Occasionally we hear it said that time is money. Years ago, I was employed by a man who had that perspective. He instructed me to record each hour I worked in increments of one tenth of an hour, or six minutes. Then he factored in what I was paid and charged the client that amount, plus enough to cover overhead and make some profit. To him, time was an opportunity to make money!

While that may have been good business practice, Scripture teaches a different way of assessing our time. The Bible indicates that we are to evaluate time with eternity in view. In Psalm 90, we read the words of Moses, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). We could “number our days” from the beginning of this year and determine how many more remain in 2025. However, rather than counting our days, the emphasis of this verse is on making our days count—of making the most of the time that each day brings.

The eternal perspective of time

The first two verses of Psalm 90 indicate that God is eternal in nature—He is from everlasting to everlasting—so time as we know it does not exist for Him. In contrast, we are mortal, so we view time from an earthly perspective. We see that concept in Moses’ statement that “a thousand years in thy [God’s] sight are but as yesterday when it is past . . .” (verse 4). The Apostle Peter expressed the same thought in the New Testament when he said, “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8).

I can illustrate that by telling you that in the year 1025, one thousand years ago, Boleslaw the Brave was crowned the first king of Poland. In the same year, Emperor Basil II died, having reigned longer than any Byzantine or Roman Emperor to that point.¹ Those incidents seem like the distant past to us, but from God’s point of view, what happened in the lives of Boleslaw and Basil II are the same as the news that we read yesterday. There is no distinction with Him—a thousand years is as a day. Given that, the man Methuselah, who lived for 969 years, had only a few more days than you have already had. No matter how many days you have yet to live, the fact that you are mortal means your lifespan will be brief from God’s eternal perspective.

Psalm 90 also says in verse 9 that “we spend our years as a tale that is told.” In the King James translation of the Bible, the word tale could refer to the Old English usage meaning “a measurement; a counting or enumeration of something.”² An example would be a tale of bricks, as used in the Old Testament record of the amount of bricks the Israelites were expected to produce for their Egyptian taskmasters (see Exodus 5:8). Just as the space bricks would occupy when laid in rows can be measured, our lives can be measured.

Moses went on to say, “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away” (verse 10). If you turned seventy years of age today, this is day 25,567 of your life, give or take a few days to account for leap years. Whatever the exact number, we would all agree that there are more days behind you than in front of you. No matter how old we may be at this moment, our days will be “soon cut off” when we measure them against eternity. So, we want to make our days count, and that is what Moses was emphasizing in this psalm.

Our uncertain future

As we consider how to use our days in a spiritually profitable manner, it is natural to consider what might be ahead in our lives. However, we cannot plan our future with any degree of certainty. Not long after our daughter was married, a prospective employer asked her what her five-year plan was. She responded that she was hoping for an uneventful five years. That must have impressed the man, because he hired her! However, within those five years, she gave birth to three sons. I am not sure that constitutes “uneventful,” but that was what occurred. The fact is, none of us knows what will happen in the days ahead.

In the Epistle of James, we learn that it is advisable to qualify any plans we do make. We read, “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that” (James 4:13-15). It is not a cliché to declare, “Lord willing, we will do this,” or, “If God allows, we will do that.” James tells us to plan with the Lord’s will in mind! That perspective should always be implied, even if we do not verbally declare it. We want God’s plan, rather than making our own and hoping He will accommodate it. When we follow His leading for how we spend our days, we can be assured that our time is being used in a worthwhile manner.

In Luke 12:16-21, Jesus told a parable about a rich farmer who planned well from an earthly standpoint, but without taking God into consideration. The farmer became very wealthy, and eventually he thought within himself, “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” Notice that he thought within himself. His plans were self-inspired: without consulting God, he determined to tear down his barns and build greater ones to store his goods. Jesus stated that the farmer said to himself, “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” God responded, “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.” Passing from this life was not in the farmer’s plan for the next day, but that is what happened. Jesus concluded the parable by saying, “So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” One who is rich toward God considers His will in planning for the future and prioritizes eternal values above material possessions.

Moses learned that lesson. He had been raised in the palace of Egypt as the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter.  But there came a day when he evaluated what lay ahead in his future. His own mother had trained him in the Hebrew heritage, and the Bible says that when he came of age, he determined that he would no longer be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He made a choice—a deliberate decision—that he was not going to live as an Egyptian any longer. He would rather “suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season” (Hebrews 11:25).

As events unfolded, Moses saw an Egyptian smiting an Israelite and took matters into his own hands. He slew the Egyptian, thinking that his Israelite brethren would understand that he was called to deliver them. However, they did not understand. As a result, Moses fled from Egypt and spent the next forty years in the desert. He probably became content herding sheep and living out of the limelight, but then his experience at the burning bush revealed that God was calling him to go back to Pharaoh and say, “Let my people go.” He was unsure of his ability to do so, but by that time he recognized the importance of following God’s plan rather than his own. That is a valuable lesson to learn!

Redeeming our time

In Ephesians 5:15-16, Paul the Apostle wrote to the believers at Ephesus, “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” He also used the phrase “redeeming the time” in writing to the Colossians; we read in Colossians 4:5, “Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.” In both passages, the phrase relates to how we are to live—the same meaning Moses was conveying in Psalm 90:12 when he referred to numbering our days. Whether we are considering a day, a five-year period, or an entire lifespan, redeeming the time is how we make each day count. It is making the most of the time we have.

Prior to Paul’s instruction to the Ephesian believers regarding redeeming the time, he enumerated a number of sins and told them, “Be not ye therefore partakers with them” (Ephesians 5:7). They were not to let such sins be named among them but were to conduct themselves in a manner “as becometh saints.” Paul was laying out a clear distinction between living for God and living for oneself. He went on to admonish, “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (verse 11). His point was that believers are to be careful rather than careless about how they lived, and circumspect rather than as fools (verse 15).

Paul’s advice to the Ephesians applies to us. We are not to be casual, convenience-oriented Christians. When we experience salvation, we are extracted from the ways of the world to become devoted to the God of Heaven. It takes the power of God to do that, but His power is sufficient. That has been proven, even by those who had no light of the Gospel. When one experiences the saving power of Jesus Christ, that person is changed in a moment.

The change God made in me

When I came to the Lord, I had no knowledge of what the Gospel would do nor how it would affect my daily life. As a college student at the time, I took a class at Oregon State University titled “Ten Ways of Being Religious.” During the segment on Christianity, the professor said that the only way an encounter between God and man could occur was if God initiated it. A girl in the class disagreed, saying that she could initiate an encounter with the God of Heaven. I did not know such an encounter could even exist! However, over the next several days, I began to be afraid and think, What if God initiates an encounter with me? I would go to bed at night and think subconsciously, Not tonight! Oh, not tonight! I would not have admitted that to anyone, and I didn’t even admit it to myself at the time.

One night in my own bedroom at home, the call of God came. He was going to make sure that I made my days count from then on! Granted, that decision was up to me, but once that call came, refusing never occurred to me. Though I did not know how to pray, God gave me the right words to say. I asked Him to forgive my sins, telling Him that I would try my best to serve Him if He would help me, and in a moment of time, God transformed my life. I did not know that what I experienced that night was called salvation, but I was a different person from that moment on.

When I returned to college, I had no understanding of how a Christian was supposed to live, but God gave me victory over the old habits and appetites that had been in my life. The temper and profanity that had filled my daily vocabulary were gone, and have been gone from that moment until now. Nobody had to tell me not to do the sinful things I had done before because I had no desire to do them. And gradually, God taught me more about Himself and how He wanted me to live.

Among the lessons we all must learn after salvation is how vital it is to make our time count for eternity. Time is too valuable to waste! We have all probably said on occasion, “I just don’t have time.” However, we all have exactly the same amount of time! When we retire at the end of this day, we will all have spent 1440 minutes. So, it is not a question of how much time we have, but a matter of prioritizing carefully by making good decisions about how it is spent.

I recently read that the average American spends over five hours a day on smartphones. Young people typically spend more than that, while those my age generally spend less. Whatever the exact number of minutes spent, that is approximately one third of our waking hours! Most of us check our phones dozens of times a day. While smartphone usage can be necessary and even productive, it can also be addictive and wasteful. Ultimately, the amount of time spent in any manner is not as important as making sure the time we spend counts for eternity.

Seventy-three days that counted for eternity

When I think about making time count, Shadrach Ajayi comes to mind. Shadrach was a missionary!

Shadrach, a baby boy in our church family, lived for just seventy-three days. During the last week or so of his short life, I had the privilege of visiting him and his parents, Sam and Shade Ajayi, in the hospital. Brother Sam would tell the doctors and nurses who came into the room, “Shadrach is a missionary.” He would explain how Shadrach’s birth was a miracle, and his life was a testimony to the power of a mighty and loving heavenly Father who intervened in Shade’s difficult pregnancy and accomplished what was impossible in the eyes of man. Day after day, Brother Sam handed out Gospel magazines and tracts in Shadrach’s name. When I was there with them, he would introduce me, declare that Shadrach was a missionary, and ask me to give my testimony. He asked the same of others from the church when they visited. Often, he gave his own testimony. When Shadrach passed away and the undertakers came, Brother Sam introduced me, said that Shadrach was a missionary, and had me pray. As they left, he had me pray again. To every person who came to that room, he would declare, “Shadrach is a missionary,” and then use that opportunity to share the Gospel.

When I asked Brother Sam if I could tell Shadrach’s story for this message, I said to him, “You were really the missionary.”  He responded with a smile, “Oh no, it was Shadrach!” Whatever the case, Shadrach’s brief life on earth taught us that time is an opportunity. His seventy-three days counted. I am quite sure many of those doctors and nurses never forgot Shadrach Ajayi.

The greatest opportunity

Paul saw time as an opportunity. As he concluded his letter to the saints at Ephesus, he asked them to pray that a door of utterance would be given to him—an opportunity to “make known the mystery of the gospel” (Ephesians 6:19).

In writing to the Corinthians, Paul referred to the greatest opportunity ever given when he told them that “today” is the day of salvation and “now” is the accepted time. He was emphasizing the urgency of accepting God’s offer of salvation, because that is the starting point of making our days count!

If you are unsaved today or need reassurance about your standing before God, take advantage of this opportunity and look Heaven’s way. No more important decision can be made in life than to ensure that you are right with God. Then you can spend your remaining days on this earth, however many or few they are, in a manner that will count for eternity!

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¹ “Channels.” On This Day. May 5, 2025. https://www.onthisday.com/date/1025

² Chapman, Milo L., Purkiser, W.T., Wolf, Earl C., Harper, A.F., Beacon Bible Commentary, Volume 3, (Beacon Hill Press, 1967), pg.333