January 5

“We must do the works of Him who sent Me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work.” — John 9:4

We are all in this world on divine missions, are all sent from God to take some specific part in blessing the world. To do this–we have just a day of time. A day is a brief time. It is a fixed time. When the sun comes to his going down, no power in the universe can prolong his stay for one minute.

Yet the day is long enough for God’s plan. The sun never sets too soon for his purpose. Each life is long enough for the little part of the world’s work allotted to it. This is true even of the infant that lives only an hour, merely coming into this world, smiling its blessing, and flying away. It is true of the child, of the young man or young woman, of him who dies in the maturity of his powers with his hands yet full of unfinished tasks. No one can ever offer as an excuse for an unfinished life-work, that the time given to him was too short. It is always long enough, if only every moment of it is filled with simple faithfulness.

To have our work completed at the end, we must do it while the day lasts, for there will be no opportunity afterward. If we are living earnestly, we shall live all the time under the pressure of the consciousness, that the time is short. We must not waste nor lose a moment. Soon it will be night–when we cannot work!