A Study in Arithmetic

By Geneva Garrett

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     Many of us have been taught from childhood that unless we can give a good account of our use of time allotted in this life, we cannot hope for eternal life. Perhaps a short lesson in arithmetic might help us to find more time for Christ each day of our busy lives.

     If we would take away all time given to anger, and add that to increasing our patience;

     If we would take away all time given to worry and doubtings and add that to our faith;

     If we would take away all time given to fretting and add that time to counting our blessings which come from God;

     If we would take away all time given to faultfinding and use that to increase our stock of brotherly kindness;

     If we would take away all time spent in petty jealousy and use that time for the growth of brotherly love;

     If we would take away all time from unprofitable thinking and add that time to prayer and meditation;

     If we would take away all time spent in bearing false witness against our neighbor, that is, from gossip, and add that to improving our charitableness to others;

     If we would take away all time spent in talking of our troubles and use that time to visit the sick, aged, bereaved and distressed;

     If we gave less time to worldly wisdom, newspapers, magazines, radio and television, and added more time to scriptural study and instructing our children in the ways of the Lord;

     If we would take away time spent in procrastination and use that time so we could get to the worship services on time;

     Surely with all of that we could find much more time daily to speed our spiritual growth. If each one of us as a true Christian could gain thirty minutes each

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day, multiply that by 365 days in a year, and then multiply that by the number of all the Christians in the land, think how much more time would be invested in the service of the Master. Let us think on these things and "redeem the time."