THE ARROWS OF TIME

THE ARROWS OF TIME

                On this Thanksgiving morning, I find myself thinking about time. What is time anyway? If we were to travel out beyond our solar system and hang out among the stars how would we measure time?

                So time is really related to motion. It is related to birth, growth and death. It is related to seasons and cycles, to days, months and years. God established yearly landmarks by which to monitor time, Passover, Unleavened Bread, first fruits and Pentecost… these were the spring feasts and then the fall feasts consisted of Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles. The spring feasts outlined for us the first coming of Christ, while the fall feasts will mark for us the events leading to the second coming of Christ.

                Today we mimic God’s appointed times with largely pagan holidays and so we tend to lose a lot of what God was and is telling us about His plans and purposes, but they nevertheless help us to mark the passing of the times and seasons.

                As we get older, these special occasions seem to crowd together like cattle being driven to the chute. One special occasion seems to nip at the heels of the last until they all begin to blur together like a stop action movie. We older people begin to sit back from the frantic pace. We reset our watches to things that are more eternal in nature. Having limited amounts of time left on this planet, we begin to budget our time, hoping against hope to live each day by divine appointment.

                Those things that we used to rush by on the way to our goals, we now stop to appreciate… fall colors, winter snow, spring flowers, summer birds, precious time with your beloved spouse  with whom holding hands still gives a little thrill, time with family and friends, time to reflect on what has been and what will be.

                For those of us who are limited to the surface of this planet, there are only 2 kinds of time. There is Chronos time, which can be measured in hours and minutes and there is Kairos time which we could call the right opportune moment… the due season.

                Paul spoke about Kairos time in Ephesians 5:14-18 saying: “Awake sleeper and arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit…”

                Here Paul is NOT speaking about Chronos time, telling us that we must cram as much into each minute and hour as we can. He is talking rather about Kairos time, the opportune time, the due season…. the appointed time. It is that divinely appointed time when you help someone in need; encourage someone who is broken hearted, say a kind word to one who is searching. These kinds of times come unexpectedly and then they pass and the opportune moment is gone forever.

                Then Paul closes this thought by saying not to be drunk with wine, but filled with the Holy Spirit. Why this analogy? It is because in being saturated with the things of this world and with self, we will miss those Kairos moments, but if instead we are filled with the Holy Spirit, God will bring those divine appointments to us and we will recognize them and bless others along life’s pathway.

                Thanksgiving is one of those Kairos times when we remember to be thankful both to God and to those who have blessed our lives, or we can get drunk and eat like a glutton and curse ourselves with a post-thanksgiving hangover along with regrets. It all depends upon whether we are living on Chronos time or Kairos time. Are we “going for the gusto? Or are we living by divine appointment?

                The Jews, living around the time when Jesus was here, had become very legalistic. In their zeal to obey, they had turned the Sabbath day into Chronos time. They had marked it out in carefully measured hours and minutes with hundreds of laws describing exactly how to keep it. The Sabbath had become a burden of Chronos time rather than an opportunity for Kairos time… a divine appointment.

                Jesus said: “But if you had known what this means, I desire compassion and not a sacrifice, you would not have condemned the innocent, for the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” Mt. 12:7, 8.

                They had turned God’s appointed Kairos time into a Chronos time burdened with laws and regulations. They had lost sight of the Kairos time in which compassion, rather than law would have given them rest.

                If we want to enter into God’s Kairos time then we must do what Jesus prescribed. Our rest is not in a measured Chronos time, but in a Kairos moment of opportunity… a divine appointment with our Creator. And concerning this Jesus said: “Come to Me all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Mt. 11:28-30.

                Hebrews 4 deals with the difference between Chronos time and Kairos time for even though Israel had kept the Sabbath of the Law; it says plainly that they had never entered the Rest. So He again fixes a certain day, “Today.” Well, today is that Kairos moment, the moment of opportunity to enter into the same kind of rest that God entered into when He finished creating the world. He rested from His works even as He is calling us to rest from our works.

                So He fixes again a certain ay saying “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. Today you can lay your burdens down and trust in His works rather than your own. Today you can enter His Rest.

                Rest is found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. It is He who gives that Kairos rest of which the Sabbath is a shadow. And when we have truly entered that rest, then our hearts will finally be filled with something that is becoming exceedingly rare in the world these days… THANKSGIVING!