Whistle While You Work

"...gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth it not" (Hosea 7:9).

I guess gray hair has always been the quintessential warning that youth is fleeting. I know that I will never forget the day a number of years ago when my wife, after staring intently at my temples, announced, "Look, there are several gray hairs!" That really threw me, and I worried about those gray hairs for awhile, that is until they started falling out! These days, after seeing what I look like on camera by watching the Thursday evening telecast of our church service, I am like the man who said, "I don't mind my hairs turning gray, I just don't want them to turn loose!"

The prophet Hosea wrote well before the days of Grecian Formula, Just For Men, or even Miss Clairol. Today, statistics reveal that two out of every four women in America spend billions dollars on hair dye to cover up the aging process. While I certainly have nothing against dyes, wigs, wrinkle creams, etc., that we Americans use to disguise the inevitable, let's be honest; the whole purpose of these items is to make us have a younger appearance before others.

In Hosea, however, we have the picture of a man who is fooling himself. In my mind's eye, I see a man with the cocky swagger of youth who fails to realize that age is taking its toll. "Gray hairs are here and there..." means that his time is beginning to run out. He is closer to death and judgment than he thinks. He is numb to the realization that his opportunities are slipping away.

Friend, if you are not saved, if you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, your opportunities to come to Him for salvation and the complete forgiveness of all your sins are quickly slipping away! That is exactly why the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 6:2 "...now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." Dear lost sinner friend, come to Jesus today and trust Him as your Savior today!

Christian friend, if you are not serving Jesus Christ, your opportunities for service and rewards are quickly slipping away as well! That is why the Lord Jesus Christ said in John 9:4, "I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: for the night cometh, when no man can work." Psalm 100:2 tells us, "Serve the LORD with gladness..."

It is a wonderful joy and privilege to know Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and to work for Him, wouldn't you agree? My question today is...if Jesus could love us so much that He could die for us, why can't we love Him so much that we will live whole-heartedly for Him?

Whistle While You Work,
Pastor David Blevins