Ephesians 5:15-17 “So be very careful how you live. Do not live like those who are not wise, but live wisely. Use every chance you have for doing good, because these are evil times. So do not be foolish but learn what the Lord wants you to do”.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 “There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven:”

Following the accident which paralysed her, Joni Eareckson Tada wrote in '365 Days of Hope' about the bitterness she had for some time felt about her dependency, and her regrets at the way she had reacted to friends and nursing staff; but her greatest regret was for the years she had wasted. She wrote -

“In my early teens I memorised entire Beatles albums but felt bored at memorising Scripture. I turned down a summer mission trip because I didn't want to be away from my boyfriend. Then came my accident in 1967 and more years of spiritual dryness as I sneered at nurses and took out my anger at my family.

Even after I got my spiritual act together, I wasted time. For almost a year I let die a habit of prayer. For ages I ignored Bible reading. Worthless years. Futile. Wasted.”

Reading this, I began to think back over my own life and how much time I too have wasted. O yes, I've been good at coming up with excuses that I was up to my eyes, busy with other work, but if I'm honest, much of that 'busyness', was self-imposed. Is this still so? Well, that's something I'm looking very closely at at the moment.

A year is made up of months, weeks, days, hours and moments. We only have to waste three short months and that is a quarter of our year gone, our lives – futile – wasted.

Time seems to have speeded up and people are despondent and afraid for the future. We can, and must, stop wasting time and reach out to the lonely, desperate, searching, and bring them God's message of peace, hope, and security.

Let us make time for the Lord in prayer. Walk with Him daily. The world teaches us that it’s all about me, but this should not be. Let us put others before ourselves. We must stop this comfortable Christianity and seek to tell others about Christ. Soon it’s going to be too late to accept Him, it’s going to be too late for us to get to know Christ more, it’s going to be too late to witness. Don’t put off doing God’s will.  We must stop being lazy. Who cares what is going on in the world, it's temporary, and we are looking forward to the eternal?

What is going on with your relationship with Christ? Don’t let us waste our lives! Or hear it said: “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved”. .
Jeremiah 8:20 (Websters Bible Translation)

To listen to today's music, click on the picture. Michael English singing “Please Forgive me”.