have to explain it. Get it handled now.
Forty-seven minutes till the hour has come. When was the last time you argued with your spouse or sibling or friend? Time is running short. You need to make sure that your last impression on that person is a good one. Don’t let them look in your box and think about the last fight. You are going to want to be remembered for the good memories, not the fact that you somebody ten bucks. Don’t be remembered for all the broken promises, either. No, you probably don’t have the time to fix that leaky faucet, but you better let them know that you love them and you want them to be happy.
What’s that? You say that you need more time? You better work faster, because your address has been given to the proper authorities. Don’t panic yet. You still have twenty-two minutes. Time enough to make sure that you haven’t forgotten anybody. Your neighbor, maybe. Are the two of you on speaking terms? Better get that all leveled off. Be quick about it. Time waits for no man.
Only four minutes left. Still more to do? Now you can panic. Better leave a note with all the names of the people that you wanted to call, because now you won’t make it. Don’t forget to mention that your cable is going to get shut off in six days if the bill isn’t paid. Don’t leave out your parents. Your mother will call till she’s blue in the face to want to know the condition of your underwear at the time of your demise.
One minute left, and the breeze has picked up. You can feel the fingers of Death starting to squeeze the life right out of you. You now know that you will never be able to handle all the business that you have left undone on this planet in one hour. You will leave hard feelings behind. You will leave bad memories behind. You will leave with a sense that you are incomplete in your task on Earth. Time’s up.
If you have been following along, you will notice that you all are still here. At least I hope that you are. Nobody died just then that was reading this, unless God timed it to work out that way. I have no such power, but I do have the ability to show you something. Let me show you again less dramatically.
What you have just witnessed and felt is the anguish of not being able to leave this world with a clean conscience. Why is that? You say you were not ready. Why not? Have you allowed your schedule to dictate to you what is important and when it is important to do it?
Friends, I say to you that you do not know the hour of your passing. Without that knowledge, you have no choice but to live as though you could die at any moment. That means that you should never put off that apology to your friend or sibling. You should never say that you will get yourself ready and organized tomorrow, because tomorrow is promised to no man.
And what about your meeting with God? Are you ready to face Him, knowing that you are totally unprepared to stand before Him without knowing His Son as savior? How long do you think that you will be able to stand in His presence? I’ll tell you how long. Just long enough to get kicked out and land straight in Hell. You will be banished from His sight for eternity. That is more to pay than you are going to be able to afford.
Believe it or not, I have a solution for you. It might very well help ease the tension brought about by Death. First, know Jesus as your savior. He is a kind and loving King, and He wants you to come be with Him and not suffer the place that was created for the Devil and his minions. Don’t do that to yourself. It’s not worth it.
Second, stop putting off the choking on your pride and go apologize for that rude remark you made last week. You know you were wrong, but you’ve been rationalizing the whole thing till you believe that you are right about it. Stop being a baby. Just go over there and do it. Don’t let your conflicts last so long. All that does is let anger grow instead of compassion. Be bigger than your anger. Be open to the feelings of others, and let them know how you feel. It won’t kill you.
Lastly, don’t be so hung up on yourself that you forget that there are others in this world that care about you. These are the people that you should stop treating like dirt, and stop quickly. Your wife does not need to be told that you don’t have a cold glass of tea in your hand. Your husband does not need to be told that the faucet has been dripping for the last two days and it drives you crazy. When that person is gone, tea and faucets are going to be the last things on your minds.
I hope this has helped some of you. If not, read it again, you missed something.
PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
The opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com. This is especially true with articles that
deal with personal healthcare and prophecy. We encourage the reader to make their own decision in consultation with God, His Word, and others as needed.
This article has been read 900 times < Previous | Next >
Read more articles by Mark Bradley or search for other articles by topic below.
This article has been read 900 times < Previous | Next >
Search for articles on: (e.g. creation; holiness etc.)
Read more by clicking on a link:Free Reprints
Main Site Articles
Most Read Articles
Highly Acclaimed Challenge Articles.
New Release Christian Books for Free for a Simple Review.
NEW - Surprise Me With an Article - Click here for a random URL
God is Not Against You - He Came on an All Out Rescue Mission to Save You
...in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them... 2 Cor 5:19
Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Acts 13:38
LEARN & TRUST JESUS HERE
FaithWriters offers Christian reading material for Christian readers. We offer Christian articles, Christian fiction, Christian non-fiction, Christian Bible studies, Christian poems, Christian articles for sale, free use Christian articles, Christian living articles, New Covenant Christian Bible Studies, Christian magazine articles and new Christian articles. We write for Jesus about God, the Bible, salvation, prayer and the word of God.
something we all need is a reminder to use our time wisely or we will give the kind of account we do not want to.Hope your article is well read>read well.