Time Sensitive! Open Immediately!

Long before the Wacky World Web, it was the U.S. Postal service that faithfully delivered the email equivalent of spam: Junk Mail. Most of them had these infamous words: Time Sensitive, Open Immediately. Oh my gosh! We better open that letter up or we are going to miss out on something absolutely fantastic; so wonderful that if we don’t open it up our lives will somehow be less fantastic and wonderful. Hopefully no one feels that way. This type of Snail Mail has a special location for it: We call it File 13. For the pitiful souls who do not know the meaning of File 13, I’ll explain it to you: It’s the trash can!

And once it is placed in File 13, no one wakes up in the middle of the night rummaging through File 13 to find that piece of mail and see what they almost missed; at least I pray not! Though in these times, I would not be surprised if people did this–not in the least surprised. But–there is another Time Sensitive, call it a package, that many people place in File 13. It’s is called Time! It is delivered to us–well–all the Time. And it is “Time” Sensitive. When it’s gone, it’s gone–novel idea! And when it’s wasted–you can’t go back. It’s like trying to put toothpaste back in the tube after you sneezed as you were applying it to the toothbrush. Once out it doesn’t go back in!

Not only is Time being wasted by so many–there is an even a worse phenomenon happening–it’s called Trifling it away. We don’t use this word much anymore–but we should. It’s spending the most important gift of all on things that can only be described as niggling, nugatory, vapid, jejune, banal–and if you don’t know the meaning of those words, here’s a word your size: Valueless. Would you go into the convenience store to buy a candy bar and give the clerk a hundred dollar bill and walk away without the change? Of course not! (I use this illustration fully aware that with the current inflation, that is what a candy bar may cost–when you add the extra taxes government wants to add because you aren’t eating healthy foods!)

So, starting right now–not today, because that gives you the opportunity to continue Trifling away this Sensitive gift called Time–open up this gift to all the adventures and opportunities that are awaiting you! And do not forget that opportunities often come with challenges–but the good ones are worth whatever challenges there may be. Time is to be used wisely. I don’t mean we live like a Gloomy Gus! God wants life to be enjoyed. But it will never be fully enjoyed by Trifling it away. Trifling has hard and painful consequences.

Tons of items have that mandatory Best If Used By date. So does your life–but that date isn’t stamped on the bottom of our feet. Today you may get that Time Sensitive phone call about the extended warranty for your vehicle because everything that makes your vehicle go has an expiration date. Milk has an expiration date. Our life has an Expiration Date–you just don’t know that date. Here is a Truth that will stand for all Time from James chapter 4 and verse 14–“What do you know about tomorrow? How can you be so sure about your life? It is nothing more than mist that appears for only a little while before it disappears.” (CEV)

Use your Time in ways that increases the value–of your own life and the lives of others! And you will not get a phone call offering you an extended warranty for your life. Wait a minute–as a matter of fact–you are receiving that call RIGHT NOW and it is TIME SENSITIVE! Jesus said in John chapter 10 and verse 10–“A thief comes only to rob, kill, and destroy. I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest.” Don’t Trifle your Time away. Make it like a Chocolate Truffle–a sweet delicacy meant to be enjoyed!