Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, Galatians 4:4
They say time heals all wounds, it flies, it waits for no man. There is high time no time my time your time summer time supper time last time and the first time. Time is precious, time is money, time is spent, bought, saved, wasted and squandered. A time for planting and a time to harvest. Time can be appointed, appropriate, measured and zoned. There are former times, some time and some other time, daylight savings time and the all important just in time. Most people don’t take the time even if given time. Time changes things. There is prime time, this time and that time, telling time and time that tells. Bed time, bath time, quiet time, lost time and found time. We should redeem the time. There is current time, day time night time, time capsules, coffee time, local time, next time, long time, short time, free time, our time and for all of that there is time management. Of course we can’t forget every time, any time, real time, time travel, time tracking, exact time, his time, her time. There is a time to go and a time to stay, Then there’s the time traveler's wife. There is personal time, party time, big and small time, time shares and jail time, Time magazine, Time Square not to be confused with “around that time”, air time, prehistoric time, old time and part time. There is full time, response time, time keeping, making time, tea time, the passing of time and a times table. People kill time, race against time, and have down time. Time is running out, there’s no time to waste. There is double time, half time and time and a half, quick time, time after time, behind the times, a head of time, the same time, for the time being, and the kid’s favorite “Once upon a time”. Time is ripe, third times a charm, in less then no time. No one will give you the time of day, better luck next time. Pressed for time, hard time, easy time. In good time, a life time for a limited time only, time served, time warp, long time no see, whale of a time, and good time Charlie, a two time loser was on borrowed time. There is a stitch in time, family time, prayer time, and now take your time because today’s message is about time.
Some graffiti on a wall in a cafe in Austin, Texas, says, "Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once."
A philosopher wrote, "Time is the best teacher. Unfortunately, it kills all its pupils."
Classic theology says that God is timeless.
The concept was that God looks down on time from above much like we look down on the line drawn on paper.
My question then is simply, “does God know what time it is?"
I mean come on, if God sees the past, present and future as points on the time line, how can God know where we are now? If He sees tomorrow as if it were today, He sees a thousand years from now as if it were yesterday.
If God sees what’ll happen tomorrow, next year and the next 1,000 years on a time line all at the same time, then God really doesn’t know what time it is for us now. For Him it is all happening at the same time.
That graffiti scribbled on the wall seems to describe God's problem: "Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once." If God is timeless, then everything really is happening all at once! How can that make sense? It doesn’t work for me, it discounts the meaning of time for us.
A couple of Biblical references give some idea of what time is really like for God. Psalm 90:4 For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night.
II Peter 3:8 But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like one day.
I believe the Bible asserts that God is everlasting, but not timeless. Everlasting means God had no beginning and will have no end, but the Biblical witness does not say that God is timeless or that God is somehow outside of our time.
It seems people have always been fascinated with the idea of time travel. It makes for interesting movies. In the ‘80s the movie Back to the Future, Marty McFly and the Doc whizzed back and forth from the past to the future in a Delorean equipped with a "flux capacitor." There were 2 sequels, but by the third movie, the past, present and future had changed so many times it was hard to keep up with it.
It may be best to leave time travel to the movies. It is much more meaningful to see God simply moving through time with us. It takes nothing from God, and adds everything to the importance of now.
I think God experiences time just like we do. The difference is that God knows everything that has happened and everything that is happening. And God knows what he intends to bring about in the future. He knows that because it is in his power to make it happen. But that does not mean that it has already happened, even in the mind of God. It does not mean that all of the future exists out there on a line already seen by God.
This view of time returns us to simple idea that now is all there is. And we must make the most of the now.
The Bible speaks of an opportune time, a time of testing, the right time, the appointed time, the acceptable time, the fullness of time, harvest time, all time, due time, a time to repent, a time for judging the dead, the last times, enough time and making the most of the time.
With NOW as all there is, we finish up where we started - It's about time. Isn't it about time for you to make a positive decision about your relationship with God?
You can't go back and make a decision in the past because the past is gone. And the future doesn't exist. All you have is right now. Isn't it about time to get your life right with God?
Ecclesiastes 3 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
In 1965 the Byrds sang these very words in their hit single “Turn Turn Turn” composed to music by Pete Seager in 1959. They ended their rendition of this with these words “I swear its not too late”….
But folks it may be too late for as Steve Miller sang in his 1977 song “Fly like an eagle”, “Time keeps on slippin, slippin, slippin, into the future”.
Time, where did you go? Why did you leave me here alone?
Wait, don’t go so fast, I’m missing the moments as they pass
I should’ve known better, I shouldn’t have wasted those days
And afternoons and mornings. I threw them all away
Now this is my time, I’m going to make this moment mine.
The problem is that we mostly ignore this moment and choose instead to focus our attention on future events. In so doing, we miss almost everything life has to offer.
We have time for everything—but only now, and always now.
In Anne Lamott's book Bird by Bird, she reflects: "I remind myself of this when I cannot get any work done: to live as if I'm dying, because the truth is we are all terminal on this bus. To live as if we are dying gives us a chance to experience some real presence. Time is so full for people who are dying in a conscious way, full in a way life is for children. They spend big, round hours. So, instead of staring miserably at the computer screen trying to will my way into having a breakthrough, I say to myself, "Okay, hmmm, let's see. Dying tomorrow. What should I do today?"
"Teach us to number our days," the psalmist says.
When we do that, when we count our days, most of us conclude that they're getting away from us, slipping by too quickly. Most of us can remember when a summer vacation from school stretched out ahead like an eternity, almost an endless future of hot, sunny days, June, July and all of August, and now how quickly time flies now, how years seem now to speed by as if they were months.
Perhaps our most frequently expressed lament is that we don't have enough time. Make the most of this very moment! Amen
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