The length of our days is seventy years - or eighty, if we have the strength ... (Psalm 90:10)
In only two verses, we see just how little God is bound by the laws of time, but how restricted we are with the handful of years God gives us. Time is a limited commodity, something like our money and our gifts. A believer needs to feel a burden for using the time he has to God’s glory.
Time is also an element of God’s creation. Eternity past and present are not extensions of time. They are of an altogether different nature. God does not measure time as we do. He is not bound by the linear unfolding of days, weeks, months and years as we are. We cannot determine the things pertaining to the end of time, things that only God understands, by applying our linear grasp of how and when things must occur as we observe “the signs of the times.”
I’ve thought about this a lot through the years – eternity operating independently of time - but were I to elaborate too much, my musings might start to read more like science fiction ramblings than the devotional thoughts I intend. There is a surely a much more practical approach to our consideration of “time” as we embark upon another New Year. I have attempted to select a few texts to help us to embrace a uniquely Christian perspective of the passage of time – past, present and future.
1) The Christian and the Past
a) Learning from the Past Is Desirable
I remember the days of long ago, I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done. (Psalm 143:5)
We trust God in our present struggles, because He has always delivered us in our past struggles. Perhaps, discipline was involved. Maybe there were times when we questioned His presence in some circumstance. As it turned out, He was not only there, but He was actively working all things together to make us more like Christ. We benefit greatly when we reflect upon God's faithfulness in the past - not only through the great events of the Bible but in our own experiences as well.
b) Living in the Past Is Undesirable
Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is not wise to ask such questions. (Ecclesiastes 7:10)
All living in the past accomplishes is misery in the present. We grow to despise the present, which is rather ironic considering that people who dwell in the past almost always exaggerate the “goodness” of the “good ol’ days.”
2) The Christian and the Future
a) Living Towards the Future Is Wise
That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day. (2 Timothy 1:2)
Paul was in prison facing almost certain death. His hope was so secure that he could face the end of his life in a posture of remarkable peace. We trust that God is good to His word regarding matters events in the future. We make choices that help us to prepare for the inevitability of the future, though it is inappropriate to obsess over it.
b) Lining Out the Future Is Futile
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins. (James 4:13-16)
Planning for the future is responsible and godly. Presuming that we can control the future is the height of human folly. To write the script for our lives beyond this present moment is beyond our human capacity. It is too easy to set ourselves up to for disappointment. Strangely enough, some people even blame God for their own failed dreams rather than open their hearts and minds to learn what He is trying to teach them
3) The Christian and the Present
a) As a Christian, You Are Not a Citizen of this Present Moment
And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. (1 John 5:11, 12)
The “eternal” character of the life we enjoy in Christ is more about our union with God than it is mere duration. Without Christ, a life that never ended would eventually become an unspeakably awful thing. Eternal life became ours at the point we became His. There is no more pathetic witness for Christ than that of a so-called believer living in misery as he awaits some far off reward. A current perspective of joy is rooted in the reality of the present fellowship we know with Christ. Saint of God, you already belong to eternity. Let your countenance reflect it.
b) Still, Christian, God Does Not Leave Us in this Present Situation without Cause
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. (1 Peter 3:15)
This is the time and place where you have been called to serve God. Now is your opportunity to credit a living Savior for the hope that people see in you. You cannot change the past. You cannot manipulate the future. Any attempt to do either robs God of the best you have to offer to Him right now.
