Time is a precious commodity. Just ask those who don't have enough. Time spent is time forever lost to time.

Now, consider Paul's admonition to "redeem the time" (Ephesians 5:16). He certainly doesn't believe that we can buy back time spent. Nor does Paul think that we can buy more time for ourselves. Yet, he admonishes the church to improve the time to their own avail.

Of this verse Jonathan Edwards once preached: "And hence it is that time is a thing so exceeding precious, because 'tis by that that we have opportunity of escaping everlasting misery and of obtaining eternal blessedness and glory. 'Tis upon the improvement of time that there depends an escape from an infinite evil and an obtaining an infinite good. And this puts an infinite value upon time."

As yet another week of your life ends and another waits to begin, it's time to check the ledger of your life, to consider the investments you've made in eternity.

Have you spent your allotment of time wisely this week? Or have you squandered this great resource on things of temporal, momentary value?

Have you used your daily quota of time for God's glory and your good? Or did you waste away the hours on things of little import?

Did you spend any time this week living for eternity rather than for the moment? Did you contribute anything of eternal worth or did you miss another opportunity for everlasting gain?

How much time did you dedicate to things of God? How much time did you claim for yourself?

Would you spend your time differently, if you had a second chance? Would you give more of it away, if it were yours again?

Test yourself in the upcoming days. Count your hours. Note your minutes. Tally your days. Sit down. Write down everything you do for the next seven days, the next 168 hours. Ask yourself the hard question, "What did I do with the time that God has given me?" My hunch is that we're spending it unwisely on things that are perishing rather than things imperishable. See if I'm right. Continued...