Time April 8, 2007 • By Dr. Kluane Spake www.kluane.org
But old age isn't a sign of favor. If you live without God to be 95 or 102 -- it's still all vanity without the Lord.
Carl Sandburg said that time is a coin of life, the only one you have, and only you decide how to spend it. Don't let someone else spend it for you. And don't waste time driving around in circles all over your wilderness, when you can drive straight through it to the other side.
You know, everything involves time. If you come to church two hours late, it's over. Airplanes leave without you. Babies are born in their own time.
Calculations blur with constant activity. Do you remember when you were big enough to drive? Or old enough to go to school? Why do the days go by so much faster when you get older? Where did the day go?
But God dwells without time. While there was yet nothingness, out on the niche of nowhere, before the foundation of the world, the counsel of the Godhead determined the plan for humankind. This happened before there were several hundred thousand million suns in our immeasurable galaxy alone. There, Jesus was slain (Rev.13:8) -- long before the beginning of our measured time, before the Fall, and before the cross.
Redemption was built into the beginning. Imagine, before our little world was hurled into space, God (in His foreknowledge) knew you and wrote your name in the Lamb's book of life.
While God exists from everlasting to everlasting, humans have a definite beginning, but no end. We've been talking about this life, describing it as a journey in time from that beginning of birth to forever.
Our lifetime supplies the opportunity to decide if that eternity will be eternal life or eternal death. What do you choose? It's difficult to comprehend that our eternal destiny endlessly continues, with or without God's presence. The plan of God or going our own way? Whether we think it's fair or not doesn't change the truth -- there's no temporary punishment or purgatory where we can change our mind. The Bible speaks unquestionably about a death of continuous agony, unchangeableness, and never-ending separation from God.
The only hope is that we choose eternal life -- if we want it. The heartbeat of time allows each of us to choose which eternal nature will endure. That decision permanently affects our eternity. We obtain the constant enduring God-given life when we enter into Him. Salvation gives (the God kind of) life to our future. Becoming "born again" begins our new LIFE, because God gives everlasting life from that point onward.
Ecclesiastes 8 says that a wise man's heart discerns both time and judgment. Successful lives depend on ordering our days and accomplishing our duties. Unless we determine the use of our time, interruptions can become the driving force of our lives. Sometimes the Eternal Lord has to interrupt our busy schedule and breaks in for some time with us. However --
We always seem to find time for what we really want to do.
You're alive for this time:
Just think about the wonder of being alive. You haven't always been. But now, seemingly out of nowhere, you've come to this earth and been given time to form your life. Why use that precious commodity worrying about what others think, how to pay bills, or what kind of car to drive? Like the old slogan goes, "Life is what happens while you¡¦re busy making other plans."
The Bible says that life is like a shadow, a shuttle that is swifter than a runner. The span of our years vanishes like a vapor, a breath, and a haze. The frightening dynamic within our modern era is that most of our life passes on the treadmill of accelerating momentum, responding to the so-called flight-or-fight feelings, where we ambitiously strive for productivity. Somehow, by getting so wrapped up with the sense of urgency about our own schedules, we forget that God views this world from the vantage of eternity.
When we finally come to our senses, we realize that the best way to enhance the quality of our lives is to enjoy the time we have. We want to put the brakes on our frantic striving and slow ourselves down enough to hear the soothing voice of the Spirit.
Living a separated life, John the Baptist heard the Word of the Lord (Luke 3:2). He understood the coming of the Lord and "prepared the way." Like John the Baptist, you and I have been selected to live in a transitional desert time between eras, midway between a change of generations. Some call this end- time the "hinge of history," or the "cosmic divide." Once again we remember that this momentous time yields unparalleled opportunities to prepare the way for the second coming of the King.
What will you do between the time now and when the Lord Jesus returns for His church? You need to make plans for your time on earth in order to fulfill your assignment. You're alive to gather your inheritance -- and that's not golden streets and pearly gates, but a portion of His name. God didn't intend for you to have a superficial existence, but one that manifests itself in a truly inspired identity. His wonderful plan produces meaning, adventure, and joy.
He's made you just like you¡¦re supposed to be, and He's going to use you in your surroundings where you are, where you live, and where you work. The Holy Spirit waits to enable you to accomplish His plan. Think about it, your present interval of life is a gift of time in which you make permanent decisions for eternity, where time never ends -- for eons of timelessness.
The purpose of your life determines the length of your life (there is a time to every purpose under heaven). Like Esther, you've come out of timelessness into the kingdom for such an extraordinary time as this. You have purpose in life, no matter who you are, no matter how you were conceived. From this awareness, a fundamental principle formulates: You were purposefully created to live in this unprecedented interval of momentous change and anticipation.
1. God knew you before you were born.
2. He has a plan for you. You're born exactly when and where God wanted. You're purposefully alive at this scheduled and precise time.
3. God gives you this time to have an opportunity to transform your mind and become everything you were created to be.
4. God commits to perfect that which concerns you. You don't do it, you agree to cooperate with Him.
5. Now's the time to change.
6. Time is given to obey God's instructions, to possess the promises, and to destroy the enemies of your soul.
7. This lifetime provides an opportunity to be transformed. Why waste time giving attention to your trials, when you can seize the opportunity to serve God.
8. We are accountable for our misuse of time.
9. The purpose of your life is to proclaim the glory of God, and to demonstrate His characteristics to the world.
10. Bible promises are not for the sweet by and by, but for you, NOW, in this lifetime.
You were born, born again, and living at this precise time designed especially for you.
Have you ever wondered how you as a Christian will be judged Not on how gifted you are but how consecrated. Not whether you’re saved or not -- but did you choose life? Did you respond to the Holy Spirit? Did you bury your talents or did you use them? Did you accomplish your potential, or did you cop out and go to bed? You have well chosen eternity with God, but what about now? As a believer, you should walk in that everlasting life –right now, in this world – and that LIFE should be an actual possession. Don’t just talk about it. Understand that you can’t possess that precious legacy unless you’re mature enough to grasp it.
Time will never come this way again. Now, it’s time. The hour has come that all ages have long awaited, “the end of the age,” the time for the glory of God to cover the earth. Soon, our present hopeless world will be forcefully transformed and believers will be saturated with His eternal resurrection nature. As we look through the lens of prophetic anticipation, we SEE believers, pregnant with the Word and Its eternal purposes, shine forth His glory. Finding our part in this plan completes the gigantic puzzle. And then we SEE that God’s time differs from ours.
In the guise of human form, Jesus stepped out of eternity and into our world of time. At the age of thirty, Jesus began His ministry. While here, for three years He showed us how to walk in this world, but not be a part of it. In three days He defeated death, hell, and the grave. Now He lives forever – time without end.
Jesus lived in a world measured by time, but He demonstrated how to minister within the Father’s time that’s unbounded by 24-hour-a-day concepts. We need to find His timing. Let me emphasize that accurate and penetrating ministry depends on us well discerning God’s timing.
• Keep in mind that temporal means: limited by time, brief, transient, vanishing, momentary, fading, and passing – like fads, fashions, hem lines, that which is fleeting, politically correct, and accommodating to society. Whereas, eternal means: everlasting, unshakable, deathless, durable, and never momentary. Eternal things could include revelations, dreams, and insights.
1. The reckoning of temporal time hangs on two events: the birth of Jesus (BC), and His death (AD). All measured time will end with His perusia (the brightness of His coming again). All history fits within this reference.
2. Out of the universe of His timelessness, this boundless God of all eternity sets you within a current framework and creates every action pertaining to your life to be referenced within your concept of time. The Divine Creator relates to your home, city, and nation in terms that you already understand time.
3. In many ways, time defines and boundaries your life (you’re limited by time). Temporal life ticks away. By the time you read this, I may not be able to remember when I wrote it.
4. Not merely a collection of minutes, hours, days and years, life becomes a series of interconnected moments – mountain tops and valleys that you cross along your journey. These accumulated moments form who you are. You need to make your minutes count.
5. Future prophecies concern upcoming events for these last days. The history of the world is set by God. As David said, “Our times are in His hands.” Selah.
6. You can transcend time by using Biblical principles and prophetic moments to direct the future. You can also, by transforming the mind, change the expectations of your future.
7. As you navigate life’s mazes, you begin to disentangle the self-destructive perceptions and apply life-giving ones instead. You’ve been given time to change. Like the old hymn goes, “Take time to be Holy, think oft of His words.” As the end of our temporal earthly time rapidly advances, we realize that Biblical predictions are coming to pass. Surely you’ve noticed that all the prophetic signs are lining up -- just like the lights on the airport runway align so that the pilot can discern how and where to land the plane. Jesus is coming again. Soon.
Romans 13:11 says that now is high time to awaken out of the darkened corridors of sleep. Life in the Spirit realm has a timing. To accurately function in the Spirit, you need to know when to speak with unction and force. You don’t want to jabber, but give a pertinent Word in due season.
The more we become transformed the more clearly we see our purposes. Soon, Jesus will return and the Body of Christ will step into eternity. How we get along in the eternal holy Kingdom depends upon how well we travel this journey through our lifetime. Today, the Lord would speak to you and say, “I want your time. I want you to learn to be holy.”
“All the days ordained for me were written in God’s book before one of them came to be.” Psalms 139:16
Application: If you’re lost in a wilderness gap right now, then our travel advisory says that the best way to survive is by gathering the information about your surroundings. That information basically boils down to discovering where you are and knowing where you’re going. Have you ever been lost in a shopping mall, and then found a strategically placed illustration that says, “You are here”? That knowledge can be most helpful, because you need to know where you are in order to be able to find your way out. That’s why you should journal.
Yes, you should! Whether you call it your log, diary, or notebook, the written record of your impressions on this trip will be a most valuable tool that will enable future effective momentum.
Besides, the actual act of writing by hand has been clinically proven to help clarify feelings and thoughts because it connects all of the senses. Writing is also an accepted way to help heal traumatic memories and bring an awareness of present needs. Just reading about this trip isn’t enough. These exercises offer absolute guidance to help you on your own road of life. That’s why I ask you to please write about the following:
1. Until now, you probably thought that true happiness would come if certain things happened. Make a list. “I’d be happy if -- (I had lots of money, had a good job, more stuff, etc. Now, be honest, don’t try to impress anyone.
2. Are you ready and willing to leave Egypt (the world) behind? Write at least two paragraphs about what this choice means. Will you leave it physically and mentally? When?
3. Write about your life so far. Where are you now? Who’s going with you? How fast are you going? Are you making forward progress?
4. Write about the “best day” and the “worst day” of your life.
5. If you hope to live in the Promised Land, then some things must change. What do you think you might need to change?
6. What is your attitude about disappointment?
7. Do you have learned behavior that is habitual?
8. Do you make good use of your time?
All from Dr. Kluanes book "Whole and Holy" found at her website www.kluane.org As I ponder the life of Jesus, I notice that He was never in a rush as He walked among us, often taking time to minister to someone while He was on His way to minister to someone else (read Mark 5:21-43). This is foreign to many of us who attempt time management methodologies instead of utilizing life management principles in which each day centers around a major agenda or category instead of mapping out each minute of the day.
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