Got a second? It's important
OK, here’s a question for you: What would YOU do with your wealth if you were a billionaire?
The truth is, if you are reading these words right now, you ARE a billionaire. But I’m not referring to our bank accounts. Instead, we’re all TIME billionaires.
The phrase “Time Billionaire” was coined by an investor named Graham Duncan. I’m not sure what prompted him to do it, but he calculated that a billion seconds is slightly more than 31 years. So, if you live to be 31, you’ve been blessed with 1 billion seconds. If you live to be 62, that’s 2 billion seconds. And if you’re fortunate enough to make it to 93, then you’ve been lavishly blessed with 3 billion seconds of life.
Incredible, isn’t it? So when you think about it, time is true wealth.
Now I know we often hear stories of people losing their life savings because of gambling or drug addiction, and that’s awful. But if we’re not careful, time can be much easier to blow through than money.
Consider some of the phrases we use:
We kill time.
We waste time.
We even kid ourselves into thinking we can actually SAVE time somehow through technology and other shortcuts. And then what happens? We squander that “saved” time on other trivial pursuits.
So here’s what we really need to understand: With every breath we take, with each second that passes, we are dying at the same time we are living. I know it’s hard to fathom, but right now, we are 24 hours closer to seeing Jesus than we were at this time yesterday.
And believe me, that excites me to no end, and I can’t wait for that to happen.
But, as my days race — and I mean race — toward the 2 billion second mark, I’ve become a little more nostalgic. And if I’m being honest, maybe a little disappointed and a little frustrated because some things I had hoped and prayed for haven’t worked out in my lifetime.
But in His faithfulness, God points me to Psalm 90. And in particular, verses 10 and 12.
“The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.” — Psalm 90:10
And then verse 12 …
“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” — Psalm 90:12
Moses is saying we need God, the author of life itself, to teach us what numbering our days really means. Like all billionaires, if we want to multiply the impact of our wealth, then we need to learn how to invest it wisely.
So, what wisdom has God been imparting to me in this area? Here is the simplest way I can describe it:
Forget the wins. Just stay in the game.
And for someone as competitive as I am — for someone who loves to win as much as I do — that’s a hard lesson. Yet it’s also become very freeing for me. Though I may think otherwise, God hasn’t called me to success or failure. He’s simply asking me to participate and obey his commands as I tend the little plot of garden He’s given me on this earth. So, for me, numbering my days rightly simply means that I stay connected to the vine, share the gifts he’s blessed me with, and help my fellow humans to flourish and draw closer in their relationship to God.
That’s staying in the game. And that’s participating in God’s glorious plan for this world.
And when I do that, sometimes success IS a place I go with God. At least, success by the world’s standards. And sometimes, failure is a place I go with God — again, failure by the world’s standards. It’s taken me awhile, but I’m learning that there’s meaning and beauty and purpose in both success and failure, because God is with me in both. And isn’t that the true essence of joy? We’re secure in the Lord — we know that God is with us — no matter what is happening around us.
Ever heard of a guy named Dave Evans? He’s the founder of EA Sports, which makes the Madden football video game and many others. He’s also a professing follower of Jesus. I love this question he poses:
“Is what you're doing during the day justifying your legitimacy, or is it expressing your belovedness? It's probably the same behavior, but the mindset and the consciousness are radically different, and that's what we're called to do.”
Now, take a moment to view the image below.
When I first saw this picture, it hit me really hard. It’s such a powerful, and vivid, illustration of what 2.7 billion seconds might look like in reality.
Ponder that for a moment. And I encourage you to think about this picture often. Let it remind you of how brief, and beautiful, life can be.
And if you haven’t already, like Moses’ prayer in Psalm 90, let’s ask God to give us a heart of wisdom to help us number our days rightly. Then let’s go live with a sense of God’s presence with us, with a sense of God’s power inside of us, and with a sense of spiritual urgency for what’s happening all around us.
In other words, let’s live like every second counts.
Because as you see on that picture, they do.
(Tim Kolodziej is a freelance writer and coach. Email him at timkolodziej32@gmail.com.)