I heard the story about a man who was put in charge of keeping a lighthouse lit. At the beginning of each month he received a shipment of oil that would last exactly 31 days and he was given explicit instructions to not use the oil for any purpose other than lighting the lighthouse. During the course of the month several people approached him with what seemed like legitimate needs to borrow oil and he relented to these requests. With two days left in the month though he ran out of oil and could not provide the light needed for approaching ships.

On the second night, 3 ships crashed and hundreds of lives were lost. The “oil” in our lives is not money, food, shelter, or any other tangible resource. The “oil” in our lives is time; God has given each one of us unique abilities, desires, and passions but a limited amount of time in which to use them for His purposes. When we use our time on anything but that which is most important, others get hurt because we have no time left to do those things God has called us to; the things that He intends for the ultimate purpose of advancing His kingdom and blessing others. Take a quick inventory of how your spending your time; if you’re using precious “oil” on things that don’t make an eternal difference eliminate them and start focusing on God’s best!