"So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12, NKJV
You know your days are numbered, but have you numbered your days lately? How’s that for irony? The Lord knows the number of our days and yet He encourages us to number our days! One main reason: that we might gain a heart of wisdom and then spend, invest and maximize the time we have! Have you done the math?
Here’s an easy way to number your days and get a ballpark idea on the number of days you have left to live and invest!
First: How old do you want to be when you die and go to be with the Lord? Write down that number.
Second: How old are you now? Write down that number.
Third: Subtract the second number from the first number. Write down that number. That is the estimated "number of days" you have left on earth.
So, how many years do you estimate you still have on the clock?
What will you do with the rest of your life? Will that number of years motivate you to live a bit more wisely? Will numbering your days help you with the macro view of your life and purpose as well as the micro view of the day-to-day choices you need to make in your home and vocation?
Numbering our days is a great exercise – one we should do every few years – because we discover several things about ourselves. Some of us discover the fresh joy of knowing that we still have a huge chunk of our lives in front of us. We’ve barely started in our journey! We may not even be to the halfway or one-third point yet. For some of us, we get hit in the face with the sober reality that we are just past the mid-life crisis point! We have a few precious decades left and it's time to get to our getting! For others, we get the wake up call of our lives when we realize the clock is ticking in countdown mode and we better seriously get with the program and invest our remaining minutes into something eternal.
James tells us our life is like a vapor. “For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” (James 4:14, NKJV) We are here for a brief moment and then we vanish, to spend eternity wherever we've made our reservations. (If you've surrendered to Jesus Christ and invited Him to be the Lord of your life – He's got a reservation waiting for you in Heaven!) Ephesians 5:16 tells us to “redeem the time.” That is, maximize the time for redemptive purposes. Are we spending our time in ways that go beyond self-indulgence or narrow-minded purposes?
The big question when it comes to numbering our days is this: what did we do with the days God gave us? How did we invest our lives? Who's life has been impacted and what things are different because we spent our time wisely? Have you thought about the number of days you've already spent? In what ways have you redeemed the time? How have you bought back wasted years and turned them into something of eternal value? How have you added value to your family? What have you done to help serve the Lord and people beyond your own family? What type of sacrificial investments of your time have you made into things that will matter in eternity?
We all have the same 24 hours a day and the way we spend our time is entirely up to us. Some people spend time on wood, hay and stubble: things that are temporary. Others invest the time they have on gold, silver and precious stones: things that have eternal value. (1 Corinthians 3)
When we heed the advice of the Psalmist to number our days and redeem the time; we'll find a fresh desire to spend our precious days wisely on the most important things. Today, may you prayerfully ponder the number of your days and check in with the Lord to be sure you are spending your time on things that really matter.
Say It: “Father, help me to number my days and maximize my time wisely. Help me to invest my lifetime into people and things that matter now and a billion years from now. In Jesus’ Name. Amen."
