Our Time Is Always An Opportune Time (Article 18-2)

We all have those moments when we experience something like a “cold glass water in the face”. For me, one of those times was when I recognized my mortality. Yes, I finally confronted and contemplated my death. Scripture makes many references to our mortality. One such passage is in Genesis 3:19 where God says “In the sweat of your face shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” The fact is that we’re all going to die and our brief journey on this earth will come to an end. To this article’s younger readers, you may say, “Well of course. I know that!” The difference is that when we're young, we don’t think about dying. However, as we become older, we think about this divine reality a great deal more. The second thing most come to realize the how short life is. Again, for the very young, life may seem like an eternity. As a youth, I couldn’t wait to get older. I often got frustrated with not aging fast enough, and with this, thoughts of having more freedoms and privileges. Well, that certainly changed as I got older and even more so as I got much older! Now, I wish time would slow down. It’s going by too fast. For me, the years’ pass by like months. The months pass by like weeks. The weeks pass by like days and my days seem to pass by like hours. Where has time gone!? Lastly, as I’ve gotten older, I reflect on what I’ve done with my life. What have I accomplished and whether my perceived accomplishments were meaningful. If conclude that I've accomplished anything meaningful, my last question is by whose account?

What I Have Learned Over the Years

At this point in my life, I refer to scripture to make sense my life. My many thoughts on the subject makes me realize that despite all the things I think I may have accomplished in life, very little was performed according to God’s will: That being to be one with Him. It is from this perspective, I realize how selfish I was with my time, for I don't recall ever being motivated to do anything in my life that was intended to be one with God. I may have recognized God and on occasions, may have even gone to Him in prayer. In times of prayer however, my motives behind what I was asking for had little to do with His will. The second thing I've come to realize is that when I was younger, I felt I didn't have enough time for God. How sad this makes me feel now. How much happier and joyful my life could have been if I had begun my journey with Him at a younger age. How much better of a parent and husband I could have been, and a better friend to those who called on me, or I should have called on. How much happier would I have been if I focused on what what God willed for my life instead of what I wanted. Yes, I was selfish. I used my time and the talents God gave me to serve myself and not Him. This my friends is the biggest regret I have in my life. The one and only thing that consoles me is knowing that despite it all, our loving Father in Heaven loves me. With His unyielding and untiring love, I take solace in knowing that it is never too late to begin a journey that fulfills His purpose. Yes, it’s not too late. So, now the only question that remains is what do I do with the remaining time God gives me?

It’s Never Too Late, But We Must Choose

In John 7:6, Jesus tells His disciples, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready”. The implication is that the disciples were not living under God’s time and for His purpose. Even though Christ's disciples had heard His teachings and witnessed His miracles, they were not fulfilling God’s will, for their time to do so had not come. They may have been good, religious Jews, who observed the various feasts and rituals, but they didn’t believe in Jesus as the world's Lord and Savior. They probably did not see their need for a Savior from their sin, because when compared to the Gentiles, they thought of themselves as being "good Jews".

So, if we want to live by God’s time and not waste our lives by the world’s time, the first order of business is to trust in Christ as our Savior and Lord. If we’ve given our life to Christ, then we must realize that He is Lord of our time. We must seek Him earnestly to figure out how He wants us to spend the time our loving Father in Heaven gives us in this world. If you determine that your goals and priorities do not include living in a humble state of mind and study God’s word, then we must be honest enough to admit that we’re living by our own time and not God’s timeline.

Thinking That You Know Christ, But Don't

More than ever, the world’s people live a godless life that exalts selfish pleasure and materialism as an ultimate aim. Even as believers, we may go to church, engage in various religious rituals and prayers, and do good works yet, we leave Jesus out of our activities. We may deceive ourselves in believing that we're pleasing God when we do these things; however, if we do so apart from Christ, it’s all meaningless. We may feel it’s okay to believe in this way because it’s what other Christians maybe doing, but the truth is that it is not the right way to spend our time. Believe it or not, it is possible to spend years in church and studying the Word and still not know Christ. Until one is truly committed to seeing Him as his Lord and is willing to abide in Him for all things, it is not possible to know and experience Christ’s fullness, power, love, and joy. In turn, it is not possible for Him to be Lord of our time and how we should spend it.

What We Can Learn from Our Lord?

Throughout the New Testament, it is clear that Christ lived by God’s timeline. There was a specified time for all Christ’s travels, where He was to go and who He was to teach. There was a time for His miracles and who was to witness them. There was a time to say goodbye. There was a time for prayer. There of course was a time appointed for His death. The main point here is that Jesus lived by God’s agenda. Jesus always had a sense of obeying the Father with regard to His use of time. Jesus came to do the Father’s will and to accomplish the Father’s work. He finished it in three years. During these years, Christ never shrank away from the world's godless views. He confronted each and everyone of them. He did so knowing of the consequences which was His inevitable death.

There Is An Appointed Time For All of Us

Whether you believe it or not, God has appointed our time too. He tells us this in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted; A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up; A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing; A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw away; A time to tear, And a time to sew; A time to keep silence, And a time to speak; A time to love, And a time to hate; A time of war, And a time of peace. What time has been appointed for you? I don’t know, but Christ does. Indeed, our time is always an opportune time to begin the journey to fulfill God's will, for our Lord and Savior tells us so!