How Much of the Lord's Time Have You Stolen?

There was a story in a Rochester, Texas church bulletin about a young man who was working in a large department store, being told by his employer that he would be required to work on Sunday. It so happened that the hours assigned to him would have prevented his attending any of the worship services to which he had been accustomed to attending since childhood.
 
The young man informed his employer that he would not be able to continue his work under these conditions, and his employer told him he would have to go.
 
A few days later, the young man answered an ad in the paper from a bank which had advertised a vacancy for a teller. In checking the young man's previous employers, the bank president contacted the department store head and inquired as to the boy's record and whether he could recommend him. The store manager replied, "Why, yes, I will be glad to recommend him. He will make you a good man. I just fired him a few days ago."
 
"Fired him?" the bank president exclaimed. "Why would you recommend a man whom you just recently dismissed from your service?" The store manager explained the circumstances under which the boy was released, and remarked, "I know he will make you a good man for your bank, because if he will not steal the Lord's time, he will not steal your money."
 
There is a given reality that we all have to face. Every human being only lives so long. We only have a specific number of days that we live. For each person that number is unique and numbered. “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” Psalm 90:10. KJV
 
That means that the average person, if they live to 70 years old will have lived 613,200 hours. If you take 8 hours a day (204,400) for sleeping (wish I could do that), that leaves each person with 408,800 hours available for serving the Lord. I can hear the objections now! But I have to work – You can still serve the Lord at and while you are working. What about all the other normal living activities of the day? – Believe it or not but you and be of service to the Lord even when you eat, exercise, or anything else you may think of. Proverbs 16:9 says, “A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.” KJV
 
The point I’m making here is this: If you are open to being used of the Lord, He is going to use you even in what might seem the most mundane and what you may think are trivial or unimportant times and activities. The question a believer has to honestly ask themselves is “Am I really open to be used by the Lord for His glory?” If you are not, you are stealing from the Lord the time He has given you.



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