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11 Sermon Illustrations on Time

11 illustrations

Time in Christian preaching underscores the transient nature of earthly life and the urgency of living with eternal perspective. Illustrations often depict time as a relentless force that consumes all worldly things, urging believers to invest in what endures beyond the temporal (James 4:14). It serves as a reminder of human mortality and the importance of stewardship over the limited moments given (Psalm 90:12).

Time, a Destroyer

Time inevitably destroys all earthly beauty and life, emphasizing life's fleeting nature.

I saw a temple reared by the hands of man, standing with its high pinnacle in the distant plain. The streams beat about it, the God of Nature hurled his thunder-bolts against it; yet it stood as firm as adamant. Revelry was in the hall; the gay, the happy, the young, the beautiful, were there. I returned, and, lo! the temple was no more. Its high walls lay in scattered ruin; moss and grass grew rankly there; and, at the midnight hour, the owl's long cry added to the solitude. The young and gay who had revelled there had passed away. I saw a child rejoicing in his youth, the idol of his mother, and the pride of his father. I returned, and that child had become old. Trembling with the weight of years, he stood, the last of his generation, a stranger amidst all the desolation around him. I saw an old oak standing in all its pride upon the mountain: the birds were carolling in its boughs. I returned, and saw the oak was leafless and sapless: the winds were playing at their pastime through the branches. "Who is the destroyer?" said I to my guardian angel. "It is Time," said he. "When the morning-stars sang together for joy over the new-made world, he commenced his course, and when he has destroyed all that is beautiful on the earth, plucked the sun in his sphere, veiled the moon in blood; yea, when he shall have rolled the heavens and the earth away as a scroll, then shall an angel from the throne of God come forth, and, with one foot upon the land, lift up his hand towards heaven, and swear by heaven's Eternal, time was, but time shall be no more."

— Paulding

from New Cyclopaedia of Prose Illustrations · Elon Foster death

Delay

Avoiding unnecessary delays in life leads to greater spiritual progress and youthfulness.

The limited express that spans the distance between New York and Chicago in twenty-four hours accomplishes the feat not so much by increasing the speed as by reducing the delays. In the main the train does not travel much faster than the other trains that take a third more time do at their maximum; but it makes fewer stops, it attends more strictly to its through business. Chicago is its objective point.

It is much so on the railroad of life. How young we would all be at sixty--ay, at eighty--if we would avoid the petty, useless, the unnecessary delays, the unprofitable business at the side-stations along the road. (Text.)--VYRNWY MORGAN, “The Cambro-American Pulpit.”

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles prioritizing god

Minute, Importance Of A

A single minute can mark life’s most significant moments, often unnoticed.

’Twas only a minute that would not stay, But how many noticed its flight? And yet for one it parted the way, Betwixt life’s bloom and its blight.

It pointed the new-born baby’s breath, First felt on the mother’s breast; For another it sounded the summons of death And a weary one gone to his rest.

At that moment two souls were together wed Till death should call them apart; Another to virtue bowed his head And consecrated his heart.

Ah! big was the moment that flitted away, And hardly one noticed its flight; And hundreds of minutes make up the day, And hundreds are lost in the night.

--BENJAMIN REYNOLDS BULKELEY, _New England Magazine_.

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles lifeeternity

Time

If we had only a day, we would live fully and do God's will without regret.

See LOVE AND TIME; MAN, SLOW DEVELOPMENT OF.

TIME A MONITOR

Mary Lowe Dickinson tells what we would do if we had only a day to live.

We should fill the hours with the sweetest things, If we had but a day; We should drink alone at the purest springs In our upward way; We should love with a lifetime’s love in an hour, If our hours were few; We should rest, not for dreams, but for fresher power To be and to do.

We should waste no moments in weak regret If the day were but one; If what we remember and what we forget Went out with the sun, We should from our clamorous selves set free To work or to pray, And to be what our Father would have us be, If we had but a day.

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles love

Time, Changes Of

Time changes our perspective on grief and joy, making old pains lighter.

The way in which the passage of time alters our views and feelings is exprest in the following verses by Theodosia Garrison:

When I think sometimes of old griefs I had, Of sorrows that once seemed too harsh to bear, And youth’s resolve to never more be glad, I laugh--and do not care.

When I think sometimes of the joy I knew, The gay, glad laughter ere my heart was wise, The trivial happiness that seemed so true, The tears are in my eyes.

Time--Time the cynic--how he mocks us all! And yet to-day I can but think him right. Ah, heart, the old joy is so tragical And the old grief so light.

--_The Reader Magazine._

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles forgiveness

Time, Changes Of

Immortality changes how we value time and what we choose to spend it on.

See MUTATION.

TIME ENOUGH

Joaquin Miller, “The Poet of the Sierras,” recently visited a friend in Boston whose literary taste runs largely to Emerson, Browning and Maeterlinck. This friend, says _Lippincott’s Magazine_, found the venerable poet in the library one afternoon deeply absorbed in a book.

“What are you reading?” asked the Bostonian.

“A novel by Bret Harte,” replied the poet.

The Hubbite sniffed. “I can not see,” said he, “how an immortal being can waste his time with such stuff.”

“Are you quite sure,” asked Miller, “that I am an immortal being?”

“Why, of course you are,” was the unwary reply.

“In that case,” responded the Californian grimly, “I don’t see why I should be so very economical of my time.”

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles eternityimmortality

Time, Improving

John Wesley used solitary time wisely for spiritual growth and ministry planning.

John Wesley’s toils as a preacher were interspaced with frequent islets of leisure. This man, who seemed to live in crowds, had yet in his life wide spaces of solitude. He preached to his five-o’clock-in-the-morning congregation, then mounted his horse, or stepped into his chaise, and rode or drove off to the next gathering. Betwixt the two crowds he had hours of solitude--to think, to read, to plan. He was the master, it may be added, of the perilous art of reading on horseback. His work itself was a physical tonic.--W. H. FITCHETT, “Wesley and His Century.”

Time-Keeping With Flowers

Like flowers opening on God's schedule, our lives should follow His timing.

A curiosity among timepieces is a clock of flowers. It is well known that every blossom has its precise hour for opening its petals and for closing them. Some open at sunrise and close at sunset; but as a matter of fact, there is not an hour of the day nor of the night even but some flower begins or ends its period. In Pliny’s time forty-six such flowers were known. The number since then has very largely increased. From these a floral timepiece has been made.

Man’s life and deeds, like these flowers, ought to keep God’s time.

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles creationdivine order

Time Precious

Time is precious and should be valued like gold, not wasted in idle amusement.

Mere amusement, a pleasing invention to kill time, is not a high aim for a novel. Killing time is the worst kind of murder. Remember while we are killing it, it is surely killing us. We need no books to help us. Rather give us books that will enable us to make time live, so that every moment in life will bear its own blossom. Then will we value each hour as the miser does his golden disks, letting each slip through his fingers slowly and longingly, for its power and worth is known to him so well. Naturalism will never help us. Dredging stagnant ponds does not purify them. It merely sets the filth in circulation.--_Book Chat._

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles stewardshiplife

Time Precious

Using resources wisely, like carrier pigeons, saves time and increases efficiency.

See NOVELS, GOOD AND BAD.

TIME SAVERS

Harry Harm, the son of a Columbia grocer, has found a practical use for a lot of carrier-pigeons. It used to take him half a day to gather orders, half a day to fill them, and half a day to deliver; but now, thanks to the pigeons, the work is done in one day. When Mr. Harm starts he takes a crate of pigeons along in his wagon, and after he secures a few orders he takes the duplicate order-slips, which are of thin paper, puts them in a tiny roll on a pigeon’s leg, and the bird is liberated. It at once flies to its loft at the store, where the clerks relieve it of its orders. This plan is followed until the man covers his entire route, and when he returns to the store the clerks have the goods ready for delivery.--Philadelphia _Press_.

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles industryprovidence care

To-Morrow, Uncertainty Of

Tomorrow is uncertain; we only truly possess today to live faithfully.

To-morrow? Shall the fleeting years Abide our questioning? They go All heedless of our hopes and fears. To-morrow? ’Tis not ours to know That we again shall see the flowers. To-morrow is the gods’--but, oh, To-day is ours! (Text.)

--CHARLES EDMUND MERRILL, JR., _Scribner’s Magazine_.

from Cyclopedia of Illustrations for Public Speakers · Robert Scott and William C. Stiles trust in god

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