Time as we know it is the currency of our lives, and how that time is spent, determines the returns we get out of the life that we live.
Time may be borrowed, but for only short periods, but must be paid back, and that with interest, and no mistake made, this is a surety!
Time can only be quantified after it has been spent. The goods purchased are nonreturnable and nonrefundable, and experiences are impossible to reproduce, with exactitude and once flown can never be recaptured.
Just like money, time may be dissipated by spending it wastefully, wisely, or by giving it away, with or without regard and careful consideration.
Time also, like money, does not want for people who will gladly help you spend it, but be well aware of whom you grant this privilege, as it may well determine where and how you stand at the end of the day - flat broke or buoyantly solvent.
Thankfully time, like money, may also be held for qualitative units during which investments in large, and sometimes even minuscule amounts may cause such an increase as to result in multiplied end products as achieved through increased activity of time within time. This, cascade of events, however, can only be accomplished through serendipitous synchrony by such a One, as has illimitable time at His disposal and the only One who is the "Time Plutocrat" - The "I am that I am". The One who in the beginning of Time, created time, who yet rules over time, from eternity to eternity.
Exposition:
We all, have one life to live and the manner in which we use this time is symbolic of the measure of currency spent and invested. This in turn determines the quality of our lifetime achievements, and may also define the length and quality of that span.
'...Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom'.
Like the servants in the parable of talents, we all are given start-up resources, but the yield and the increase that we experience will depend how well we trade and invest those talents, and our ability to FULLY multiply and maximize our resources to their greatest capacity. This sets a high standard and requires that we recognize that this increase is solely dependent on the degree of involvement creator of time (who, paradoxically, lives in spheres out of time as we know it) in the apportioning of our time... 'And Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him!'. A man who so maximized his given resources by keeping company with the Ulti-inventor, that he finished all that he needed to accomplish way ahead of his schedule, to the point that he was "NOT" !!! - Selah.
- God multiplied Enoch's time within pregnant time, without breaking the cadence of time, enabling him to run his race and to finish his course, and in this case, ahead of schedule! (Gives a different perspective on some who we know left the earth way too early or so we thought huh?).
This infusion or birthing of pregnant time from out of time, into time, to accomplish purpose is not strange. See it demonstrated in Joshua's life....
Joshua 10:11-13
11 And it happened, as they fled before Israel and were on the descent of Beth Horon, that the Lord cast down large hailstones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died from the hailstones than the children of Israel killed with the sword.
12 Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel:
“Sun, stand still over Gibeon; And Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.”13 So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the people had revenge upon their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.
WOW!!!
- Again the boy with five loaves and two fishes mentioned in the epistles, had in his possession resources that would have been entirely dissipated if he had kept them to himself but which were amplified ten, twenty, hundred, up to a thousandfold, in order to meet a greater immediate need, because he released them to the 'Ulti-investor'. He was propelled by divine wisdom not age, sex, intelligence or resource dependent.
The story of the Widow of Zarephath and her son during a time of famine, contrasts sharply with Eve's story in terms of obedience and submission to God in the face of greater need, and Jesus sets and upholds the expected standard, thus cementing the foundations of the principle that:
IN ORDER TO EXPERIENCE THE "AD INFINITUM" MULTIPLICATION OF FINITELY LIMITED RESOURCES, ONE MUST PLACE ONE'S PERSONAL NEED AND THE DESIRE FOR INSTANT GRATIFICATION ON THE ALTAR OF SACRIFICE. THIS SURRENDER CATALYZES THE AMPLIFICATION OF TIME AND IT'S RESOURCES - CONCEPTION TO BIRTH, FROM OUT TIME, INTO TIME IN IT'S OWN SET TIME - KAIROS INTO CHRONOS'.
©Mettabel Okulaja, Sept 2012.
- In the verses below we see that access to God's limitless resources, comes only through personal sacrifice and submission, but yields unbelievably bountiful harvests.
The Widow of Zarephath and her son during a time of famine:
1 Kings 17:7-15
7 And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink.” 11 And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”
12 So she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”
13 And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. 14 For thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.’”
15 So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. 16 The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah.
Woman in the garden of Eden - Immediate gratification in the setting of rebellion against God leading to truncation of previously deemed eternal life force, and given resources i.e. the privilege of enjoying the blessings of the garden and resultant banishment from the garden of Eden into the desert. A translocation from abundant life in eternity, into mortality, poverty; From earth spontaneously yielding to toil and sweat. Man and his wife were now naked except for the gracious covering that God Himself provided.
THEY WERE TRAPPED WITHOUT RECOURSE, IN TIME AS WE KNOW IT, AND CUT OFF FROM THE 'ULTI-PROVIDER'/INVESTOR'S UNLIMITED RESOURCES... The cruz of oil ran dry!
Genesis 3:6-7
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
Genesis 3:17-24
17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:“Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.
18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field.
19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
21 Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.
22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
- Jesus - Our Quintissential example
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
So, with this in mind, each one of us must settle these issues within himself:
- How much do I have been given in terms of resources, knowing that it is for a finite period.
- Is there a need that demands for submission of my resources.
- Is this need bigger than I.
- Am I willing to seek out this this "Ulti- investor and am I ready to submit to his will.
- Am I ready and willing to release my resources to the God who has the ability to maximize potential, to infuse them with power from out of time, into time to achieve superlative effect.
If we are able to answer these questions in the affirmative, then we have the keys to living a maximally optimized life span that will result in satisfaction and rest, rather than in mundanely routine, mediocre and profitless time spent, (much like the wicked servant). We will be released to live a life that will not only fulfill a need greater than ourselves, but one which will also bring personal enrichment and satisfaction. For nothing that is withheld from the master, without a view to trading, multiplies, but that which is surrendered even though it may cause temporary deprivation , ultimately results in personal enrichment beyond one’s wildest dreams and or expectations.
Matthew 10:39 - He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
Matthew 19:29 - And anyone that has forsaken house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name’s sake will find it!
So, you tell me, as I also ask myself, what currency do you have in your possession and how are you spending it?
Friends let's lose it to find out!
Peace and much love,
From "Me" to you.
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