Swiftly We’re Turning Life’s Daily Pages
That’s what the song says; “Swiftly we’re turning, life’s daily pages. Swiftly the hours, are changing to years.” Amazing isn’t it? How “swiftly” time goes by! The hours, turn into years. One hour, you’re a child, playing hide-and-seek, and the next hour, you’re wondering where your childhood went!
But each day, is just a page in your life, isn’t it? And those pages are turning so fast, it’s hard to imagine. The scripture says; “For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” James 4:14.
Job says, in Job 7, verse 6; “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.” Don’t worry about that last part, that talks about our days being spent “without hope”. All that refers to is the probability that you’ll never get all you hoped for in this life. It has nothing to do with our eternal hope in God and in Christ. There’s no doubt about that hope! That hope, is “an anchor for our soul” ! Hebrews 6:19.
But rarely are all the hopes of this life realized, and then, this life is over.. “swifter than a weaver’s shuttle”.
Do you know what a “weaver’s shuttle” is? A “weaver’s shuttle” is basically a tool that’s used on a loom, where yarn or thread is woven into fabric. On a loom, there’s all these strands of yarn running one direction, and the shuttle is used to hold the yarn that goes across those strands, that gets woven in between them all. And this shuttle, gets passed from one side to the other, shuttling the yarn back and forth.
And a really good weaver, can pass that shuttle back and forth pretty fast. And that’s what our life is being compared to. You might say that each day of our life, is like a pass of that shuttle.. Zoom, zoom, zoom, back and forth, and before you know it, it’s done. Another life finished; Over and done. Hope diminished.
And so the bible tells us, in Ephesians 5:15 & 16; “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, (redeeming the time) because the days are evil.”
Now that verse isn’t saying that every day of our life is simply evil. The word “evil” there, simply means that the days are laborious, and “pain ridden” so to speak. The days of this life, bring inevitable troubles and agonies. Just like Jesus said in John 16:33; “..In the world you have tribulation..” And then, the days are over; They’re just gone. That shuttle just went back and forth so fast, that earthly goals might never come to fruition.
That’s why God tells us to.. “Redeem the time”; Be careful how you walk, how you conduct yourself, and be careful WHAT you fill your days with. Make sure, that you always make the most of the time allotted. There’s only one thing that anyone has to accomplish in this life anyway. And that is to accomplish Gods will. We don’t have to do any great thing! Do you remember what Jesus said to Martha, when she complained about Mary simply sitting at the feet of Jesus, and listening to Him? Jesus said, in Luke 10:42; “..only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
Only one thing is necessary.. The bible says;
“Fear God, and keep his commandments: For this is the WHOLE of man.” Ecclesiastes 12:13.
Micah 6, verse 8 says; “.. And what does the Lord require of you, But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?” That’s it, that’s all we have to accomplish in this life; No matter how long or short our life is.
“You shall love the Lord with all your heart, and all your soul, and all you mind.” Mathew 22:37.
The apostle John wrote in 1 John 5:3; “For this IS the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” It’s not burdensome, it’s not a chore, it’s not oppressive in the least., to keep the commandments of God.
Back in John 16:33, Jesus said; “These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me, you might have peace. (peace in Jesus Christ, gained, through obeying Him) In the world you shall have tribulation: But be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
Jesus overcame the world by living a sinless life, but we can’t do that; Unfortunately, we don’t have that same level of faith, that Jesus had. But we DO have the level of faith, that we have! And through our obedience to Christ, that level of faith that we do have, though it may be “little faith” compared to Jesus.. God takes that faith, and you might say, He takes it to the next level! God takes it to the next level, by reckoning it to us, as righteousness.
Just because we had faith enough, to obey the Father, and to obey the Son. Hebrews 5:9 tells us that Jesus, through his own obedience, has become, “..the author of salvation, to all those who obey Him.” You could say, Jesus, wrote the book on salvation. Nothing grievous to do, nothing “great” in man’s eyes, just simple obedience to God’s word. That’s all it takes.
Psalm 90, verse 12 says; “So teach us to number our days, that we may get us a heart of wisdom.”
Hasn’t the summer gone by fast? It always does; Summer is way too short! The grass isn’t really growing anymore. We’ve had a good freeze at our house. The leaves are turning color, and they’re falling off the trees in the wind. And God compares that to us..
Psalm 105:15 & 16 says; “As for man, his days are as grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes; For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, And its place remembers it no more.” But listen to verses 17 & 18. Here’s the good news; “But the mercy of the Lord, is from everlasting to everlasting, upon them that fear him; And his righteousness, unto the children’s children; To such as keep His covenant, and to those that remember His commandments, to do them.”
A story is told of a man who celebrated his 102nd birthday with family and friends. And someone said to him; Can you give us some advice, after having lived so long? And the man said; Don’t blink, ’cause a hundred years, goes by faster than you think! One day you’re six years old, and you lay down for a nap, and you wake up, and you’re 35. And then before you know it, your kids are moms and dads. But your mom and dad are gone. And the more years that pass, the faster they go. So trust me, don’t blink!
A preacher was visiting some of the elderly people in a nursing home. And he was visiting with a particular woman, and in the course of the conversation, he asked her how old she was. And she replied; “I’m 96 years old; That’s a long time to live.” And they were both silent for a minute. But then she looked up at him and she said; “But you know, when you think about it, it isn’t very long at all.”
When’s the last time that you realized, just how quickly time has gone by? We probably think about it everyday to an extent. But you know, Jan and I were really shocked one day, about how many years had gone by. It was probably about eight years ago already, time goes by so fast; But we were still riding horses in the mountains; And we were wondering where we should ride to that day. So we decided we’d ride up to our old hunting camp, because we hadn’t been there for such a long time.
And so we rode up there, it only takes about two hours to get there from Hunter Corrals. And when we got there, not a single thing had changed, it was exactly like it was so many years ago, when we were there almost every weekend. And so we got to thinking.. How many years HAS it been since we were here? So we though back, and we figured out, that it had been twenty five years! 25 years had gone by, but where did they go? Looking around at everything, it seemed like yesterday! It truly did seem like just yesterday.
Listen to these words from Romans 13, verse 11. The apostle Paul had already written about several things in his letter; And in verse 11 he says; “And this; Knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; For now salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed.” How many years has it been since you’ve been baptized? That’s how much closer you are now to salvation, then you were back then. For me, I’m 37 years closer. For Doug, I think he’s about 77 years closer to salvation, then he was when he was first baptized. How about you?
An older preacher made these comments about that verse. He said; “Maybe it’s because of my age, but the thought of salvation being nearer than when I first believed, has a much greater meaning to me today, than it did when I was twelve years old. It’s a foregone conclusion, that the older one gets, the faster it seems that the days become weeks, and these weeks become months, and those months become years, all too soon. Truly, we are “swiftly turning life’s daily pages.”
Now, regardless of age, or of years, the most important consideration for any of us, young or old, is to be dressed in readiness, with lamps lit
Jesus said in Luke 12:35 & 36; “Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning. Then you will be like servants, waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks, they can open the door for him at once.”
The time is going to come upon us so quickly, and we need to be ready. Jesus says in Mathew 24:42; “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.” Time is going by so fast, you might think you’ve got time, bu then the time is gone!
“Behold, now is the accepted time; Behold, now is the day of salvation!” 2 Corinthians 6, verse 2.
Ephesians 6, 13 thru 18 tells us how to be ready always; “Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.”
Be ready NOW, and then welcome those fleeting days and years. Because the faster that time that goes by, the closer we are to the Lord. Because that’s what it’s all about!
