Every day we are accumulating an astronomical amount of debt we can never repay. It’s not financial debt, but rather a time debt. Unlike money, time is a finite resource. While we can always find a way to earn more money, time is either used the moment you receive it, or it is lost forever. The time we lose, or more accurately waste, is building an insurmountable debt. All the things we know we should have done but put off until later end up passing away when we do.
The phone call you need to make, the message you need to send, or the kindness you need to perform, all are either done in the moment or forever banished to our mounting pile of debt. Time waits for no one. It marches on unabated. The time to do what God puts on your heart is now, not later.
Life coach and author Valerie Burton says, “Our souls crave meaning and at some point, we have to know that what we choose to spend our time doing daily has significance beyond simply getting things done.” In our 21st century world, the emphasis is squarely on what we are accomplishing. We want to check things off our lists to prove to others how busy and productive we are. The tragedy is most never stop to consider what it is they are getting done. If it isn’t building God’s Kingdom in some way, I submit it isn’t worth doing. No amount of doing the wrong things will ever make up for not doing the only thing that matters.
We build time debt when we ignore someone in need, refrain from giving an encouraging word, or neglect sharing the Gospel with someone without the hope of Christ. Every unintentional act adds to our growing pile of time debt as well. Remember, you will never have this moment in your hands ever again. Every second of our lives will count for Jesus or it will count for nothing.
The easiest way to avoid adding more debt is to act and respond in love. Jesus is love through and through. Everything He said and did was out of love for His creation. When we lead with love, we maximize the time entrusted to us. Too many wasted years have resulted in too many callous souls, and love is no longer our first course of action. As a race, we tend to think of ourselves first and others second. Every instance of this kind of thinking adds another moment to a debt we will never repay.
Before your next moment arrives, resolve to spend it well. Let the love of Jesus channel through you. Determine no matter what the moment brings, you will look at it through the eyes of Jesus and respond in love. Living in a constant state of being reactive is akin to a debtor’s prison. If we aren’t proactive and intentional in leading with love, we will be banished to our prison of time debt forever. The only way out is to live in love, capturing each moment for God’s Kingdom and being intentional in building a legacy for Him and His glory. We’ve already got enough debt. It’s time to stop adding to it and living our lives with intention and love.