This year’s camp meeting theme is, “It’s Time.” I have two thoughts regarding this year’s theme.
First, I got to thinking how it’s interesting what people do with time. We often say things like, “we saved time” and “we’re losing time.” We spend, steal, waste, and even serve time. We may have time on our hands, and often bemoan the fact that we don’t have enough time.
Time is said to drag, fly, and even crawl. We have wonderful times and awful times, and we even kill time. We use our time, which by the way, we all have the same amount, well or poorly. In my opinion, one of the worst things we do with time is to waste it. And that leads me to my second thought.
If “It’s Time,” what time is it? The apostle Paul warns us to “be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15-16 NIV. The KJV reads “redeeming the time.” According to Paul, it’s time to make “the most of every opportunity.” He describes the days in which he lived as “evil.” Certainly, we can say that and then some, about the days in which we now live.
Are we making the most of every opportunity we have…to know Jesus and to help others know Him too so we can be ready for His soon coming?
Are we using the time and opportunities we have to show and tell our neighbors, family and friends about Jesus and His love for them? Have we squandered given opportunities to reveal Him? The days (time), according to Paul, are being used by so many for evil, but let us use the days and opportunities we have to grow God’s kingdom.
So, what time is it? If you ask me the time five seconds after I look at my watch I probably will have to look again. To be honest, we are poor judges of time. We say things like, “It seems like just yesterday the kids were in grade school.” Or, “It took Tommy forever to learn to tie his shoes!” By the way, how much time do you have? You don’t know. I don’t know either. For all of us, it’s just a matter of time. You could just ignore the time or if you would like to plan for that time by creating an estate plan with our Planned Giving &Trust Department, come by the Administration building and make an appointment to talk about this important opportunity during camp meeting.
What time is it? It’s about time! “The time is at hand.1” “Time is running out2” my friends. It’s Time!3
Bill Ochs, Planned Giving and Trust Services Director
1 Romans 13:12 ESV
2 Romans 13:11 NLT
3 The idea for this article came from a sermon of unknown origin.