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“God has placed you where He has placed no one else. No one else in the world has the same relationships you have. No one will stand in the same grocery store line at exactly the same moment you do. No one else will come across a hungering diplomat in the desert at exactly the same time you do. God hasn’t put you in those places merely to model the truth. Listen for the voice of the Spirit to whisper in your ear. Watch for the stranger on the road. And be aware of your opportunities to go where He would send you.”
Chuck Swindoll
Kirk Cameron’s Comment
It’s been said that a person’s priorities can be determined by looking at his calendar and his checkbook. This lesson made me examine my own heart and rethink how I spend the time and resources that God has given me.
Questions & Objections
“I have things I need to do before I become a Christian.”
Your statement implies that you believe following God will mean you won’t be able to do the things you want to do. If that is true, then that means the things you intend to do would displease God. Are you saying you prefer to do something God wouldn’t want you to do? If so, you are willfully sinning against God and putting yourself in a dangerous situation. That is all the more reason you need His forgiveness.
If the things you want to do are good, why can’t you become a Christian and then do them? Nothing you can do could be more important than your relationship with God. To put Him off is unwise. What if you die before you become a Christian? Then you would be eternally without hope.
Lesson
Imagine there is a bank that credits your account each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day—every evening it erases whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out every cent, of course.
Each of us has such a bank. Its name is “time.” Every morning it credits you with 86,400 seconds and every night it writes off as lost whatever portion of this you have failed to invest to good purpose. It carries over no balance; it allows no overdrafts. Each day it opens a new account for you; each night it burns the remains of the day. If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours. There is no going back, no drawing against the “tomorrow.” You must live in the present on today’s deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in God’s will. The clock is running; make the most of today.
To realize the value of one year, ask the student who failed a grade; one month, ask the mother who gave birth to a premature baby; one week, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper; one hour, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet; one minute, ask the person who just missed a train; one second, ask the person who just avoided an accident; one millisecond, ask the silver medal winner in the Olympics.
In the following letter from an atheist, even he can see how the Christian should best spend his time:
You are really convinced that you’ve got all the answers. You’ve really got yourself tricked into believing that you’re 100% right. Well, let me tell you just one thing. Do you consider yourself to be compassionate of other humans? If you’re right about God, as you say you are, and you believe that, then how can you sleep at night? When you speak with me, you are speaking with someone who you believe is walking directly into eternal damnation, into an endless onslaught of horrendous pain, which your “loving” god created, yet you stand by and do nothing. If you believed one bit that thousands every day were falling into an eternal and unchangeable fate, you should be running the streets mad with rage at their blindness. That’s equivalent to standing on a street corner and watching every person that passes you walk blindly directly into the path of a bus and die, yet you stand idly by and do nothing. You’re just twiddling your thumbs, happy in the knowledge that one day that “walk” signal will shine your way across the road. Think about it. Imagine the horrors hell must have in store if the Bible is true. You’re just going to allow that to happen and not care about saving anyone but yourself? If you’re right, then you’re an uncaring, unemotional and purely selfish (expletive) that has no right to talk about subjects such as love and caring.
Consider these probing questions about how you spend your time: Do you read your Bible every day without fail? Do you find time to eat food each day? Which comes first in your life—your Bible or your belly? Do you ever weep for the unsaved? Have you shared your faith verbally with more than 12 people in the last 12 months? Do you pray for laborers as Jesus commanded us to (see Luke 10:2)? If you were to be given $1,000 for every person you witnessed to, could you deal with your “fear of man” problem? Can you say that you love your neighbor as much as you love yourself? Have you made it a habit to always carry gospel tracts with you?
Yesterday is history, tomorrow a mystery. Today is a gift. That is why it is called the present. Be wise, “redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15, 16).
Preacher’s Progress
A sample witnessing conversation, written in the style of John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress.
Christian: Do you know if there are any good churches around here?
Nick O’Deamus: No, not really. I haven’t been to church for a while.
Christian: Do you have a Christian background?
Nick O’Deamus: Yes. I’m a Roman Catholic ... born in Ireland.
Christian: Have you been born again?
Nick O’Deamus: Yes. I was baptized as a child.
Christian: No. I’m not talking about being baptized. This is something different. It’s when you are born again. It’s in the Catholic Bible, in John chapter 3.
Nick O’Deamus: I’ve never heard of that. How can you be born again?
Christian: The difference between believing in God and being born again is like the difference between believing in a parachute and actually putting one on. There’s a big difference when you jump. Does that make sense?
Nick O’Deamus: Yes, it does.
Christian: Do you know what made me see that I had to be born again?
Nick O’Deamus: No, what?
Christian: It was the Ten Commandments. Do you think you have keep them?
Nick O’Deamus: No.
Christian: So you see yourself as a sinner.
Nick O’Deamus: Oh, yes. Definitely.
Christian: If you died tonight, where do you think you would go?
Nick O’Deamus: Probably Purgatory.
Christian: There’s no such place. If you die in your sins, the Bible makes it clear that you will go to hell. Did you know that Jesus said if you even look with lust, you have committed adultery in your heart?
Nick O’Deamus: No, I didn’t know that. I’ve done that many times.
Christian: So where would you go if you died tonight?
Nick O’Deamus: I would go to hell.
Christian: Do you know what God did for you so that you wouldn’t have to go to hell?
Nick O’Deamus: He died on the cross.
Christian: That’s right. Jesus, once and for all, took your punishment upon Himself, then He rose from the dead. Now God will give you the gift of everlasting life if you repent—that is, confess your sins not to a priest, but to God, and then forsake them—and put your trust in Jesus Christ. Then you will be born again, with a new heart and new desires. Do you think you are ready to do that?
Nick O’Deamus: I am.
Christian: Then quietly confess your sins to God—ask for His forgiveness and tell Him that you are going to trust Jesus. Then I will pray for you, and show you some incredible promises in the Bible. Okay?
Nick O’Deamus: Okay.
Questions
- How are you investing your time wisely for God’s kingdom?
- How did the letter from the atheist make you feel?
- What do your priorities say about your commitment to Christ?
Answers to these review questions are provided in the back of the printed book / source PDF.
Memory Verse
“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”
Ephesians 5:15-16
Last Words
I have tried so hard to do the right.
Grover Cleveland (1837–1908), 22nd and 24th President of the U.S.
This page is a faithful digital transcription of Lesson 94 of The School of Biblical Evangelism by Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort (Bridge-Logos, © 2004), republished by UECF.NET under the book’s own printed permission to reproduce it “for the furtherance of the gospel and given away free.” See the About this Web Edition page for full source and copyright details, and the original PDF for the complete book, including the answer key.