ECONOMICS AND TIME

Time is a non- renewable resource. Once it is gone, it cannot be gotten back. However, those who are Christians have eternal life. Their time is forever and blissful. The time that is being discussed here is what could be called physical time or historical time. This time could also be called temporal time. Once a day is gone, it is gone forever. It becomes a part of a record called history. Everyone is making their own historical record.

Most people do not think that they are making history. They think that it is only famous people who are historical figures. This is incorrect. If someone thinks that they are making history, it would hopefully ennoble them to be careful in their actions and yet there is an account of our actions being recorded in heaven. What we do with our allotted amount of temporal time tells us much about ourselves.

As always, there are two ways to view time. Time will be viewed childishly or maturely. These two different ways of viewing time will end up producing opposite results. A child has no concept of the future. To a child all that exists is the immediate moment. Children are impulsive. They lack the ability of restraint. In other words, they have not developed self discipline. Learning self discipline requires thinking about time, namely the future. Adults that are not future oriented are considered children spiritually.

Adults that are children spiritually have learned nothing from life. They do not know how the world operates. These adults do not understand time. These adults do not make provision for the future. Proverbs 6 has a message for these adults. The sluggard is told to go and learn from the ant. The ant uses her present time to make sure that she will have provision for the future and the ant does not need anyone to oversee her in this objective. Childish adults respond only to physical force. They have to have outward discipline placed on them to get them to do what they should do themselves. They lack internal self control.

The frugal man views time in a different fashion. He understands the relationship between economics and time. He makes the best use of his time in the immediate moment. He has an eye toward the future. He looks back on the historical record (the accounting statements) to help him to make progress in the future. The frugal man is future oriented and uses forethought. He is continually thinking about what he is going to do in the future. This is thinking in terms of cause and effect.

We work today for the future. We are made to move forward. Gary North said that time is linear. Time is progressive. Time is about the future. We are to be looking forward. By working today, we are taking care of our future needs. Buying quality products allows us to have something that will be of use for many years. Craftsmanship is related to time. It takes longer to make something of quality than something that is mass produced. Economics and time are inseparable.