Zig Ziglar, well-known motivational speaker, tells the story about a thief who was robbed. The incident took place back in 1887 in a small neighborhood grocery store when a middle-aged gentleman, Emanuel Nenger, gave the assistant a $20 note to pay for the turnip greens he was purchasing. When the assistant placed the note in the cash drawer she noticed that some of the ink from the $20 came off on her hands which were wet from wrapping the turnip greens.

She’d known Mr. Nenger for years and was shocked. She pondered, “Is this man giving me a counterfeit $20 note?” She dismissed the thought immediately and gave him his change. But $20 was a lot of money in those days so she notified the police who, after procuring a search warrant, went to Emanuel Nenger’s home where they found in his attic the tools he was using to reproduce the counterfeit $20 notes. They found an artist’s easel, paint brushes, and paints which Nenger was using to meticulously paint the counterfeit money. He was a master artist.

The police also found three portraits that Nenger had painted – paintings that sold at public auction for a little over $16,000!

The irony was that it took him almost as much time to paint a $20 note as it did to paint those portraits which sold for more than $5,000 each.

We are shocked that someone would waste their time doing something so foolish when he had the opportunity to do something so valuable. But we’re all guilty of the same thing, aren’t we? Think for a moment about how you spent your time yesterday, or last week. Think of the hours wasted dong things that were unimportant (or maybe even destructive) — time which could have been spent developing your relationship with God and helping others.

We have each been given a gift by God of 1,440 minutes every day. In terms of time, no one is any richer than anyone else, for we all get exactly the same amount. And, like the manna of the Hebrews in the wilderness, none of those minutes can be stored up and used the next day. They must (and will) be used on the day they were given. But how we use those minutes is our choice. Choose wisely.

“Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15-16)

Alan Smith alansmith.servant@gmail.com