Among all God’s creatures, humans alone count the years, the days and the moments as they pass. Birds, fish, and animals spread throughout the earth are immersed in the same time sequence, but they neither know of nor think about marking off years, days, and hours. When the year ends, they do nothing to mark its close, but humans do. They ring bells, blow whistles, and shout greetings when the clock strikes midnight on December 31.

Humankind is earth’s time-conscious creature aware of fleeting mortality. Humans not only watch calendars, but manufacture timepieces which allow them to count seconds and even finer points of time. Man is God’s time-enamored and time-panicked creature.

People love possessing time. They plead for more as though it were a purchasable commodity. If someone urges us to hurry, we beg, "Give me more time!" If our fellow man goes through a difficult experience, we say "Wait for time to heal." On the other hand, fear of the rapid pace, the relentless rush of time passing, can push us toward a nervous breakdown. Man fears the thing he loves, and can be brought to nervous destruction by his sense of time — the very thing that makes him unique among all the creatures that populate the earth!

Consecrated Time

All of us have the same amount of time. None can stretch the day beyond 24 hours. Consecrated children of God, then, must view their time so that it serves their highest Christian interest. If we gain something of character each year, if we reach a higher level of spirituality, then we can count that year’s time as well-spent.

In the narrow way of sacrifice, any investment under the holy Spirit’s influence in spiritual self-improvement, so that we reach closer to the image of our Master, is time well spent. We must measure our spiritual life’s progress by a higher standard than the clock on our mantle or the watch on our wrist. We do not see enough of God’s plans for us to determine our lives by our own standards of time.

The Bible does not specify how long it took for God to prepare the elements for creation. However, Jehovah God, along with the Logos, spent their time with man in mind as the consummate product of their physical creation. Knowing this should inspire us to invest whatever time we have into telling the world about God’s plan for man. All of our time should be spent considering that the present evil world around us will be replaced. Our time each day should be spent with the spirit of sympathetic love for a poor groaning world.

Let us not look at the clock as the world will do when the year begins. Let us look beyond the clocks to our heavenly reward. As the year turns, let us remind ourselves of the task of consecration and ask, "Do I pledge to settle for nothing less than a total commitment of my time towards God’s service in the coming year?"

Let us ask, each day, What is God’s purpose for me this day? What is my work for Him? How can I demonstrate love and live a truly consecrated life? Let us look for the New Year to bring more trials with more joys, more temptations with more triumphs, more prayers with more answers, more testing with more strength, and more battles with more victories.

Eventually, perhaps even in the coming year, our time on Earth will be complete. Even then, time will not be over. We hope to awake in the likeness of Jesus to be with him and other saints in glory for eternity. In the coming year, let us be of good courage with hearts full of praise. Let us seek and welcome God’s overruling in every part of our life. Let us not fret about the seemingly quick passing of the year. It is but another mark toward an eternity of joy.