4 “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. John 9:4 (NKJV)
By Bro. John L. Cash
When you read Christian history you run into the most fascinating people in the world. One of my favorites is Rev. Sabine Baring Gould. Perhaps you’ve never heard of him, but I’m sure you’re familiar with his most famous hymn, “Onward Christian Soldiers.”
Sabine Baring Gould accomplished an astonishing amount of work in his lifetime. In the 1800’s in England he pastored the same church for 43 years. He wrote 150 books and more than 1,200 other publications. He was a good husband and father, and he raised 15 children. He was a prodigious hymn writer. And get this — he was also a world-renowned expert on the subject of werewolves. (You can’t make this stuff up. And I’m just scratching the surface here. You should Google him.)
How was Brother Gould able to accomplish so much in his life? The answer is simple. Sabine Baring Gould believed it was never “not a good time” to work on something. Instead of waiting for the perfect time to begin a task, he just utilized the little bits of time he had. By doing this he found that it’s often possible to turn an “inopportune moment” into prime-time for great accomplishments.
Perhaps Brother Gould got his inspiration from St. Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians: “Be very careful, then, how you live– not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15-16, NIV)
So this week let’s try to use those little bits of time. It’s a smart way to live (and a holy one, too.)
Dr. John L. Cash is the “Country Preacher Dad.” He was raised in Stuttgart, Arkansas, and has spent the last 30 years being a country preacher in the piney woods five miles south of the little town of Hickory, Mississippi. (On week days has a desk-job at a public school, where he used to teach Latin on closed-circuit-television.) He and his lovely wife, Susan, live in the parsonage next door to the Antioch Christian Church (where the preacher wrote this devotion while drinking his morning coffee.) Their kids include Spencer (age 24), his wife Madeline (age 24), and Seth (age 21). You can send him a note at brotherjohn@ilovechurchcamp.com .
