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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