Week Eighteen, 2026

“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

It sits on my office desk, a large hourglass. Sometimes I use it to joke with clients, but most of the time it just decorates my desk. When I look at it, I am reminded of God’s gift of time. It has a globe on each end, one empty and one filled with sand. I can flip it over and the sand passes from the filled globe to the empty one in an hour: nothing more and nothing less.

There are two things that last forever: the soul and the Word of God. Everything else runs out. There is a time for everything, including our worldly departure.

The hourglass, or sandglass, likely evolved from ancient water clocks (clepsydras) in Egypt and Babylon, with early glass versions appearing by the 3rd century BC. These were used in Rome for speeches and became common in Europe by the 14th century. They were documented in art and used on ships for navigation, timing sermons, and household tasks, eventually becoming a symbol of mortality and the passage of time.

What does the time of life mean in the Bible? God is the one that sets the times of our lives. There is an appointed time for everything, and there is a time for every event under heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Note that Solomon says there is an appointed time for everything, dispelling the modern idea that everything that happens does so randomly.

Ecclesiastes 3 focuses on the sovereignty of God in orchestrating the timing of life’s events, famously noting there is a “time for everything” (a season for birth, death, joy, and sorrow). It highlights that God makes all things appropriate in their time, encourages finding contentment in daily work, and notes that eternity is placed in human hearts.

While human life has seasons of struggle, verse 3:11 indicates that God ultimately makes all things “beautiful” or appropriate in their appointed time.

God has given humans a desire for something beyond temporary, earthly existence. Instead of striving to control the uncontrollable, people should find joy in their work and accept their circumstances as gifts from God. This is meant to bring humility and encourage an appreciation for the present.

What time is it in your life?

Sometimes True Stories

COMMENTS FROM EDGAR APONTE: Evil will give you a little fun, but ultimately it will destroy you. Don’t use people to get what you want. Don’t join the wrong group. Sin is a great recruiter. We have an innate passion to belong to other groups. What is the bait? People play where they can belong. It is better to be alone with Jesus than in a crowd of sinners. Sin will always hook and destroy you. If you don’t fear God, you will fear everything. If you have listened to the world, Jesus died for you. Come to Jesus.

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“It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.” – Luke 15:32

The prodigal son looked at the world and thought that it would bring him more joy than he felt at home. So, he took the opportunity to experience it, finding that it was temporary at best.

We may have a prodigal of our own, but we are also prodigals ourselves. We look at the world and think it will give us joy. So, we take an opportunity to indulge all of our personal, physical desires. But like the prodigal above, we ultimately run out of stuff, and what we thought was our answer deserts us.

The good news is that, just like the Biblical prodigal, we have a heavenly Father who will run to welcome us home. The prodigal repented and renewed a right relationship with his father. If we repent, we will also have our relationship renewed with our Father. There is no reason to stay in that pigpen and eat slop. Come home. – Rich Jensen

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The thief on the cross beside Jesus is in Luke 23:42. He said to him, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” The man on the cross may have been a thief, but in his final minutes of life he was gracious in speech and purity of heart. Imagine the thief’s arrival in Heaven; his resume was horrible, and yet there he stood in paradise. He didn’t deserve to be there, but Jesus’s grace allowed him in, because “the man in the middle said he could come.” The thief’s works did not get him in, God’s grace did. Our King is our friend if we accept His grace.

Quotes You Can Use

The Father made a plan. The Son made the plan possible. The Holy Spirit makes the plan work: The Father elects us. The Son justifies. The Holy Spirit sanctifies us. — John MacArthur

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.

Just remember, whoever is trying to bring you down is already below you.

The only thing we should covet is a closer relationship with God.

If you don’t know to which port you’re sailing, no wind is favorable.

Music begins where the possibilities of language end.

Hypocrites and flatterers are first cousins. The hypocrite will say behind your back what he will not say to your face. The flatterer will say to your face what he won’t say behind your back. — Adrian Rogers

A true friend is the person who walks in when everybody else walks out. — Walter Winchell

God desires to give more than what we ask. Too often, people seek the eyes of God instead of the heart of God, but it is in the heart of God to bless us.

If you find that every time someone tries to share with you, you stop the conversation by topping them with your own experience that exceeds their experience, you are a “topper”… stop it! — Dwight Short

Your feedback is welcome and if you want to contribute your ideas and thoughts, address all items and comments to [email protected].

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