Time
We deal with it every day…..all day.
We can measure it very accurately. We organize our days around it. We cannot move without a device to keep track of it…….and we can get into serious trouble if we fail to do so. If you don’t believe me, try going a day without your watch and smart phone.
And yet……..time is slippery stuff.
For many centuries, time was circular. The seasons kept repeating and little changed…….each year the same as the last. In our modern world time has changed. Time has become linear…….each year is different. Each year builds on the last. Rather than continually recycling, time is moving toward something…….for better……or worse.
How long is a year? Ask any kid in January……”how long till Christmas?” They know……they will tell you…….it is forever. To a child, even to a young adult, a year is a long time……..so long that they actually count them. Tell a 15 hear old that they are 14 and they will immediately correct you. Ask a 28 year old if they have “grab rails” in their bathroom…….and they will laugh.
But……for those of us who are old, time is entirely different. If somebody asks me, “how long since……..”, my typical answer is……”seems like 5 years…….so it has probably been 10.” At age 68, a year is extremely short. They run past so fast that I no longer count them.
So…….how much time do you and I have left?
For the time being I will ignore the obvious possibility that you or I could be hit by a train 15 minutes from now. We consciously ignore this question…….we literally “whistle past the graveyard”.
So, again, barring an unplanned catastrophy, how much time do we have?
It depends.
The child is too busy having fun. The young adult finds the question irrelevant because the amount of time is so large……and besides……they have plans. The 68 year old avoids the question because the years are so short and there are so few of them left. I just bought a new truck……it has occurred to me that this could be my last new truck. I sometimes start a project and wonder if I will have enough time to finish it.
And then there is eternity…….an idea that is so huge that we simple cannot wrap our brains around it. As a Christian, the ideas of eternity, paradise, and hell are very real and are closely intertwined. But, even for a secular humanist, eternity exists. The difference is that, as a Christian, I believe that I will actively participate in eternity……..the secular humanist believes that he will not. I will dismiss, for the time being, the secular humanist who has created his own “designer paradise”. This is a pleasant distraction………but it is intellectually dishonest. Either the Christian or the secular humanist must be wrong. There is no comfortable, middle of the road, compromise. Christianity and secular humanism are mutually exclusive……..like it or not.
We all accept the existence of eternity……one way or another. So we return to the original question.
“How much time do I have left?”
It turns out that the child and the young adult are wrong. In the face of eternity……a year in our temporal world is the blink of an eye……..and so is my life………and so is yours. I will die…….soon……..and so will you. You may not accept this now………but you will……if and when you are 68…………and that will happen before you know it.
15 years from now, I and most of the people my age will be dead.
The answer……whether you are 8, 28, or 68……is that you don’t have much time left.
What to do?
Time in our temporal world is precious. Use it wisely. You have a limited number of minutes to use……and any minute that you spend angry is wasted…….lost forever. Any minute you spent in front of a TV is almost as bad. Instead, spend your time…….your minutes……….your life……. loving and caring for God and your fellow man.
This is the central theme of the Bible.
Time in eternity is far different. I cannot say that I understand it……but time as we know it will probably not exist. It will be neither linear nor circular. But, I know one thing……..it will be big. It might be very nice…..it might be very unpleasant……. it might even be a black empty void if the secular humanist is right. But, one way or another, you need to prepare yourself.
Of course…….if you are a secular humanist and you are right, you needn’t concern yourself, you won’t be there.
But I will.
And more than anything else……I want you to join me.
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.
James, NIV
Show me, Lord, my life’s end
and the number of my days;
let me know how fleeting my life is.
You have made my days a mere handbreadth;
the span of my years is as nothing before you.
Everyone is but a breath,
even those who seem secure.
David, NIV
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Solomon, NIV