Time is TikTok Ticking Away

Opening

The first episode of the BBC series, Planet Earth 2, starts out showing a three-toed pygmy sloth. The slowest mammal on the planet, as he hears the call of a female sloth and this lovesick sloth gives it everything he's got to try to find her. That's a lot better with the narration of David Attenborough for sure. The male three toed pygmy sloth hears the cry of the female, and he puts on a ton of speed as he walks through the mangroves. He's just going so slow, I mean, it's so interesting to watch. The uniqueness of God's creation is this sloth turns on the afterburners, but he only goes a few feet in what seems like an hour. And then he comes to this barrier, he's got across water to get to her, so he starts to swim, and that's really pleasing, to watch a sloth swim. And they're a little bit faster swimming than they are on land, but not much. And so, he's swimming, and he swims and swims, and then he finally gets to the other side, starts crawling up the mangroves to get to her and then, but it's too late. He was too slow. She's already gone. Of course, he's a sloth. He gave it everything he got, but he was too slow.

Now when we think of sloth, we think of laziness, slowness, but that's really not what it is. The word sloth comes from the Latin term “acedia” which means without care. It means living life aimlessly. It's not getting intentional about your one and only life. It's living life, aimlessly, without purpose. I mean, you can be working really hard, and really busy, and really have a full schedule, and committing the sin of sloth, because you're busy doing all these things that take up all your time, but they don't really last. The sin of sloth is not laziness, it's not understanding the value of time. It's not really understanding the meaning of each moment because life is made up of a lot of little moments, and if you're not careful, you will miss your moments. So let me give you a definition of sloth that I hope you'll remember.

Sloth: failing to do the right thing at the right time

Failing to do the right thing at the right time because life's all about timing, you can do the right thing at the wrong time and it is completely wrong.

For example, if I would have asked Julie to marry me on our first date, that would have probably creeped her out a little bit. Think about it for a moment. I mean, you're going to take someone out on their first date, and they come to the door, and you just go right down to one knee with a ring in your hand, would you make me the happiest man on earth by becoming my wife? That's creepy, isn't it? I mean, if I would have asked Julie to marry me on the first date, it might not have gone so well. After dating for over a year yes... at the right time.

I mean, you can do the right thing at the wrong time and it becomes all wrong.

I want you to open your Bibles to Ecclesiastes chapter 3 because here the writer tells us, from experience, how to seize the moment, because that's the opposite of sloth, it's how to live intentionally and seize the moment, to do the right thing at the right time because so many times we do things at the wrong time, we say things at the wrong time, and it causes a lot of hurt in our lives.

Scripture

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 “1 To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: 2 A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted; 3 A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up; 4 A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance; 5 A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing; 6 A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw away; 7 A time to tear, And a time to sew; A time to keep silence, And a time to speak; 8 A time to love, And a time to hate; A time of war, And a time of peace. 9 What profit has the worker from that in which he labors? 10 I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.”

Body

1. See The Moment

I have to see the moment before I can really seize the moment. I have to see the moment clearly, really understand the moment and the value of the moment, and what God wants me to do in that moment because life is made up of a lot of little moments. And God wants you to seize your moments, you have to see it clearly first.

And Ecclesiastes 3:2, it says, “A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest.” Ecclesiastes 3:2 (NLT)

Now this is knowing the difference between the beginning and the end of something. And this is really important. I mean, can you imagine a farmer going out to plant in the planting season, and he goes out, and he tills up all of his fields, and then he plants all of his seeds in those fields. And then the next day, he comes out with all his harvesting equipment, and he harvests everything that he planted the day before. I mean, that'd be really dumb. He would just harvest some seeds and dirt; he would ruin the harvest that would have been coming. That's because it's planting season. But can you imagine the farmer going out during the harvest season when the fields of wheat are just waving in the wind, and the corn stalks are so tall, and he goes out and he tills it all up, and he plant seeds and ruins the crop. That's crazy, because it's harvesting season. But that's exactly what we do in life and in our relationships, we don't understand the difference between planting season and harvesting season.

We got to know the difference between planting and harvesting, or maybe you've just gone for the dream that God has placed in your heart, and you've been planting, and you haven't seen any results. That's because it’s planting season, you got to keep planting, and investing, and planting. You can't harvest during planting season. It's all about planting. But then for some of you, it's harvest season right now. Sometimes in my life God has this huge harvest just waiting for me to bring in that's going to make a huge difference in lives and for all eternity. And there's this huge harvest, these huge blessings await but I'm just content to plant these little seeds, these little selfish seeds, doing my own little thing that I never look up and see the big harvest that God has for me, because I'm doing all these little things that are just selfish. I'm doing all these little things that I'm planting that aren't going to last, and I don't look up to see the huge harvest that God has for me, or I'm slothful and I don't want to bring the harvest in because I know it's going to be hard. The harvest is always hard to bring in, you know that, don't you? Farmers will tell you; you have to work a lot harder during harvest season than in planting season. Why? Because you've got to harvest it all in when the harvest is ready. You can't wait until it's convenient for you, until you're ready, until when is the best time for you to harvest. No, whenever the crop is ready and it's harvested, you got to harvest it all and you got to do it quickly, so you don't ruin the crops.

And so, for some of you God is saying, "It's harvest time." I've got these huge blessings waiting for you, but you got to bring in the harvest. You've got to bring it in with my power, and my strength, and you got to raise your head up and stop looking at your own little world and look at the harvest that's out there. The world of difference that you can make.

2. Stay In The Moment

You see the moment and you stay in the moment. In Ecclesiastes 3:11 it says,

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NIV)

Now focus in on that phrase, He has made everything beautiful in its time. Every moment is beautiful in its time. At the right time, every moment is beautiful. But some moments, they just seem so ugly and feel so painful that we can't see any beauty in it. And I know some of you're going through one of those moments right now where it's just ugly. It's just ugly but God can make something beautiful out of the ugliest situation in our lives. The problem is when we're going through pain, we want to move ahead of the moment. We're always thinking about the next moment, if I can just get through this pain, if I can just get through this problem, someday I'm going to get through this pain, I'm going to get through this problem, it's going to be great someday, and we don't live in the moment, we don't experience the moment, we want to move ahead of the moment, and we miss out on the beautiful thing that God is trying to do in our lives.

You see, you are made for this moment. How do I know that? God placed you on this earth at this time in history. You could have been born 1,000 years ago, you could have been born 50 years from now, but God puts you on this earth now, so I know you were made for this moment. This moment is making you. This moment that you're in is making you into the person God calls you to be. And so, if you move ahead of the moment or you're always thinking about the next season of your life, then you will miss the beautiful thing that God is trying to do in your life right now.

But that verse, Ecclesiastes 3:11, it says, God has made everything beautiful in its time but it also says God's placed eternity in the human heart, but no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. It's saying that God has placed in everyone's heart this knowledge of eternity. I mean, we just know there's something more than the here and now. There's got to be something more to this life than you die and it's it, there's got to be something more, God's placed that in your heart.

But we don't fathom eternity, we can't understand eternity. In our little finite minds, we can't understand the infinite. And so, we can't understand God from beginning to end, we can't understand eternity, we can't fathom it. And you see God operates not on Central Standard Time or Eastern Standard Time, He operates on eternal standard time. He has an eternal perspective where He sees everything. And when we can't see any beauty in a moment that is just so ugly and so painful, it's because we can't see the whole picture that God sees. He sees how, in that ugly moment, He's making something beautiful out of it.

3. Seize The Moment

I see the moment clearly, then I have to stay in the moment God has me in, not run ahead, so that I'll be ready when it's time to seize the moment and the season that God has for me.

We have to seize the moment. What I'm talking about is that defining moment. And usually, in our lives, there are five or six, maybe seven defining moments that come into life, and you have to seize those moments, you don't get to decide when a defining moment comes into your life, it's never convenient. You don't get to decide when harvest season is. But when that defining moment comes into your life you do have a choice, you can seize it, or you can let it slip away.

You can step out in faith, you can shrink back in fear, you have a choice in the defining moments of your life. I can think of five or six defining moments in my life that if I hadn't seized the moment, and I'd let it slip away then my life would be totally different. I think of five or six defining moments in our church, if we hadn't seized those moments, we wouldn't be where we are today. There are always defining moments you never get to decide when they come into your life, but then you get to choose whether you seize them, or you let them slip away. And the only way you'll be able to seize the defining moments of your life is to realize life is short. Life on this earth is short. Look at what the Psalmist said in Psalm 90:12,

“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalms 90:12 (NIV)

He's saying, you better understand that your days are counting down so you can make your days count. That your opportunities are limited, you only have so many defining moments that come into your life, you have only so many moments that come into your life, and so you better seize those moments.

Closing