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24 Gold Coins

by Femi Onabanjo  
4/09/2016 / Devotionals


"Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12)

Benjamin Franklin once said, "Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of". Time is the currency of life. Every day you receive a fresh supply of it to trade with. Each day comes with 24 precious hours (gold coins) for each of us without exception. Every one of us has this equal opportunity daily and even poor utilisation of yesterday's supply does not disqualify anyone from receiving their full share today. How tragic it is, then, to misuse such Grace day after day, month after month, year after year! Have you taken stock of the value of the time you have been given? How many gold coins have you received since the day you were born? A hundred thousand? Two hundred thousand? Maybe more. Now imagine that you obtained a loan of that same amount from the bank. Would you be able to give a justifiable report of how you have used it? Do you not feel a burden to show results for what you have been given?

Everything you need is within something you already have, and that thing is time. If you are willing to pay the price and invest those coins in exchange for something of value, nothing will be beyond your reach. This brings us to the question: On what are you spending your gold coins? Are you squandering them? Or burying them in the sand, like the man who was given one talent (Matt. 25:18)? Do you appreciate the value of your coins? If you did, you would be like the woman who lost one of her coins and did not stop searching for it until she found it (Luke 15:8). What is the value of an hour to you? If you lose an hour of your day, what does it mean to you? Perhaps you do not even flinch at the thought (after all you would still have twenty-three hours at your disposal). Recall that the woman who was searching so diligently for her coin still had nine other coins in her possession. But that didn't stop her from recovering the missing one.

Some of us are missing not just hours, but years, from our lives. Through poor decisions, avoidable mistakes, bad friends, wrong advice and a number of other reasons, we have taken a wrong turn on the road of life and ended up in a ditch. We have lost so much time that we believe our lost years are beyond redemption. But listen! Hear the voice of God's promise echoing from the pages of scripture "I will restore to you the years which the swarming locust has eaten" (Joel 2:25). It is never too late to correct a mistake. Never too late to start afresh. Never too late to finish well. You can rise again. You must rise again. In fact, you must rise now. "There is hope for the tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots won't stop growing" (Job 14:7). As long as you are alive, you have hope. Even a living dog is better than a dead lion (Eccl. 9:4). There is no reason to give up when you still have hope. All you need to do is ask for help from the Giver of time. He controls the times and seasons. He controls time and chance. He can give you a new start.

With this new beginning, the privilege of time (and the opportunities it provides) takes on new meaning. You are aware of the great potential of those coins. You realise you must decide what to do with them. No longer will you allow chance, circumstances or others make the decisions for you. You know it's time to be accountable, to be responsible; time to really live. Every coin that leaves your hand is now an investment. You are thinking, not in minutes now, but in days, weeks, years, even decades. You are thinking 'future' and not 'present'. Tomorrow and not today. This, my friend, is how to treat your priceless coins; as precious seeds to be sown. Do not assume it will be fun to deny yourself of certain privileges and sacrifice some pleasures for the promise of tomorrow. Ps. 126:6 however assures you of a good return on your investment "He who goes forth and weeps, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him". Could there be any greater encouragement than that? Indeed, there will be pain in the sacrifice but it will be overshadowed by the joy of the reward. You will give up precious things like your comfort, sleep, fun and games, food (yes, that inclusive), and some other things not on this list. But more precious will be your harvest when it comes.

You must already know some areas of your life where you need to do some sowing, places in which you must invest some gold coins. Some areas may require a few gold coins, others several more. Whatever the price is, pay it now. You will not always have gold coins to spend. Eccl. 12:6-7 reminds us that one day our bodies will return to the dust of the earth, and the breath of life will go back to God, who gave it to us. What account will you give, then? What will be your reward? The answer lies in your hands. In what you do with your gold coins.


Prayer:
Lord and Giver of time, please forgive me for how I have squandered my gold coins. I ask that You redeem the time I have lost and give me a new start, new opportunities and new Grace. As I begin, now, to invest this treasure, I thank You in advance for the harvest that I will reap. Amen.

Femi is a Christian who desires to be fruitful for God. He wants to contribute to the growth of the Kingdom and to this end, it is his joy to freely share whatever the Lord lays on his heart for the benefit of others.

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