Those who recognize the value of time are truly wealthy.
But it’s not to say that you do that from a standpoint of poverty. I’m not saying you only see how precious your days because you realize you’re running out of time. God forbid that we say you don’t know the time you have until it’s gone.
I’m being led to believe that generally speaking, a Christian has the option, and the resultant potential of knowing the value of time. Of course, we aren’t free from our eyes being open to its value by way of our running out of time, ourselves – we are in this fallen, finite world as much as the rest of humanity is, after all. But I am saying that we can appreciate time just as much as we can appreciate the rest of Creation, for two reasons: (1) I actually already said it, God is the Creator of time just as He is the Creator of everything else our senses perceive, and (2) when we see time as a creation, we’re therefore acknowledging, according to Romans 1:20, that His glory is seen in time, just as it is seen in all of Creation.
Time is a commodity. A resource. We say that time is money. That time is gold. I find myself saying that Christ took on poverty, and therefore relinquished all of His belongings, down to the clothes on His back – but was it for us to be rich? Not necessarily. Was it for us to be provided for according to our terms? Not necessarily.
Let us remember that Christ became sin. Let us remember that the wages of sin is death. Therefore, Christ became sin and took the death we deserved. Let us remember that Christ became sin so we would become His righteousness. Let us remember that this righteousness is unto and into eternal life (Romans 5:20, Matthew 25:46).
I mention these reminders only to point out that more than anything else, we see the glory of God in time and in all of creation, only to remind us that we have been made righteous and in good standing with the Creator of the Universe, regardless of if we have money or not, regardless of if we have time or not.
Regardless of where we stand – whether we are in abundance or suffer a deficit in resources – our eyes have been opened to see the glory of God in all things. Yes, through Christ we are reminded of the inferiority of time and all of creation compared to the Creator, as well as the infinite superiority of the Creator Himself. And apparently, we are reminded of God’s grace when we recognize His glory.
I’ve established, at least with myself, based on previous posts: We can’t talk about love without God and we can’t talk about God without love, and we can’t talk about God’s love without Christ. It appears as if we also cannot talk about God’s grace without talking about His glory, and we can’t talk about His glory without talking about His grace, and we can’t talk about God’s grace and glory without talking about Christ.
As believers we are reminded, in time as much as in all creation, of God’s glory and grace, and we are inevitably led back to Christ. This, to me, is a universal value of all creation – the universal value of time: It all leads us back to Christ.
The general premise is this: We may not have something, but we have the God who made everything on our side, now and forever.
Just putting it out there, but let me test it:
I may not have money, but I have God, who made all the resources there are in the world, and He is for me, and not against me.
I may not have time, but I have God, who made the sun that composes the day, and the moon that controls the tides. I have God, who created night and day, and He is for me, and not against me.
Still feels pretty general in my opinion, which means that I don’t immediately see its value. But I suppose we all have to answer that question for ourselves. What question? Let me repeat:
We have the God who made everything on our side, now and forever.
What does this mean to you, personally?
I was away from everyone else for at least 3 days. In that time I’ve realized that something that’s been tearing me apart these recent days was the fact that I’ve made so many mistakes with my resources, and I’m only now feeling and/or realizing the consequences.
Earlier this year I found myself throwing money into investments that folks at YouTube said were going to guarantee ROI and eventual profit in much less time than in the usual manner. I was listening to them, and even if they kept on saying that what they were sharing was not financial advice, I still have to say that they had some influence in my choosing which stablecoin and which altcoin to put time and money into. Pair this with a healthy listening to Naval, who says that the goal is for us to eventually end our affinity towards trading time for money.
First quarter of this year, I was lured – not necessarily into what a good number of people call the ‘Wild West’ of Crypto, but more of what I’m calling the clown show of masternodes. The main premise is that you put some of your hard-earned money into investing into a coin, which you then commit into a node that generates more of the same coin, which would ideally earn you back the coin you committed after a period of time, which you would then convert back into the money you invested into.
I’m with you, now that I’m recalling all of it. There sure were a lot of holes in that strategy. Well, not necessarily all-out flaws, but high risks, at the very least. I’ve been burned by companies at what I’m calling the earning level – that is, the nodes may have ‘earned’, but I was blocked from getting my earnings back. I’ve also seen how more and more people with more and more money got into these projects – and from here, one of two things happened: (1) the value of the coin dropped dramatically with so much more people on board, or (2) the developers getting greedy, and ‘rugging’ (abandoning) the project and taking all the funds.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m still into crypto. I think it has its place in the future, for sure. But the greed, man… that fucks with the people at the bottom (by way of getting steamrolled), just as much as it fucks with the people at the top (by way of just breaking their minds). And it doesn’t matter where it comes from – whether the investors get greedy, or the developers get greedy, and/or I get greedy – man, everyone loses.
Yes, even the one who ‘wins’, loses. If people aren’t losing their money, they’re losing their soul.
So in the presence of destructive greed – this greed that has wasted so much of my inheritance and this greed that has wasted so much of my time – I am reminded that I have the Lord, who is the Creator of Time, and the Owner of the cattle on a thousand hills, and that He ‘has’ me.
The impact of my mistakes reminds me of how Christ paid the greatest price… not only to guaranteed, but to outright PROVE that He loves me, in spite of all the destruction I dish out to others, and to myself.
And just like that, I have yet another reason to give thanks.
I could have posted this as it is. But I felt I could go even deeper.
See, it’s not the first time I’ve been scammed out of money, or robbed of stuff. And I’m pretty sure I’ve shared – probably here but definitely in front of a congregation – of how I literally let a bunch of folks walk away with my bag containing my laptop and camera (I traded my essential gear for a stupid cigarette break). What I haven’t really been open about, or at least until I disappeared for 3 days, was how our family was the target of a scammer who was a walking African heiress email scam. And she could have easily taken everything, given more time – but I figure the fear of the Lord drove her away.
In both situations, I was comforted by rational thinking – In the first incident I usually say that it could have been worse. The thieves could have jumped me and stabbed me for my bag if I didn’t walk away from it. In that second incident I usually just feel better by realizing she could have taken much more from our family, but recently I’ve been thinking, we were blessed by so much more after she left.
Funny, how I called that rational thinking, but eventually dropped the ‘blessed’ bomb as I talked of comfort. For some reason, especially in the first incident and in all other similar situations, it’s as if my brain was programmed with its own pre-installed media player, with praise and worship running in the background. I swear, during and after these sorts of times when I’m robbed or scammed, worship songs play in my head. I’m comforted that way, as well.
The thing is I was supposed to mention how this isn’t the first time I’ve lost resources, and then say that it’s only now that I’ve truly realized how I’ve wasted time. But, well, I guess I had other things in mind.
I suppose I’ve felt the need to go away and to let the world I’ve involved myself in to stand on its own for a couple of days, because it’s only dawning on me now that I’m not only running out of money, but I’m also running out of time. Or, at least that’s how we can see it, from one perspective. I’ve been thinking that I’m ready to settle down, sure, and to sort of level-up my relation with everything else by way of having a partner. I thought I’d have something solid in place by now, but instead of returns of my investments, instead of profits, I’ve been left with rationalizations and frustrations. I was supposed to overflow with resources to sustain my partner, as we continue down the journey of life and the celebration of Christ, together – but for a moment it seemed as if I had more burden than boon.
I’ve been blaming myself. Telling myself that if I had some sort of initiative, a semblance or a trace of discipline, then I would have had things more sorted out by now. Then regrets start to pile up, in the form of previous scams, and lost relationships. The cherry on top of the shit-sundae of regrets was the line that I was this old, and I had nothing to show for myself. I wasted that much resources, and I wasted that much time.
Of course the friend I opened this up to a couple of nights ago told me never to say that ever again. I thank God for him, but for all his efforts to make me feel better by pointing out what I actually had, it didn’t take long for me to forget – see, I can’t even recall them now. But I insist that his words were not in vain – because even if I didn’t remember what he said exactly, they were enough to remind me that I was worth encouraging; and if a self-confessed non-religious friend took that effort, how much more can the Creator of Time and Space and all that’s seen and unseen encourage me?
It was as if I was fully aware of the world I was engaged in, and the dark condemnation enveloped over all of it… Yet, through it all, my perspective has been stretched a little, just enough for me to realize that I have a Savior who is faithful to me. He who is greater than the depths and over the darkness, He is with me under the shroud of darkness.
Light in my past, present, and future, He is Light that transcends time.
Life in my lack and in my plenty, He is Life that transcends space.
Everlasting and eternal, faithful even in all my fuck ups.
He celebrates with me in my victories, and even my greatest of failures are turned to good by His righteous hand.
A song comes to mind:
Higher than the heavens,
Stronger than the sea
Mightier than the mountains
Your love amazes me
Sweeter than the sunrise
Tender as my tears
Perfect as Your promise
Singing over me
Your love
I could never measure
Your love
Ever enduring
Your love
More than I imagine
What can separate me from
Your love
Your endless, enduring love
Your matchless, unfailing love
There’s no limit, no limit to Your love
Nothing can separate me from Your love
Take some time and listen to this. It’s by the folks over at Lakewood Church.
I’m not so sure I went as deep as I wanted to but I suppose this is enough exposing myself for now.
Until the next post, God bless you.
JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 
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