Time was created by God on the first day of creation when he
said, “There was evening and there was morning, the first day.” It was man whom God endowed with the ability
of thought and reasoning, who took that time frame and divided days into
seconds, minutes, and hours; It was man who fashioned days into weeks and weeks
into years. Time—a means of marking
chronologically the progression of our individual lives and our common lives
together.
Time never changes. A
second is always a second; never any longer or any shorter. Sixty seconds will tick off a minute, and
sixty minutes will always be an hour.
That will never change. And while
time is a constant, it is at the same time relative. The older we get the faster time seems to
pass. When one is waiting for something
to happen time seems to march slowly; then before you know it, it is over and
weeks have gone by since it happened and it seems like it was yesterday. Older people wish time would slow down and
not pass by so quickly because their lives seem to be winding down too fast. Young people wish time would speed up because they have their
whole lives in front of them and they want to start living their lives; the
future seems so far away.
Even the Bible seems to impress upon us an urgency in making
use of our time. Jesus said that we must
do the work of him who sent us while it is day for night is coming when no one
can work (John 9:4). Jesus also advised
us to stay awake and be found in the faith and putting that faith into practice
because he would come again like a thief in the night (Mark 13:35-37). And yet, in the space of one lifetime we can
live a multitude of lifetimes. Our
childhood is one lifetime. Eighteen
years of growing up to a child seems like an eternity; but when you turn 80 or
90 childhood seems like an eternity away as some 50 to 60 years have
passed. Eight years of college to become
a doctor or a lawyer or a pastor can discourage many a young man or woman from
entering those careers because 8 years can seem too long to wait to get on with
life. But even if you finish all of your
studies and graduate when you are 30, you still have 30 to 50 years left to
practice your chosen profession.
Moses was forty years old when he fled for his life from
Egypt to Midian. One lifetime. He lived in Midian 40 years before God called
him to lead his people out of their bondage in Egypt. A second lifetime. Forty years later, when Moses was 120 years
old, called him home to glory. A third
lifetime. One lifetime, but three
lifetimes lived.
My first wife and I dated for 4 years and were married for
15 before she died. But in that time I
went through 8 years of college; we had two children; we lived in Indiana,
Illinois, Michigan, and back to Iowa; and I served 4 congregations as a pastor
and vicar. And while life seemed over
when she died and seems like it was just yesterday, twenty-four years have now
gone by since the Lord called her home to glory. I have lived lots life since she died. We moved to Nevada where my kids finished
growing up.
We lived in Nevada longer than anyplace else since my
childhood. I met Teryl and we married
and integrated her family and my family together as one family. And while we both have some very precious
memories and a great love for our time in Nevada, thirteen years have passed by
since we moved here—another lifetime. In
that time my all of our kids have married and we are the proud grandparents of
6 grandchildren. We have traveled all
over the country and to some places outside the country.
I used to be numbered among the youngest in the
congregations I pastored, but now I find that I am numbered amongst some of the
oldest. Many of my classmates from High
School and college are retired and many have died. Where once my whole life was in front of me
it seems more and more to be behind me.
Time seems to be running out. And
yet, in many ways, it is just beginning all over again. If God so wills, perhaps another 8 years of
ministry left until retirement. That
seems like a long time from now in some respects, and yet it will be here
before I know it. By comparison to the 8
years in college, the 3 years at my first parish, the 8 years at my dual parish
and the nine years in Nevada, and the 13 I have been here, those 8 years are
equal to whole lifetime! That will give me 41 years in the ministry. Eight years of college seems like a drop in
the bucket by comparison.
And should I, by the
grace of God, live in retirement for 10 or 15 years after that that will be an
entirely other lifetime. That trite
cliché of today is the first day of the rest of your life becomes a very
profound truth. Time is running out the
moment we are born and at the same time life is full to the very end.
God has ordained all of our days and they are written in His
book before they come to pass (Psalm 139:16).
He knows every one of them.
Whether our lives are long or short doesn’t matter; no matter how we are
we still have life left yet to live. And
no matter how young we are, we shouldn’t be anxious about the future. It will get here soon enough and be gone soon
enough. All of this leads to another
even more profound truth: God sure knows
how to pack a lot of life into one lifetime!
“For I know the plans
I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11
AE
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