Do You Have the Time?

Timing is everything. But I can't see the clock. If I'd known a five-second hesitation would have given me a closer parking space, I would have waited. If I'd known the baby was about to do that, I would have given him back to his mother. If I'd known the market was going to go back up today, I wouldn't have sold the stock yesterday.

My time machine only runs in real time. I have no idea what is going to happen or when. Whether we are talking "big things" or "little things," the clock remains a blur. Gas is unpredictable. Gas prices, I mean. The only predictable thing about gas prices is that the price will drop after I fuel up. And it will drop exponentially equal to the amount I put in the tank. If the gas prices drop twenty-five cents a gallon, you can thank me. That means I filled up the day before.

Jesus saw the clock. He was all about perfect timing. One day Jesus' brothers were trying to advise Him on how to promote Himself. They thought He should take His miracle-working act to Jerusalem while there was a big feast going on so He could "wow" the crowds. But Jesus knew what time it was. And Jesus said, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready" (John 7:6).

Jesus knew the plan for His life so perfectly that He even knew when He should and should not go to Jerusalem. For every second of Jesus' earthly ministry there was a definite moment drawn from a grand scheme so that Jesus knew what to do when.

Even though we can't see the clock, Jesus said some rather urgent things about it. "Your time is always ready," He said to His brothers. It's no coincidence that just before Jesus said that, John stated, "For even His brothers did not believe in Him" (v. 5).

Paul wrote, "Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2nd Corinthians 6:2). Because we can't see the clock, we need to take God's Word for it. If you haven't accepted Jesus as your personal Savior and trusted His sacrificial death on the cross as payment for your sins, then you need to hear Jesus say, "Your time is always ready." NOW would be the best time to give Him your life.

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Perry Crisp