You Only Have So Much Time & Money – Spend Both Wisely & With God’s Purpose

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands.’ (Ecclesiastes 5:15); ‘<Job said,> “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”’ (Job 1:21)

Yesterday, I finally got our Jeep, affectionately named ‘Wilbur’, back from the shop after an extended stay due to mice making a nest in it and chewing on wires. It is now fixed, but I told the repair shop to ask around to see if anyone would be interested in purchasing it. ‘Wilbur’ is fun to have and putt around (when it runs), especially when the roads are flooded when hurricanes come to visit.

However, it often just sits and for the most part isn’t needed; the Jeep was not missed in the month or so it was at the shop awaiting repairs. I am hoping someone who has the skills and patience to repair it when it acts up and would like to have it for fun (off-roading on the many powerline trails we have around us) will want to have it, or just buy it for the parts it has. I don’t really need it, so why should I keep it?

I’ve also made the effort, since after the COVID scare and the recent rash of hurricanes, to better know and talk to our neighbors. We have talked with them before, but not as much as we do now. It is now to the point where we have a least a cooperative relationship with them, where if they need help we go and help them and vice versa. For one neighbor, the husband is in poor health and I am asked to lend a hand on some menial tasks (like removing a corroded hose fitting from an outdoor spigot), when some ‘handyman know-how’ is necessary.

We watch each other’s homes for any suspicious activities, picking up packages when the neighbor is away, and other items that come with trusting each other. These are good relations to have with our neighbors, and I have shared the Gospel with them and gave them Bibles. The neighbors for the most part are Christian and either go to church, or at least watch services on TV, and I know one of the neighbors used the Bible to share with one of their relatives the Good News of Jesus.

Both the obtainment of the Jeep and talking to neighbors can be tied to these two verses.  We have basically two commodities that we are given by God, time and assets (belongings or money).  We can control each to an extent, but as it has been said, ‘you can’t take it with you’. When it is time to go, you’ll have no more time to spend, and no more time to spend or hoard your money.

You can’t add time to your life; it’s true medical advancements, nutrition, and an easier lifestyle due to tools and automation have extended longevity but God already knows everyone’s lifespans, and those things don’t guarantee long life.  (Take your vitamins or run 2 miles a day helps, but step out in front of a car…)  There is only so much time to accomplish the work the Lord wants us to do.

Money is a bit more insidious than time; you do need to have money to pay your debts, and to buy the goods you need to live.  It is Godly to save money for a rainy day (BE PREPARED…) but the Lord also points out that you can save to your own folly through greed (The farmer building bigger barns to store more, Luke 12:16-21).  We have to ensure not to be greedy or to hoard, to ensure we ‘give while we live, so we knows where it goes’ (a quote from the late Percy Ross), while ensuring we are prepared for the next ‘famine’. 

When you start loving your possessions and hang onto them instead of loving others and be willing to let loose of those possessions to provide to someone else in need, you fall into being the one described in 1 Timothy 6:10 (‘the love of money is the root of all evil‘).  To hoard and keep things that someone else could use falls into the category of ‘the love of money’, as a commodity, like eggs or sunglasses, in excess (perhaps sitting in crates or boxes throughout your house), is a tangible asset that is a form of money.

The ’love of time’ is also as bad as the ‘love of money’; we all need time to ourselves, but we should never try to have all of our time to ourselves.  We need to share our time with others; we need to interact with others, to talk, to teach, to listen, and to learn.  Jesus is a prime example of how to ‘spend your time’, He took the time to pray alone often, but He also was readily available to talk to others, and teach and share His Gospel to the crowds. 

We cannot make anymore time than that which we are allotted, and like our ‘stuff’, we can’t take it with us.  Share your time and share your ‘stuff’ – whatever you can afford to share.  You can’t take either with you, so be a cheerful giver of both!