Time and Eternity
The announcement that we will resume worshiping together in smaller groups at the building is so refreshing. I can hardly wait. We have not been together in our building for the past eight weeks. We have entered Phase One, allowing us to meet as long as we practice social distancing. Our auditorium will permit us to begin with four identical services this week, with groups being determined alphabetically. I can hardly wait to see you Sunday!
These eight weeks seem almost like eight months and sometimes it feels more like eight years. The wisdom of God is seen so vividly in His design for us to worship together every week. Let’s take a moment and think together about the nature of time.
How long is a year to you? It depends on how you look at it
Time to God is so different from time to us. Peter said, “Do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Pet. 3:8). It is as though our God lives in an “eternal presence.” This is not the situation with us.
How long is a year to you? It depends on how you look at it. If you are one year old, how long is it to your second birthday? A year is equal to the entire time you have lived on the earth. How long is a year if you are fifty waiting for your fifty-first birthday. It is only 1/50 of the time you have lived. The older you get the faster time flies. If you think it is flying by you when you are fifty, just wait until you are sixty or seventy!
Another illustration of the passage of time is to consider that if you are over 43, you are closer to retirement than college. It seems hardly possible but such is the nature of time.
Jacob worked seven years in order to earn the right to marry Rachel. “So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her” (Gen. 29:20). Time is remarkable for in another context his “short time” might seem like an eternity.
Listen to the psalmist, “The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away…So teach us to number our days…” (Psa. 90:10-12).
Time is an interesting topic to consider. How long is a day, a week, a month, a year, a decade? It just depends on how you look at it. How long is a lifetime of seventy years on this earth? When you compare it to eternity, it is as short as blinking the eyes. Oh, how foolish it is to focus our earthy years on material things when compared to eternity. How long is seven weeks? Compared to eternity it is so meaningless. Just make sure to use these eight weeks to see the treasures we have on this earth in the fellowship in His kingdom.