Every believer is considered a priest of God. Therefore, as we study the word of God, we are also required to preach the word of God to witness to the unbelievers and sometimes to edify other believers.
Numbers 8:23 “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,”
This passage strongly urges us to serve the Lord by preaching His word because there is not much time. We know that our time here on earth is temporary, and only what we do for the Lord will last when we enter His kingdom.
Starting Point In Life
Numbers 8:24 “This is it that belongeth unto the Levites: from twenty and five years old and upward they shall go in to wait upon the service of the tabernacle of the congregation:”
If we were one of these Leviticus priests and we start at the age of 25, how would we have uphold the position? With the clarity that we need to make use of every minute to what is right is God’s sight.
Nonetheless, most of us Christians nowadays are wasting the time that our Lord has given us. As His spiritual priests, do we tilt towards living a life full of complacency and procrastination?
When God asks us to do something, Don’t say ‘I will do it.’ This indicates a delayed action. Do not yield into our flesh and feelings that delay our action to serve the Lord. By acting so, we have already lost the battle in God’s sight. Instead, we should get rid of the feelings and endure the discomfort that it brings us.
2 Chronicles 29:11 “My sons, be not now negligent: for the Lord hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should minister unto him, and burn incense.”
‘Be not now negligent‘, not now, not ever. When God commands us to do something, we take immediate action, not 2 minutes or 5 minutes later. This is because negligence now is considered as opposing God’s instructions.
We waste our time and do not bring forth enough fruits for the Lord because the moment we wake up every day, we have a worldly schedule. We are occupied predominantly with what pleases and comforts our flesh, not our spirit, not God. This comes to show what is the priority of our life. Is it God?
2 Chronicles 13:11 “And they burn unto the Lord every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense: the shewbread also set they in order upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of the Lord our God; but ye have forsaken him.”
How do we begin and end each day? This holds a lot of weight on what we prioritize.
If we put God first, make sure it becomes habitual, that is how we overcome negligence.
A good exercise to weigh our time spent on God, such as Bible reading, fellowshipping with our Church members, tracts giving versus the time we spend on worldly things, like watching television and social media. This will give us a clear picture of the ratio, whether it is balanced or not.
Ephesians 6:11 tells us to “put on the whole armor of God, so that we can cast away the temptations and wickedness of our sins.”
Stopping Point In Life
Numbers 8:25 “And from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the service thereof, and shall serve no more:”
At a point in life, we may stop serving the Lord because genuine things happen. What could they be? Apart from our own sins, accidents and health issues, governmental law enforcement prohibits spreading the gospel. These are real problems faced by many believers around the world. We are too privileged not to have to go through them yet.
This is our exact problem: we always seek or wait for a convenient time for us to serve the Lord. Nonetheless, Satan knows well enough to always put barriers between us and the Lord and condone us into constantly looking for excuses.
Ephesians 5:16 “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”
‘Redeeming the time because times are evil‘. Ask ourselves, what is stopping us?
This shows that Christ is coming soon, which is excellent news for us believers, for we know we will be raptured before we die. So now the matter is with this appointed time given by God, how are we utilizing this one lifetime?
How are we leveraging on this residency and time to bear fruits for Him?
Just remember, we may think a lifetime here on earth (average of 80 years) is long, but when we compare it with eternity, it is nothing. Moreover, with God’s promises that Jesus will come even sooner, it just shows that our days here on earth are limited. So it is crucial to redeem our time for the Lord.
Revelation 3:3 “Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.”
Again, this is about the urgency of time, and the message is from Jesus Himself.
We are living in a society now where we easily allow hindrances to prevent us from serving the Lord. One big reason is that we do not realize the importance of time, and treasure it.
Let’s not wait until it is too late or until we have fallen so behind, but let these verses from the Bible convict us.
Staying Point In Life
Numbers 8:26 “But shall minister with their brethren in the tabernacle of the congregation, to keep the charge, and shall do no service. Thus shalt thou do unto the Levites touching their charge.”
This paints a picture of despair when one is on the sideline and unable to do much for the Lord, while watching other brethren and sisters continue to be on a roll and bear a lot of spiritual fruits. We do not want to be in such a position, as it can be so frustrating. We do not want to stay in a fixated spot, missing out on the opportunities to serve the Lord, do we?
We cannot stress enough on how precious time is, as researches have shown that we waste an average lifetime of 2 years returning calls to people who are not available; six months on waiting for traffic lights to turn green, and eight months reading junk mails.
This comes to show how much we can accomplish for the Lord if we used those times wisely.
Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
This passage reminds us of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which is why Paul stresses to live in Christ, we need to live for Christ! Our lifetime here on earth is equivalent to the thin line of an edge of a paper, and we only have one life to live, comparing that to the whole sheet of paper itself, which is our eternity in Heaven.
Whatever sacrifices we have to make for the Lord, it is only this one life that we get to do it.
Let’s not forget that Satan is the adversary, so despite being saved at a young age, we should always stay faithful with the Lord and maintain or even grow our testimonies.
We see some Christians who got saved at a young age leave their churches and turn away from God because of disappointments and lack of faith. Subsequently, they resort to the pleasures and vanity of the world. Hence, they ruin their testimonies, even to their family members.
This reminds us that if we do not walk with the Lord and waste our time resorting to worldliness instead, we will be losing precious times until it is too late or until we can no longer redeem our works and time for the Lord.
Let’s live for Christ, knowing that when we face the Lord at the Judgment Seat of Christ, we can have our heads held high to claim our rewards.