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Now, here's today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. As you face the coming new year, how will you use the brief, the uncertain, the valuable gift of time that God has given to you? If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn to Psalm 90, the 90th Psalm, as we talk about your most priceless gift in the coming new year. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. You know, there's nothing like the prospect of a brand new year ahead.
The calendar resets. We've got a blank slate with 52 new weeks to accomplish our goals. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress helps us prepare for a productive new year and see the coming days and months as a gift to carefully steward. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.
Dr. Jeffress? Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. On Tuesday night, we closed the books on another year. 2024 is behind us now. Aren't you glad to have the contentious election behind us?
And aren't you ready for something new and fresh in the new year? Well, I can assure you there's hope ahead when we determine to synchronize our expectations with God's eternal promises. And so today I'm going to address this subject in my message. It's a message that's entirely focused on aligning our hope, not in wishful thinking, but in the priceless promises of God. As an added resource to you and your family, I'm offering a tangible resource that will guide your steps and your outlook in 2025. I'm referring, of course, to the Pathway to Victory daily devotional for 2025. Today is the final day for requesting this brand new addition. So don't let this opportunity slip away.
During the month of December, we nearly exhausted our supply of this beautiful leather-bound volume. But if you get in touch with us right now, we'll make sure to send one to your home right away. I want to give a personal thanks when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. Now, let's set everything aside in order to concentrate on today's passage. I've chosen one of my favorite Psalms. It's the oldest of the Psalms, Psalm chapter 90. I titled today's message, Your Most Priceless Gift in the New Year.
Today, we're going to look at a familiar Psalm that gives us some very precise direction on how to live our lives in the coming new year. The older I get, the more I understand what Rabbi Harold Kushner once called the instant coffee theory of life. If you're like me, when you get a new jar of instant coffee, you open it up, and you have that fresh aroma, and you tend to be very generous in your servings of coffee at the beginning, because after all, you've got a whole brand new jar. But about halfway down, you tend to become more conservative in doling out the coffee.
And by the end, you find yourself scraping the bottom of the jar, looking for every stray grain you can. Kushner says we tend to treat life like a can of instant coffee. At the beginning, we tend to be very generous in how we spend our time.
We don't mind wasting time. After all, we're young. We've got our lives in front of us. In our 50s and 60s, though, it began to occur to us that we're not going to live forever.
We realize we have more years behind us than in front of us. And by the time we reach the end of the jar, we wonder, how did it go so quickly? Same way with the end of life. In the Psalm we're going to look at, Psalm 90, Moses gives us some great instruction on how to live our lives before we reach the bottom of the jar. If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn to Psalm 90, the 90th Psalm, as we talk about your most priceless gift in the coming new year. Moses begins talking about the brevity of life. That's a constant theme that you see flashing throughout the Scriptures, the shortness of our lives. In fact, in the preceding Psalm, Psalm 89, verse 47, the writer says, Remember what my span of life is, for what vanity you have created all the sons of men.
And then Moses picks up that theme in Psalm 90, beginning with verse one. And he does so by comparing the brevity of our life with the eternality of God. You see, time is a matter of perspective. We talk about time racing along, or time sometimes crawling by like a snail.
The fact is, time moves at the same rate for everybody, but it's a perspective compared to what? And so Moses says, I want to show you how brief your life is compared to the eternality of God. Look at verses one and two. Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations, before the mountains were born. Or you gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting.
You are God. God has always existed. He is eternal. That's why it's just so foolish how the atheists, the humanists try to explain everything we see in the universe today. You know what their explanation is for everything we see in our world and the universe? They don't believe in God, so they say, nobody times nothing equals everything.
Isn't that foolish to think that something could come out of nothing? No, the psalmist says. Moses says God has been the constant. From everlasting to everlasting, you are God. God is eternal.
In fact, look at verse four. For a thousand years in your sight, or like yesterday when it passes by, or as a watch in the night. A thousand years is like a day to the Lord. He is not bound to time, but we are, at least in this life.
God has made each one of us a prisoner of time. In this life, we have a beginning, we have a middle, and we have an end. And to show how transitory our life is compared to the eternality of God, Moses uses two metaphors, two images. First of all, he describes our human life to dust.
Look at verse three. You turn man back into dust and say, return, O children of men. Our human bodies are an accumulation of particles and chemicals. We are dust. We were made from the dust of the ground, and our bodies will return to the dust of the ground. In James 4.14, James summons the same thing when he says, you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor. That Greek word atmos, you're just a mist that appears for a little while and then you're gone. Not only that, not only is life brief, but life is uncertain, Moses reminds us. Look at verse five about the uncertainty of life.
You have swept them away like a flood. They fall asleep in the morning, they are like grass which sprouts anew. In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew, but toward evening it fades and withers away. I like the way the living Bible paraphrases verse five. We glide along the tides of time as swiftly as a racing river and vanish as quickly as a dream. What a great picture of life that is. You can be sailing along in your life, enjoying all the great things God has given you, when suddenly out of nowhere you're overwhelmed by circumstances over which you have no control.
It may be an undesired divorce, an unexpected report from the doctor, an undeserved termination from your job and suddenly you realize out of control you really are of your life circumstances. That's what he's talking about here. Circumstances can overcome us very, very quickly. That's why James wrote in James 4 verse 13, come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit. You don't know what your life will be like tomorrow.
You're just a vapor that appears for a while and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say if the Lord wills and we live, we will do this or do that. But as it is, your boast and all of your arrogance, all such boasting is evil.
Now don't misapply that. James isn't saying there's anything wrong with planning. Proverbs talks about the importance of planning. But remember any plans we make are always subject to the sovereignty of God. Man proposes, God disposes sometimes of our plans.
Sometimes circumstances overwhelm us and we're out of control or we think we are of what happens to us. You know, this is the time of the year. The people are making predictions about the coming new year. I'm no prophet. I can't predict many things, but there is one thing I can predict with absolute certainty. Sometime during these next 12 months, something unexpected is going to happen to you. There is something that is going to happen to you that when you look back on it at the end of the next 12 months, you're going to say, wow, I never saw that one coming. So what should our response be to the fact that our life is brief, that it's filled with uncertainty?
Some people make the wrong application. They adopt the hedonistic phrase, eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. Since we don't know how many days we have left, since anything could happen, just grab all the gusto you can grab, as the commercial used to say. Now Moses suggests a different application of those two realities. He said because life is brief, because it is filled with uncertainties, treat it with value. And that's how he applies these truths beginning in verse 10 when he talks about the value of our life.
Understand and act on the value of life. Look at verse 10. As for the days of our life, they contain 70 years, or if due to strength, 80 years.
Now remember, Moses wrote this 3400 years ago. Now over 3400 years, the lifespan of men and women has fluctuated greatly, or so it seems. And yet I was looking just this week, you know what the lifespan of an average male in the US is? 78.6 years. For women, they always outlive us. 81.1 years. But there it is, just like the psalmist said, it floats between 70 and 80 years. Sure, some people live a lot longer, some people live a lot shorter, but most people live between 70 and 80 years of life. I love the way the Living Bible paraphrases this passage. 70 years are given to us, and some may even live to 80.
But even the best of these years are filled with pain and trouble. Soon they disappear, and we are gone. Who can comprehend the power of your anger, God? Which of us can fear you as He should?
And here's the application. Teach us to number our days and recognize how very few they are. Help us to spend them as we should. Life, time is a priceless commodity God gives to each of us.
What makes it priceless? Well, first of all, it is limited. It's things that are limited that have value, and our time is very limited. God may allot to you 70 years. He may give you 80 years. He may give you a few more, a few less. But God has a designated number of days, hours, minutes, and seconds that He has given to each one of you, and they're taken away just like that.
Your time is very limited. That's why it's valuable. And yes, nothing takes God by surprise. Both the day of our death, the day of our date are written in His book. In Psalm 139, verse 16, David says, Your eyes have seen my unformed substance, and in your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. Did you know before you were born, God wrote the date of your birth and the day of your death in indelible ink in His book? But not only that, He wrote every day in between those two dates.
Every day of your life was ordained by God before you experienced one of them. And yet, those days are moving by very quickly. That's why time is valuable. It is limited. But here's the paradox.
Even though it's limited, secondly, it's determinative. And by that I mean how you spend these few fleeting moments that God gives to you impacts greatly both your life now and your life eternally. Let's talk about the eternal aspect first of all. The great paradox is how we spend these few seconds, seemingly, that God gives us on earth determines the kind of eternity that we experience. You see, this life is not all that there is.
Seems that way, but it's not. There's more to us than this collection of chemicals and particles. We have a spirit, and that spirit is going to live eternally. And the most important decision we make in our brief, fleeting life is how are we going to face God one day? Are we going to face His judgment? Are we going to face His forgiveness and be welcomed into heaven? For some of you right now, the most important decision you could ever make is that decision to trust in Christ as your Savior, to know your sins have been washed away and that you will one day be welcomed into God's presence.
You have no guarantee that even tomorrow you'll be able to make that decision. That's why the Bible says today is the day of salvation. Those decisions we make in this life profoundly affect our eternal existence. And once we are saved, how do we spend the time that God has given us?
Investing it in our kingdom, our agenda, or in God's kingdom, His agenda? 2 Corinthians 5, 10 reminds us that one day as Christians we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one of us may be rewarded for what we've done in the body, whether it be good or worthless. Life is short, but what we do here on earth reverberates in the halls of heaven forever. That's why our life here is valuable.
Yes, it's limited, but it's determinative. How we spend our time determines the kind of eternity we'll experience one day, but how we spend our time here on earth also determines the quality of life we have right now. Jesus said in John 10, 10, I've come that you might have life and have it more abundantly. And to a large extent, how you spend your time right now determines what kind of existence you have right now.
As you face the coming new year, how will you use the brief, the uncertain, the valuable gift of time that God has given to you? I want to close today by reading a piece that I got 20 years ago from John Maxwell. It was originally written by a ham radio operator. Some of you are too young to know about ham radio operators.
This ham radio operator wrote a story he called A Thousand Marbles. I think it will make an impression on you. The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes from being the first to rise, or maybe it's just the unbounded joy of not having to go to work. A few weeks ago I was shuffling around the basement with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it. I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band of my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap session. Along the way I came across an older sounding chap with a tremendous signal and a golden voice.
You know the kind. He sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business and he was telling whoever he was talking with something about a thousand marbles. I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say. Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job and I'm sure they pay you well, but it's a shame you've been away from your home and family for so long. Hard to believe a young fellow like you should have to work 50 to 60 hours a week to make ends meet.
Too bad you missed your daughter's dance recital. He continued, let me tell you something, Tom, something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities. And that's when he began to explain his theory of a thousand marbles. You see, he said, I sat down one day and I did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about 75 years.
I know some live more and some live less, but on average folks live about 75 years. Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3,900, which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now stick with me, Tom.
I'm getting to the important part. It took me until I was age 55 to think about all of this in any detail. And by the time I had lived through over 2,800 Saturdays and I got to thinking that if I lived to be 75, I only had about a thousand Saturdays left to enjoy. So I went to a toy store and I bought every single marble they had and I ended up having to visit three toy stores just to round up 1,000 marbles. I took them home, put them inside a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear and every Saturday since then, I've taken one marble out and I've thrown it away. I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focus more on what's really important in my life. There's really nothing like watching your time here on Earth run out to help you keep your priorities straight. Let me tell you one last thing before I sign off with you and take my lovely wife out to breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure if I make it until next Saturday, then I've been given a little extra time.
And the one thing we can all use is a little more time. It was nice to meet you, Tom. I hope you spend more time with your family and I hope to meet you again somewhere on this band.
Well, you could have heard a pin drop on the band when this fella signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to work on the antenna that morning and then I was going to meet up with a few ham operators to work on the next club newsletter. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. Come on, honey. I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast.
What brought this on? She said with a smile. Oh, nothing special. It's just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. And hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out?
I need to buy some marbles. Lord, teach us to number our days. Help us spend them as we should. That's a great resolve for the coming new year. Nothing will ensure your personal satisfaction in the new year quite like making God the priority of your life. The days are fleeting and there's no better time to start doing the right thing than right now.
Would you allow me the privilege of walking by your side every day in 2025? I promise to elevate your journey by preaching the whole counsel of God's word every single day on Pathway to Victory. Plus, I've written a daily devotional that will speak into your life as well. And today is the very last day to request your Pathway to Victory daily devotional for 2025. A copy is yours when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. All of us agree that we're fighting the powers of darkness in our culture.
Our nation is polarized by politics and fraught with fear. God's word holds the answers, and together we have the opportunity to shine a light of hope in American cities and around the world. That's what your gift to Pathway to Victory accomplishes. Plus, when you give, you'll receive the daily devotional, which is designed to light your path in 2025 and beyond. Let me close today's program with a word of encouragement. In Psalm chapter 90, Moses called out to the Lord and said, May the kindness of the Lord our God be upon us, and confirm for us the work of our hands.
Yes, confirm the work of our hands. That's my prayer for each of you. As you invest your life in service to the King, may He be gracious to you, may He bring you great joy, and may you feel deeply satisfied as you exercise God's profound calling on your life.
David. Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. Today, when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, we'll say thanks by sending you the brand new 2025 Pathway to Victory daily devotional. To request this exclusive resource, call 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org. And when your gift is $100 or more, we'll also send you Reigniting Your Passion for Christ, A Study in Luke.
You'll get that on DVD video and MP3 format audio discs. One more time, call 866-999-2965 or visit ptv.org. Now, you could also send your gift by mail right to P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222.
That's P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins wishing you a great weekend. Then join us again next time for the start of a series called How Can I Know, right here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a Pathway partner. Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in His Word. To become a Pathway partner, go to ptv.org slash donate or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.
