For a Limited Time Only

Not long ago I noticed an advertisement for a very unusual clock. It doesn't tell you the time. Rather, based on the year of your birth and your age, it tells you how many days you have left on the planet. That number of days is an average of course! Your actual departure might come sooner or later. But the clock reminds us all that our career on Earth is not open ended.

Moses knew that. He wrote, "Teach us, O Lord, to number our days that we might apply our hearts to wisdom." [Psalm 90:12]

It's instructive to recall that Moses lived out most of his days in some pretty brutal settings. Forty years were spent in the brutal Sinai wilderness working as a shepherd. And his final forty years played out in the same region, this time as the leader of a stubborn bunch of nomads! (And you and I complain about having to deal with irritating co-workers in air conditioned offices!)

I mention that fact because many of us are fairly dissatisfied with this particular moment of history where our calendars have been placed. We've been watching this economic cycle grow deeper and more unsettling for nearly a year now. Still there's no end in sight! And there are heated debates raging at the highest levels of government about what must be done.

It's tempting in anxious moments like these to place our lives "on hold." It's hard to maintain a postive attitude. It's hard to think about anything else. It's easy to complain and swap headlines about the latest conundrum facing the world.

But here's what I keep saying to myself: "You're life isn't really on hold." The fact is that my days are numbered in a very real sense, and the pages of the calendar are still turning. Sure, some days are happier than others, but all days are equal in value. What's more, difficult days are generally the most productive ones for ministering to others and helping people in darkness see the light. So you and I don't have time to waste waiting on better news.

We already have the Good News, and that kind of news already has a market. People are more spiritually hungry today than they were even a year ago. And the only way you and I will receive a fresh batch of better days is by trading in the ones we already have. So don't trade them in. Use them. Stop looking for a break, and start looking for broken hearts.

That's what Paul means when he tells us to redeem the time for the days are evil. The idea is that I must be intentional about making the most of every day, especially when the circumstances are bleak.