R.M. Cornelius identifies “Seven Ages of Man:”
6 weeks—all systems go
6 years—all systems “No!”
16 years—all systems know
26 years—all systems glow
36 years—all systems owe
56 years—all systems status quo
76 years—all systems slow
I don’t know about you, but it shocks me to see that I am already firmly entrenched in the fifth age—all systems owe. Where has the time gone? Surely Job knew what he was talking about when he said, “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle” (Job 7:6). It seems that “the hurrier I go, the behinder I get.”
The most precious commodity we have today is not silver or gold, but time. John Randolph reminds us, “Time is at once the most valuable and the most perishable of all possessions.” When we squander it on things that don’t matter, we are so foolish. Paul warns us, “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5: 15). When we look around us, we can see that the days we are living in are truly evil, with sin rampant in our world. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, however, that “this time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.” What we need to deal with our time is a heavenly perspective: “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth, For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-3).
What will you do with time? I find Henry Thoreau’s observation thoughtful: “As if you could kill time without injuring eternity” (Walden I: Economy). Will we “injure eternity?” We are each given twenty-four precious hours daily. How will we use them? Whatever age we find ourselves in, whether 6 or 76, we must serve faithfully.
“Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.”
Proverbs 8:33
