Row by row. Row by row. That was me, Thursday afternoon, lost in thought while mowing my lawn. I like to keep the rows straight as I push the mower up one end of my yard and back the other. It looks better and of course it’s quicker.
As I ended one row and did my end-of-row pivot to turn around, I saw someone approaching me from the side. I looked up and saw my daughter, with a big, cheesy grin on her face. She kept trying to shout something over the sound of the mower and I kept ignoring her. She just laughed. I knew what she wanted, and she knew that I knew it. She just turned 16 this week. I saw my wife come out a few seconds behind her with a camera and I turned off the mower.
“Dad, can I have the car keys?” Gulp! A few minutes later, I watched her for the first time ever, drive away all by her self, ever so cautiously down our street and out of sight… Wow! And that’s how a new era began at my house on Thursday. We had trained for this moment for a while with plenty of Saturday afternoon drives. It wasn’t a surprise, but I can’t deny that it’s going to take some getting used to. For the last 16 years, she’s relied on me to take her everywhere. Not anymore.
As she drove off with her new found freedom, I couldn’t help thinking about a starkly different conversation I had that morning about a friend of mine facing the looming reality of being forced to give up their own license due to the natural inability to drive that comes with age. After decades of navigating the roads with ease, coming and going as they pleased… poof! Gone. What a contrast in realities between that and what my daughter is experiencing right now. It got me thinking about how precious our time is on this earth and how unyielding it marches on.
“For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.” Ecclesiastes 9:12
Paul offers us encouragement. Although time marches on and often catches us off guard in its evil net, those who will, can cash in on the goodness of God’s mission at whatever stage of life they are in.
“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil” Ephesians 5:15-16
That passage has always given me pause. On the one hand a blessing, that no matter where I’m at in terms of my past, I can move forward in God’s grace from that point forward. On the other hand, a dire warning that the days are evil and I’m going to be daily under attack going forward whether or not I redeem the time. Sobering thought.
My natural thoughts often take for granted that I will be able to work, do, think… just as I always have for the foreseeable future. Sure, there is the occasional reminder by way of a sore knee, or bad back that life marches on. But do I really take God’s Word seriously in redeeming the time every evil day I live?
My inclination is to make sure my heart, mind and body are in the game – now! Certainly Paul is saying to do so. Let me encourage you to begin by investing the Word of Life into another person. It’s a great place to start that will begin an outpouring of the characteristics of God in your life as you grow in your ability to share Truth with others. If you’re not investing God’s Word in another person, are you truly walking circumspectly like the verse in Ephesians 5 says? I think an honest, circumspect evaluation of mankind in light of the Word of God would say no. How could a believer passively go through life knowing the end state of mankind without a pattern of warning others of hell and preaching the good news of the gospel? Of all things after all, Jesus is “Whom we preach…” Col. 1:28.
I hope that most of you are already engaged in the mission. For me, the battle is often embracing the place I am at in my life right now, with the Biblical understanding that the time is short.
“Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.”
Proverbs 27:1
Are you fully engaged in God’s Word in a way that lets it work through your heart and mind throughout the day? Are you thankful for where God has you right now? Are you self-aware of the roles God presently has for you as a minister, husband, father, son, worker, student…? I am reminded, thinking about that older friend about to lose his license, that as time goes, so does every man’s ability to engage in those roles that would be easy to take for granted right now. Once my friend loses his license, he’ll still be able to apply Ephesians 5:15-16 just like he can right now. But he’ll enter a new stage, with new roles to engage in. Are you living in the now with God’s Word in mind? If not, start today.
