Wasted Time
David Cassidy was born in New York City in 1950. On January 2, 1969, David made his debut in the Broadway Musical ‘The Fig Leaves are Falling.’ It only lasted for four shows, but a casting director saw the show and asked him to make a screen test. He then moved to Los Angeles later the same year and signed with Universal Studios.
In 1970 he took the role of Keith Partridge on the musical television show, ‘The Partridge Family'. The show became very successful and soon he was considered a teen idol, and pop star. After a while he started to record solo albums and eventually became the highest paid entertainer in the world, for a short time. In fact, Cassidy’s fan club was larger than The Beatles or Elvis Presley. He performed in stadiums, selling out Madison Square Garden in New York City and Wembley Stadium in London.
But Cassidy wrestled with personal challenges, in 2008 he admitted he had an alcohol problem. In 2017 Cassidy was hospitalized with liver and kidney failure and was critically ill in a medical induced coma. He died of liver failure a few days later on November 18, 2017. According to his daughter, Katie Cassidy, his final words were, “So much wasted time”.
Here we read about a man who had it all, fame, fortune, talent, and in the end, he really questioned how he lived his life.
How about you? Do you feel like you have wasted your time? Life is but a vapor when we look at it through eternal eyes.
In the book of James, we have an interesting passage:
James 4:13–14 (NKJV)
13Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
Life is a gift from God, and we should cherish every moment we have. What are we to do with our time? Do we view time as a gift from God? Who really owns our time?
In the book Christ Object Lessons we read, “Our time belongs to God. Every moment is His, and we are under the most solemn obligation to improve it to His glory. Of no talent He has given will He require a more strict account than of our time.
The value of time is beyond computation. Christ regarded every moment as precious, and it is thus that we should regard it. Life is too short to be trifled away. We have but a few days of probation in which to prepare for eternity. We have no time to waste, no time to devote to selfish pleasure, no time for the indulgence of sin. It is now that we are to form characters for the future, immortal life. It is now that we are to prepare for the searching judgment.
The human family have scarcely begun to live when they begin to die, and the world’s incessant labor ends in nothingness unless a true knowledge in regard to eternal life is gained. The man who appreciates time as his working day will fit himself for a mansion and for a life that is immortal. It is well that he was born.
We are admonished to redeem the time. But time squandered can never be recovered. We cannot call back even one moment. The only way in which we can redeem our time is by making the most of that which remains, by being co-workers with God in His great plan of redemption.
Life is too solemn to be absorbed in temporal and earthly matters, in a treadmill of care and anxiety for the things that are but an atom in comparison with the things of eternal interest. Yet God has called us to serve Him in the temporal affairs of life. Diligence in this work is as much a part of true religion as is devotion. The Bible gives no indorsement to idleness. It is the greatest curse that afflicts our world. Every man and woman who is truly converted will be a diligent worker.” (COL p. 342-343)
In the Book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon gives us this wise instruction.
The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. They are no longer rewarded for their work and after a while no one will even remember who they were. Their love, hatred, and jealously will be gone. So, enjoy life with your family and friends. Eat with them and be joyful because God made us that way. Enjoy life with your wife and kids, as long as you live, because without some happiness it is not worth living. Once you die, there is no more activity, thoughts, or wisdom in the grave where you will eventually go. (Eccl. 9:5-10; paraphrased)
Yes, life is short. Let us live life with full enjoyment with family, friends, and God. Let us keep our eyes on the goal of eternity and stay focused on Jesus Christ our Savior.