One of the most future-shaping discoveries for my life happened when I was in college. Two Wheaton College friends began talking with me about having a perspective on time that does not view each day as one in a random group of pearls that might be strung together but as a link in a chain constructed and directed by God to accomplish a purpose. We talked at length about how God had a purpose for each day in creation, i.e., to make a world that, when complete, would be very good and reveal his glory. And, we began to see that the entire biblical revelation is about our Creator God still working a plan in this world and giving each of us made in his image the privilege of participating in that plan. Involvement in God’s plan gives each moment of each day meaning. As Paul puts it in several of his New Testament letters, we have the privilege of “making the most of every opportunity” when we live in the light of God’s eternal plan. This is what brings God’s “shalom” to our lives.
A brother in Christ of an earlier era, Puritan preacher and Princeton president Jonathan Edwards, saw this long before I did and wrote about this perspective on life. When he was an undergraduate student, he made a list of resolutions in which he made commitments about how to use the time God would entrust to him throughout his life. Edwards made many resolutions. As you prepare to worship, reflect on these three
- Resolved, never to lose one moment of time, but improve things in the most profitable way I possibly can.
- Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.
- Resolved, that I will live so, as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.
It might seem that this sort of life would be self-generated and, ultimately, exhausting. However, for Edwards, Philippians 2:12–13 provided guidance:
Always bring to completion your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
And the key to ensuring that this kind of life is fulfilling rather than exhausting is the fourth commandment (Exodus 20:9–10):
Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work…
May God speak to us and guide us into wise and fruitful living as we study this subject in his Word.
To His Glory,
Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor
