What is the most universal slaughter? It has to be “the killing of time.”

Sigmund Freud suffered from a horrible cancer of the mouth. In 1926, he also developed heart trouble and spent time in a sanitarium. He returned to Vienna with a yearning for morning drives, and for the first time he experienced the glories of springtime in Vienna.

“What a pity,” he wrote, “that one has to grow old and ill before making this discovery.”

Certainly, one of the ways we kill time is when we do not recognize or acknowledge God’s blessings.

A prominent speaker observed that she had never met a retired or older citizen who stated that if they had to do it over they would go to the office earlier, stay later or work harder.

But she had met numerous people who said if they had to do it over they would spend more time with their families, take better care of their health and make stronger contributions to humankind. Another way we kill time is when we major on the minors and minor on the majors.

Writing to the Ephesians, Paul says, “Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise making the most of the time…” (Ephesians 5:15).

Here we see that no occasion is too insignificant for redeeming the time. Whether we are in a business transaction, in a theater, at a ball game, on a soccer field, participating in a town hall meeting or whatever, no occasion is too insignificant for redeeming the time. Time is precious, and God takes it seriously. Initially, time is precious because it is a gift from God. The most important fact about time is that God owns it-all of it-our time and our times.

The psalmist declared, “My times are in your hands”(Psalm 31:15).

For each of us, God daily deposits into our account of life 86,400 fleeting seconds, 1,400 precious minutes and 24 unique hours. No time is carried over from the previous day or turned into credit for the next day.

Consequently, every day is sacred. Every day is time entrusted to us by God. Every hour is God’s sacred hour. Every moment in life is a gift. Thus, our time is given to us to be caretakers of God’s ongoing work of creation and redemption.

Time is precious because it is brief and uncertain. There are two things that especially enhance the value of time-it’s brevity, and its uncertain. The Bible speaks of how brief our lives are. “They are like grass, which grows in the morning and is cut down in the evening.”

Hal Brady operates Hal Brady Ministries in Decatur