The Time Is Short
• 1 min. read • grade level: 5
"The time is short!" 1 Cor. 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? Who can tell? Not you—not I. But we I can be sure of this solemn fact: time is shorter than we think. What God by the Spirit calls "short" cannot tie made "long." No man can stretch out the span of his appointed life, and it is disastrous to attempt to evade the final issue by denial, presumption or procrastination.
How short? Man has not the answer to that question, nor is the answer to be found in the Bible. God alone is time's controller, and "our times are in His hands." 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 Cor. 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 the Holy Spirit pleads in notes of solemn warning: "Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." Heb. 3:1515While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. (Hebrews 3:15). 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 for your soul to turn 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 that 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 Cor. 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!