Urgency of the Ticking Clock
Rev. Joseph R. Reid
A woman dies and goes to heaven. She is greeted by St. Peter, who offers to give her a tour of heaven. As the woman walks around, she notices many clocks. Some go very fast, while others move very slowly. When the tour is done, the woman asks St. Peter why some clocks move at varied speeds. St. Peter replies, “Each clock represents a person on earth. Every time we lie, or miss an opportunity to contact our Spiritual self, our clock speeds up. As you can see, people’s clocks are separated by committed believers and Hypocrites. Over here are the faithful who trust God and are on a sincere spiritual journey, and over there are people who attend church and claim to be religious but have not found God yet.” The woman nods. “Where are the Hypocrites’ clocks?” she asks. St. Peter replies, “We’re using them in the back as air conditioners.”
This may sound humorous but the ticking clock is urgent in our life. Daily awareness of this internal clock reminds us to be watchful how we live, to utilize every moment of life’s precious gift and to always seek God’s will for our life. The problem is we fail to live our life in full awareness of the internal clock that ticks daily toward our transition or death. If we fail to see, use and seek God’s will in full awareness of the urgency of the ticking clock in our life we will miss our opportunity in this and the next. Awareness of our internal ticking clock reminds us to beware of the urgency of NOW. Jesus’ message is urgent! And to follow Him is costly! Luke 9: 57-62 speaks to this urgency and the cost of following Jesus. It says, “As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ Jesus replied, Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Jesus made it clear that this world is not our home. “He said to another man, ‘Follow me.”’ But the man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” This seems like a reasonable request. But Jesus was aware of the importance of Kairos or God time in our life. “Jesus said to him,’Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’” This is an amazing statement of the necessity of the finding our soul salvation right now.
Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-bye to my family.” “Jesus replied ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.’”
The eternal clock of the Kingdom ticks only in present time! Awareness of our internal ticking clock reminds us to do three things on a daily basis. First, it reminds us to be careful how we live our lives. We should be watchful at all times. The Bible says,“Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise.” A sure way of being careful and wise is by watching what we say and do. Not in a fearful way but trusting God for the outcomes in our lives. Second it reminds us to be aware of our inner spiritual regulator. This manager reminds us to make the most of every second of life and not waste time on temporal things. It is important for us to be reminded that things of this world are short lived. Jesus said in Matthew 6:20 “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.” When we suffer as Christians, these things are temporal. When we’re excited and things are going well, that is temporal. That’s not to say that we cannot have joy in our hearts with the Lord. We can. But we cannot expect things to always go exactly the way we want them. Our text says, “Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil.” We should not lose a moment of the ticking clock!
Finally it reminds us to seek to do God’s will daily. The scriptures say, “So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” The only way to understand God’s will is to seek God’s will. Our internal clock tells us to seek God’s will every moment we live.
