Beat the CLOCK
Psalm 118:24
There is an old game show, called beat the clock. In this game show, contestants were given a selected amount of tasks to accomplish in a certain amount of time, thus beating the clock.
In sports you try to beat the clock. You’ve probably heard the saying as the clock ticks down, and the team is making a comeback, “The clock is our worst enemy.”
Any good coach or any good player will try to beat the clock. They will try to make that last second field goal or that last second basket.
Then it seems like in our life is always trying to beat the clock. You have the rush to catch your flight. One time I was so late, they had to shut down one of propellers on the plane where I was greeted with boo’s on boarding the plane for making the flight late.
You have the rush to make it to the practice or the game or what ever other activity your kids are in. Sometimes you may even rush to get to church on time. You yell, “Hurry up, we’re going to be late again for church.” That can really put you in a mood of worship.
Then you have the mad dash for the parking meter. It would seem that is what our life, or at least mine, is about, beating the clock.
Time is valuable. For an example; the Doctor informs you of your terminal illness. The first quest you want to know is…”How much time do I have?”
Time is life. You see your kids driving and going to proms and college and you ask, “Where did time go?” or where did my life go.
You can run out of money but still have time. You can run out of electricity, and still have time. But if you run out of time you have nothing. Besides managing our money we need to manage our time. You can make more money but you can’t make more time. You can make more friends, but you cannot make more time.
Job 14:5 Since his days are determined, the number of his months is with You.
God has given each one of us an allotted amount of time. So what you do with your time He has given you is important, because time management is important to God. We master our minutes, or we become slaves to them; we use time, or time uses us.
And God wants you to use your time wisely and that will be our topic this morning in one little verse in the Bible. In that verse we find three ways to beat the clock.
Read Psalm 118:24
The first thing we need to do is…
We must appreciate each day as a gift from God
Notice the only day that is mentioned in this verse is this day. He does not talk about yesterday or tomorrow, only this day. Every minute that you have, every breath you take, is a gift from God.
Have you ever heard the statement, “I wish I had as much time as you do.” Now think about how silly that sounds. We all have the same amount of time.
And if you are here this morning and you think, “I don’t have the time to do everything that I want to do.” Guess what, join the crowd. There was a study done by USA today that showed that the average time needed to do everything we want to do would require 42 hour days. Almost double what we have in a day. That means it is practically impossible for us to get everything we want done in a days time.
But there is good news. We all will die not having done everything we want to do. How often to you hear, “I’ve always wanted to do that”. But the good news is that you will have time to do everything you NEED to do. And what you need to do is what God would have you to do and God will provide that time.
Think about what Jesus was able to accomplish in his short period of time on this earth. Now Jesus was 33 years old when He was crucified, but 99.9% of His ministry was accomplished in three years. He had to convince the people that He was the promised Messiah. Then He had to convert them from the Laws of the Old Testament, from works to grace. Then He had to be killed by hanging on the cross. Buried, only to rise again and then remain here on earth for His final instructions.
Now the Bible doesn’t say this, but I am sure that there were things that Jesus probably would have wanted to do and never had the chance. Maybe He would have liked to have been married and raise a child. Maybe He would have been like me and wanted to spend more time fishing, but instead He was fishing for men. He didn’t get to do everything He wanted to do, but He did get to do everything He NEEDED to do. Listen to the words of Jesus found in…
John 17:4 I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which you have given Me to do.
Maybe He didn’t finish here what He wanted to do, but He did get finish what He needed to do. And we are not here to get done what we want to do, but we all have been given all the time we need to do what He would have us to do.
Then we need to…
Dedicate each day to the glory of God
There are two verbs in our text that describes the present and the past tense. Those are the words “is” and “has”. The only day you have to enjoy is today. You hear about people talk about saving time. You cannot save time. You are allotted a certain amount and you cannot add to it or you cannot take away from it.
Now you can spend your time, (the opposite of save, just ask my wife the difference) either foolishly or wisely, but you can’t save it.
That is why time is so valuable. The clock never stops ticking. That is why you should never procrastinate by not doing what you should today and waiting till latter.
This is a mistake that many make concerning their relationship with God. Good intentions don’t end up with good results. Some one who plans someday to get saved by entering into a personal relationship with God is just as lost as the person who has no desire to.
The Bible tells us that TODAY is the day of salvation.
You can’t store time. You can’t stretch time. That is why Paul gave this warning found in Ephesians 5:15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are over.
The phrase of “redeeming the time” is an accounting term. It means to cash in every moment you can to get the most of your time.
Think about it like this. Imagine that your banker calls you and tells you that an anonymous donor will give you 864,000 penny’s a day into your account. That is $ 864.00 for those of you trying to figure out the math. And the only stipulation is that you have to spend it all that day. You can’t save it. You can’t store it. What ever you don’t spend is gone at the end of the day. How would you treat it? My kids would be singing, “We’re in the money”. We would do our best to spend every penny the best we can.
God gives each one of us 864,000 seconds of the day in our life account. And we need to make sure that we spend it in the best way we can.
One tip from Zig Ziglar is this. Each day write down what you NEED to do and then prioritize it. And at the top of that list should be your relationship with God. Start each day by asking God what He needs you to do.
So many times Christians make the mistake of not making time for God. I would read my bible but I don’t have the time. I would come to church but I have to much to do.
Matthew 6: 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
And when you do what you need to do, you will be surprised how much time to do what you WANT to do.
Then the last way to beat the clock is to…
Celebrate each day in the goodness of God
Now the last thing that I want you to think is that I want you to cram a bunch of stuff in your day. You can describe the end of our text as take time to smell the roses. We have to take time to do that because we are so busy in life.
In a lifetime the average American will spend: Six months sitting at stoplights
Eight months opening junk mail; One year looking for misplaced objects; 2 years unsuccessfully returning phone calls; 4 years doing housework; 5 years waiting in line; and 6 years eating
Everyday 8,000 people move to another state. Everyday we purchase 45,000 new vehicles and everyday we smash 8,000 of them in car wrecks. Everyday we average 13,000 people getting married and everyday we average 6,300 getting a divorce. Everyday 11,000 people get dog bite, (with mail carriers getting the majority of them). Everyday we eat 75 acre’s of pizza and 3 million gallons of ice cream. We ALL are busy.
But whether you enjoy the day has nothing to do with your circumstances. Our text says, “I will Rejoice”. No matter what happens, no matter how bad your day may appear, you ALLWAYS have something to rejoice about.
When you make yourself stop and think, I can always think Him that I am alive. I can think Him for the breath I take. I can thank Him for His provisions; The roof over your head, the cloths on your back, or the food on your table. We all have things we can rejoice in. And every time that we think we have it bad, we don’t have to look far to see someone else who is in worse shape than you are.
Much like the man who was feeling sorry for himself because he had holes in his shoes, only to look and see a man in a wheel chair who had no feet at all.
No matter what you are going through in your life, God has a purpose. It does not matter is you are 6 months old or 60 years old. All time is short. You need to learn how to beat the clock.
If you are here this morning and you have not entered into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ; now is the only time that you know for sure that you can change that. There is no gauntly of a tomorrow, there is even no gauntly of a tonight. Now is the time to make that decision, because it could be your last.
All time belongs to God. You see, there was no such thing as time until God made it. "This is the day which the Lord hath made." This is God’s day. Everyday is God’s day. We are told to "redeem the time." This word refers to someone who goes to the store and buys the very best bargains. You and I are going to answer for our use of time.
