The Time Is Short

From: Echoes of Grace: 1995

From: Echoes of Grace: 1979

• 1 min. read • grade level: 6

“The time is short” (1 Corinthians 7:29²⁹But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; (1 Corinthians 7:29)).

How short? Who knows? Not you—not I. But we can be sure of this one fact: time is shorter than we think. What God calls “short” cannot be made “long.” No man can stretch out the span of his appointed life, and it is disastrous to attempt to deny or evade the final issue.

How short? Man has not the answer to that question, nor is the answer to be found even in the Bible. God alone is time’s controller, and my times are in God’s hands (Psalm 31:15¹⁵My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me. (Psalm 31:15)). That is the only possible answer. That is why the Word of God so urgently states the great truth that “now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2²(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) (2 Corinthians 6:2)).

That is why almighty God invites: “Come now, and let us reason together” (Isaiah 1:18¹⁸Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18)).

That is why the Holy Spirit pleads in solemn warning: “Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts” (Hebrews 3:7-8⁷Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, ⁸Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: (Hebrews 3:7‑8)). The time is short!

It is shorter than you realize. It is too short to be wasted in sin and ruined in iniquity. But it is just long enough if you turn now in “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21²¹Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 20:21)).

It is just long enough for your soul to say “Yes” to Jesus and to enter into the blessedness of “therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17¹⁷Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)). TIME and LIFE are far, far too short for anything less than that!

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