Alan never intended to oversleep. He had set his alarm for 6:30 a.m. as usual, but he had been up late the night before. And when the alarm went off, he awakened only enough to push the “off” button and then went back to sleep. The next time he woke up, it was 7:55 a.m., and his first class was a five- minute dash across campus.

Now please don’t misunderstand. Alan really believed in the importance of getting dressed in the morning–and shaving and brushing his teeth and combing his hair. But there simply wasn’t time. The teacher of his 8:00 class would not have excused his absence or tardiness, and furthermore, he had a quiz that morning. So, much as he hated to do it, Alan jumped up from bed, grabbed his books and papers and rushed out the door. He slid into his seat just as the final bell rang.

Have you ever met Alan? I’ve spent most of my life in or around the classroom; the first sixteen years as a student, followed by at least sixteen more years as a part-time teacher. I’ve seen thousands of students, and never once has a student come to class in his pajamas! Somehow, no matter how busy they are, no matter how late they get up in the morning, no matter how important the class, they have been able, one and all, to adjust their schedules in such a way as to show up fully dressed!

Yet not only students, but older people as well, claim time and time again that they can’t have a regular devotional life with God because they don’t have time.

At a medical convention in the East a few months before writing this manuscript, I heard it again. A doctor’s wife asked, in apparent sincerity, “What if you don’t have time?”

We find time to dress and groom ourselves every day. We find time to eat our meals. Yet we fail to find time to put on the robe of Christ’s righteousness and eat the Bread of Life. What is the problem? Is it lack of time? No. Each of us has twenty-four hours in a day. We don’t lack time; we lack motivation.

When we say we don’t have time for a thing, we are really saying that we don’t consider it to be that important. It’s still true that you have time for what you think is most important. Lack of time is not an excuse for anything, even in this world. The things you have time for are the things you value the most, and the things you do not have time for are the things you find less important. It’s just that simple.

Jesus pointed that out to Martha, when He was a guest in her home in Bethany. She didn’t have time to sit at His feet, and she didn’t think Mary had time either! Never mind the personal interview with the Son of God–the important thing in Martha’s mind was to get dinner on the table! And Jesus had to remind her of what was necessary and what wasn’t.

“Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41, 42.

Do you think it’s your membership in the church that will insure your salvation? Do you think it’s your moral behavior? Do you think it’s your “working for the Lord,” even while you forget the Lord of the work? Or do you believe John 17:3, that

“this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent?”

We are told that

“our eternal welfare depends upon the use we make during this life of our time.” – Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 375.

Yet how often have we decided by our actions that we don’t have time for God?

You are invited today to a relationship and fellowship with Jesus–the one thing above all others that each one of us should have time for. If you don’t have time for Him, you don’t have time to live!