"The youngest of our 11 children is little Jubilee. She is a one year old who loves it when I blow bubbles for her. In fact, she can get pretty upset if her 3 year old brother pops one which I blew especially for her.
I’m 51 years old. And I really don’t care too much about bubbles. In fact, it’s been quite a few years since I blew bubbles simply for my own enjoyment. The difference in our level of fascination with bubbles is that I’ve had 50 more years than her to establish my criteria for what things matter most. I’ve determined that bubbles are just too temporary to get very concerned with. I’ve simply matured beyond the stage of being captivated by them.
The Bible says our time in this life is like a vapor that appears for a moment, then vanishes away. That’s why those who spend all their time collecting treasure in this life are not thinking maturely. Like babies, they’re chasing bubbles instead of redeeming the time.
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"I like driving a stick shift. Because I’m a very frugal person, I like taking the car out of gear and seeing how far I can coast. When I’m a half mile from home, I know the exact spot I can take the car out of gear and coast to my driveway.
Coasting is a great way to save money when driving, but some people are trying to coast their way home in life. They reach a point where their finances or status allows them greater discretionary time. But instead of redeeming that time, they shift into neutral and start coasting their way home.
When Moses was 120 years old, the Bible says he was still “in gear.” And he stayed in gear until God took him home. Had Moses coasted the last forty years of his life, we wouldn’t have the first five books of the Bible. But, he didn’t fill his final years with idle coasting, selfish boasting, or excessive social media posting. He stayed engaged and redeemed the time.
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"If I ask you, ""What does a fireman do?"" You'll respond, ""They put out fires."" But actually, firefighting consumes only a fraction of the firefighter's workday.
The firefighter spends many hours each week receiving training, preparing his equipment for the next fire, and promoting fire prevention. Without that regular preparation and prevention time, the firefighter's job would be much more difficult and his efforts much less effective.
Most any job will have some ""firefighting"" or crisis response built into it. We can't eliminate the crises, but they will come less often and be much more manageable, if we spend some time on a regular basis in prevention and preparation. Proverbs says, the wise man will forsee evil and take the appropriate action. In other words, he invests time now in prevention to avoid a time consuming crisis later on.
Take a moment right now and consider the most likely crisis to erupt in your life during the next six months. Then, list the prevention and preparation tactics you will use to redeem the time.
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"Someone recently sent me the following anonymous quote about investing time in ways that will matter most:
If you want your ideas to last for years, write them on paper. If you want them to last for decades, write them on brick. If you want them to last for centuries, write them in stone. If you want your ideas to last forever, write them on the heart of a child.""
That quote articulates the solution to the quest we all have to do something significant with our time. Significance is measured by how long the consequences of an activity will endure. The more temporary the consequence, the less significance we attach to it. The more permanent the consequence, the greater the significance. Therefore, if you want a highly significant life, you have to look for a way to invest your time in something with long lasting results.
When we invest time in children, especially in getting them ready for Heaven, we’ve chosen an eternal investment that redeems the time.
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