The trouble with time

Is this really the end of August? It doesn’t seem possible. Labor Day weekend is upon us, which is when most pools close for the year. It’s often considered the last weekend of summer, unless you live in Texas like I do. Our weather and landscape won’t get the “fall” message until sometime between Halloween and Thanksgiving.

But, the fall season is here. Our politics are heating up with every interview and commercial. The school zones are blinking a warning to slow down and drive carefully. Hobby Lobby is running low on Fall décor and filling its shelves with Christmas items! All the coffee places and bakeries are offering things with pumpkin spice. It’s time to stash the summer colors and dig out the Fall wardrobe, even though it’s still too hot for those of us in the South to wear those clothes.

The summer is ending and the trouble with that fact is how fast the summer months flew by! Time truly is fleeting, and the older I get, the faster time flies. So, I’ve decided to write a blog post about making the most of time. Instead of being alarmed by the swift passage of time, why don’t we simply choose today to be happy about that?

The trouble with time is that we have zero ability to change it. The joy of these passing months is that we know what lies at the end of time.

The truth about time is not always taught in the world but is seen in God’s word.

People are becoming genuinely anxious about the future. They are thinking:

  • What if my candidate loses this election?
  • What if my next doctor’s visit is bad news?
  • What is my child or grandchild learning at school?
  • What if prices remain high or go higher?
  • What if the terrorists in the world continue to threaten?
  • What if our wrinkles increase and our strength declines?
  • What if our culture doesn’t return to the way things used to be?

A biblical perspective for the troubles in time.

According to the Bible, time will continue to move forward until Jesus steps back into this world for the final time. Until that day, everyone will head toward an eternity with God in heaven—or, for others, an eternity apart from God in hell. As disciples of the gospel message of Christ, there is a lot we can do with the time we have.

Jesus was in his last week of life. He wanted his disciples to be prepared for the days ahead. He didn’t paint a beautiful picture of “feel good” thoughts. He gave his disciples the truth they needed, and it is still the truth his disciples need today. Jesus said, “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:6–14).

So, Jesus would tell us:

  • Of course, your candidates will lose sometimes.
  • Of course, you will get bad news from a doctor someday.
  • Of course, your kids and grandkids will learn some things you like and other things you don’t.
  • Of course, prices will get higher on most things, but lower on some.
  • Of course, terrorists will continue to terrorize. They always have.
  • Of course, you will get wrinkles as you age, and you will grow weaker as the years progress.
  • And of course, the world’s cultures will continue to change and evolve.

Jesus would remind each of us that he made sure we should expect that of time. Times are changing, but our expectations of time might need to as well. Jesus promised that changes would continue throughout the history of this world.

How can we choose to be happy?

  • You may not like the candidates who win, but hopefully, that will lead us to want better down the road.
  • Your doctor might give you bad news and refer you to a specialist who can offer help and hope.
  • Your kids and grandkids will learn a lot in their lifetimes. Hopefully, they will learn some great things from you!
  • Prices will increase on things we need, but having less money makes us more grateful for all we have.
  • The terrorists will be around, but there is a lot of new technology that is helping us catch them before they can do harm.
  • These days, there is a lot we can do about wrinkles if we want to, and we are living longer, stronger lives than our parents did.
  • And there is something we all need to remember: We really don’t want things to go back to the way they used to be. 

I’m glad our world has made progress on racism, poverty, medical cures, and other advances in technology. Every time I use my microwave, my computer, my washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, vacuum, oven, or get in my car to drive somewhere . . . I should be thrilled that “things” aren’t like they used to be.

Jesus promised that lawlessness would increase, weather disasters and wars would continue, and his disciples would be caught in the middle of all those things. Then Jesus said that the “gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).

The passage of time and technological advances have made his words possible, even likely, for our generation. Anyone who owns a smartphone or computer can receive the gospel message. That’s why all of us who work for the Denison Ministries work hard at our jobs. It’s possible that we will see Jesus come again before another Labor Day weekend arrives.

Maybe the trouble with time is that it isn’t passing fast enough! 

Have a great week, and find happiness in the fact that fall is just around the corner. For Christians, every passing season brings us closer to our eternal life of unchanging joy. 

The thing that spooks me

I’m not a huge fan of Halloween.

In fact, I’m usually glad when October passes and we begin to look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas—my favorite holidays. 

There is one thing that really does spook me about Halloween: the fact that it seems to roll around a lot faster these days. 

I’d always heard . . .

People who have seen their fiftieth birthday and beyond are probably agreeing with the last statement I made, while those in their thirties and forties might not. I’ve always thought it is so odd that when people reach a less-scheduled, slower time of life it seems like time flies on a Concorde jet. (And that illustration is probably only for the people old enough to know what the Concorde jet was.) 

It seems like the passage of time should slow down when we slow down, not the other way around. A friend told me something that I won’t forget. She and I both love to travel and see new things. She said she had always heard: 

The decade of the sixties means “go-go.”
The decade of the seventies means “slow go.”
And, the decade of the eighties means “no go” or “rarely goes.” 

Traveling is going to be high on my list of priorities! (Yes, that is a hint to my age!) I just think it’s important to use our “fourth quarter” to win the game. 

When I sat at my dad’s funeral, I remember thanking the Lord because I had few regrets. It is an important standard for my earthly life and my spiritual life. 

Good advice should be followed

Wisdom is hearing good advice and taking it! 

As you read these words, I’m on a plane, returning from a wonderful time in Vermont. The leaves are just beginning to turn in the mountains and hiking the beautiful trails was an amazing experience. I have a lot of pictures that I will want to keep. 

As I hiked the trails, I couldn’t help but appreciate this good advice from Scripture too. James was the half-brother of Jesus and probably became the leader of the Christian church in Jerusalem after Peter was forced to flee. What would it be like to have grown up with Jesus as the older brother, worked with him, been upset with him in public, and then later learn that this person you had known your whole life was the long-awaited Messiah? 

I imagine James had his share of regrets over a few moments with Jesus. 

In the letter that bears his name, James gave Christians some great practical advice. He said, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that’” (James 4:13–15). 

I sometimes wonder if that was advice Jesus had given his younger brother during their growing-up years. 

Why is it we naturally look down the road making plans that often don’t come to pass? I don’t think James was suggesting we don’t have goals or dreams. Instead, James was saying that we should all be abundantly aware of the fact that walking closely with God’s Spirit doesn’t include a five-year plan. 

In fact, I’m not sure it includes a five-day plan very often! 

Our life is an ethereal mist

Halloween gets one thing right. Have you ever noticed when Hollywood wants something to be scary it usually occurs at night, with a heavy fog or mist? That’s practically biblical! 

James said our lives are just a mist that appears for a little while and vanishes. He wasn’t meaning to scare us but to teach us how much we should value every day. 

James wanted us to know that the most important use of our time was to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that” (4:15). I’m glad it was the Lord’s will for Jim and me to hike the mountains of Vermont and enjoy the beauty of the changing season. Nature is truly one of the most elaborate displays of the greatness of God. 

Seasons change and so do the pages of our calendars

This is a short blog post because, well, I’ve been on vacation! I’m in the “go-go” decade of my life, and I plan to follow my friend’s good advice. 

I hope I will follow James’ good advice as well, for the rest of my life. The seasons come and go. In fact, they are beginning to come and go more quickly every year! I do want to enjoy every moment of my life until the Lord chooses for the mist to become my life eternal. 

Until then, if it’s God’s will, I’m going to live, work, and travel according to whatever plans I make that God can honor and bless.  

The changing seasons are our constant reminder.

God didn’t have to create our world with changing seasons. He didn’t have to cause the leaves to turn glorious colors and then fall to the ground. The trees will be bare until, once again, the leaves bloom in the spring.  

God created this world as a reminder that we are always moving forward. Time is always passing, and our days on earth are passing.  

The key to living this life well is to take James’ advice. Make plans, do “this and that,” and allow God to interrupt and redirect our lives at any moment. He is Lord. His will is for us to accomplish everything he has planned for our earthly lives—so that he can fully bless our eternal life in heaven. 

Honestly, if my heavenly view could look like Vermont in the fall, I would be thrilled! 

Enjoy whatever God has planned for you to do this week and every week that follows. We will have a lot to look forward to because we have chosen to walk through life with him.

Taking time isn’t wasting time

Ilove the quiet. 

Sometimes the noise levels in our culture seem extreme. 

As I pass by other people on my morning walk, I so often see them using ear pods and cell phones for company, education, or entertainment. There is a lot of information available online. 

Our ministry provides a lot of “God-information” online. 

But, I wonder how often the people I pass take time away from the “talk” to hear the voice of God speak to their thoughts.

The power of the quiet

Last winter, we lost power for most of the day for several days. The quiet was eerie. Even as I type, I can hear the fan running on our air conditioner, the washing machine sloshing the clothes around, and the keys of my computer tapping out these words. 

We are seldom without noises, even in the quiet hours of the night. Things would have been very different in the first century. The kind of quiet that seemed eerie to me last winter would have been normal back then. 

I don’t just appreciate the quiet; I need it. I often pick the early hours of the morning to write because, in the quiet, I can hear my own thoughts being redirected by God’s. I’ve often thought about the quiet David enjoyed while he was in the fields, watching the sheep. He probably spent a lot of time learning to play the harp and use his slingshot. He also had plenty of time to look around at the created world and think about God. 

I imagine there were days he thought his life was boring and dull. I imagine he wished to be like his brothers, doing exciting things on the battlefield. David couldn’t know as a young man that God was growing him up to be a great king. He couldn’t know that generations of people would be blessed by the Twenty-third Psalm he wrote about God’s holy presence in our lives. 

I’m sure there were days when David looked for distractions, but it was the quiet that enabled him to know God. Knowing God enabled David to be a king. Quiet can be a powerful tool in the Lord’s hand. It’s important to take the time to be quiet in this noisy world. We should ask God to speak his thoughts into the quiet moments and author our thoughts. 

Who would we become in this world if we spent a lot of quiet time thinking with God? 

Wise words for your walk

Paul spent time in the deserts of Arabia after he left Damascus. I think those were among the most important years of his life. He went from the highest levels of the demanding life of a Pharisee to months of quiet days spent in faithful desolation.  

I imagine those quiet days in the desert helped him create the theology of the Christian faith that he would take on his missionary journeys and include in his many letters. I don’t think we can estimate the value of Paul’s months, possibly years, of quiet reflection. 

Paul told the Ephesians, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:15–17). 

Some of Paul’s meaning gets lost in the English translation. He had just told the church to “wake up.” The culture of Ephesus was a lot like the American culture. Living in Ephesus was living in an oceanfront resort city with all manner of distraction. They had industry, education, entertainment, politics, and religions. The people who lived there did not lack for distraction, Christians included. 

That’s why Paul told them to “wake up” and “look carefully” at how they were walking through their lives. He told them to make the “best use of the time, because the days are evil.” The word evil is best understood as anything that isn’t God’s purpose in our lives. We miss Paul’s point if we define evil like the dictionary would.  

There is God’s plan for our lives, and everything else is not God’s plan. “Therefore,” Paul says, “do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” Foolish, according to Paul, is spending time doing things that aren’t part of God’s plan for our lives. The opposite of foolish is understanding God’s will and doing that. 

If Paul were our counselor, he would have us examine the way we spend our time and list which moments are spent accomplishing God’s purpose and plan. Next, we would make a list of the things that don’t. 

The first list is the “best” use of our time, and the second list we could label “foolish.” 

Taking time isn’t wasting time

The great balance in the Christian life is understanding that taking time for the quiet isn’t wasting time in our “walk.” A quick glance at almost every book of the Bible will tell you that God’s people have always struggled with understanding what God wants us to do with our time. 

The Israelites wanted to serve God. They ran into problems when they substituted serving rules and requirements for serving God. God doesn’t want our time commitment unless it also includes a commitment of our hearts.

God wants us to listen when he speaks. God wants us to understand the directions the Holy Spirit is speaking into our hearts and minds. God wants us to be wise about how we spend our time because the way we spend our time on earth directly impacts our lives eternal. 

God owns the big picture, the eternal picture. When we take time to listen, pray, and study, we will spend time developing into the person who can walk through life directed by God’s Spirit. 

I wonder who David would have been if he had spent his free time on a cell phone or computer. I doubt he would have volunteered to take down Goliath with a slingshot. If David had listened to music and podcasts all the time, would he have created his own psalms? 

If Paul hadn’t taken the time to be alone with God in the desert, would he have been able to comprehend how the Old Testament laws were fulfilled by the life of Christ? Would he have understood his calling was to take the gospel to the Gentiles? Imagine our New Testament without Paul’s letters of theology. 

It takes a lot of time with God to learn to walk with his Spirit. Your time with him is an eternal investment.  

Take time

We spend a lot of time planning for a vacation. We research then make reservations. We spend time planning for the things we want to see and do. Finally, we make plans to ensure that everything will run smoothly at home while we are gone. What would a vacation be like if we didn’t take the time to plan for it? 

What would Paul say to us if we spent more time planning a vacation from our daily lives than we did planning for God to use our daily lives? 

If we don’t take time, we can waste our time.  

What if our Bible heroes had avoided time with God? 

Would David ever have been a king? 

Would Paul ever have become a Christian missionary and theologian? 

Taking time to be quiet isn’t wasting time. Instead, it’s probably the most important use of time for our choices today and our eternal reward. 

How will you spend time walking quietly with God’s counsel today? 

He will enjoy having that time with you. 

Time: Spent or invested?

I was a sophomore in high school when Jim Croce’s song “Time in a Bottle” reached #1 on the charts. 

He had written the song a year earlier, after his wife had told him she was pregnant. ABC Records hadn’t planned to release the song as a single, but, in 1973, Jim Croce was tragically killed in a plane crash. 

Radio stations played “Time in a Bottle” as a tribute to his life, and it quickly achieved its #1 ranking.

If you could put time in a bottle . . . 

If you don’t know the song, take two-and-a-half minutes and watch the lyric video.

The words are especially profound, knowing that he wrote them a year before he died. 

The chorus Croce wrote said that there never seemed to be enough time to do what we want to do once we figure out what we most want to do

“Time in a Bottle” was written as a love song from Croce to his wife. But, with a few biblical changes, it could be a great love song to our Lord.  

Keeping time 

I had an appointment last week, and it was time to find my mask and go. I did my best with a haircut that is about three months old and got ready to leave my house. I grabbed my watch and, out of habit,  glanced at the time. 

My first thought was that I needed a new battery. My next thought was the truth: I hadn’t worn that watch since Daylight Savings Time kicked in. 

I had been living at least two months with no need to keep a tight schedule.

That moment is what prompted this blog post. In two months’ time, I have become a person who doesn’t live her life according to a watch or a calendar. In fact, half the time I have to think about what day of the week it is.  

Like the song says, we can’t keep time in a bottle. But then, God didn’t create time for that purpose. 

Spending time 

The Fall in the Garden of Eden created the reason we value, even cherish, time

Before the Fall, time didn’t matter. Adam and Eve spent their time in the garden living because it wasn’t until after the Fall that they had to think about dying. 

One of the great gifts God gave us after the Fall was the passage of time. 

We know we only have a measure of time to spend on earth. The passage of each day provides us with a sense that we are constantly moving forward. Kids are excited to get older. At some point, we reach the age we would like time to move a little more slowly. Why was aging God’s plan? Why do the days grow longer, then shorter? Warmer, then colder? Why does the moon shine brightly, then fade, then grow brighter again? Why is there a growing season and a time for the fields to stand empty?  

Almost every aspect of this world measures time, and we have the same number of hours to spend per day. 

Time isn’t saved in a bottle; it is spent as the cost for living each day. 

Time invested 

My parents wanted their children to learn how to save money so, one Christmas, my sisters and I each got piggy banks. It was a good idea, but I’m not sure it ever became a good lesson. Saving money only became important to us when we wanted something we weren’t able to buy right away.  

A lot of people are worried about their investments. The pandemic has infected just about everything, including our retirement funds. The money managers tell us we shouldn’t worry because, if we don’t need to use that money, it isn’t a long-term problem. We just need to invest it wisely and everything will work out eventually.  

We invest money because, one day, our investments should be worth more than what we have saved in a bank account. The same is true with our time. 

Time saved is often worth more than time spent. Time invested tends to produce the highest value. 

God’s purpose for our time

King Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes at the end of his life. There is no man in Scripture who accomplished more with his time than David’s son. Israel achieved its height of power, wealth, and influence under his leadership. And King Solomon referred to most of his accomplishments as a “chasing of the wind” (Ecclesiastes 2:11).  

At the end of his life, he realized it wasn’t all the achievements that mattered most, it was wisdom. That’s why he wanted to write Ecclesiastes. 

Chapter 3 begins with the familiar verses, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” After Solomon writes his list of all the things there is “a time to” do or a time “for,” he writes one of his most important lessons about time. 

Solomon taught, “I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him” (Ecclesiastes 3:12–14). 

Why did God create a world that measures time? 

So we would realize that what we do in life is for the moment, but everything God does through our lives “will endure forever.”  

God created time, and the passage of time, so that people would understand how much they need him, eternally. 

To “fear God” is to live with reverent awe of his greatness and a godly understanding of our own limitations. 

The purpose of our time on earth is to “fear God” and help others do the same. 

Time to reflect 

Has it been a while since you spent time in reverent awe of God? 

Do you need to remember that God created your life for an eternal purpose and then gave you time to accomplish that purpose? 

One of the great blessings of this shut-in period of time is the knowledge that we are not shut down. There is a purpose for this day, or God wouldn’t have given it to us.  

How many times did we hear ourselves say, “I just wish I had more time to . . . ?” 

You have time now. You are shut in but not shut down. The key: Just don’t shut out the One who gives you his purpose for each day.   

I read the lyrics of Jim Croce’s song “Time in a Bottle” and added a biblical perspective. The song became a devotion to the Lord and a good reminder that, while we can’t save time, we can invest it eternally.  

Jesus described heaven by saying, “No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:3–5). 

“There will be no more night.” We won’t measure our time in days, weeks, months and years. No one wears a watch in heaven or manages a calendar because time no longer exists.  

Until then, let’s invest the time God has given us in those things that will matter eternally. 

We can’t save time in a bottle, but we can invest it in heaven. 

The Big 6-0

Never has a birthday bugged me like this one. By the time you receive this blog post, I will have turned the BIG 6-0. Now, I know some of you are rolling your eyes and saying, “I wish!” But, others are thinking, “I didn’t realize she was that old.” Still, others are saying, “I know! This is a hard birthday!” By the way, I like that response best.

I didn’t enjoy turning fifty, but I figured I might live to be one hundred so I consoled myself with the idea that I had a whole other “second-half” of my life. There is NO chance I will live to be one hundred and twenty. I’m on the downhill side of life and picking up speed! I wasn’t a grandma when I was fifty. Now, I’m a grandma to 3.8 grandchildren. Rachel is due to deliver another boy, the first week of December . . . Pardon me while I grin and say YEAH!!! (Pictures will follow!)

Grandkids are definitely the BEST thing about getting older. The second-best thing is the ability to walk out the door and travel anywhere. So, when Jim asked me what I wanted for my big 6-0, I told him that he needed to book me a few days at Disney World so I can ride every fast, flip-me-upside-down, twirl-me-around ride they have. I choose to turn sixty while I’m riding through the stars of Space Mountain and going from zero to sixty on my FAVORITE ride, the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. (That ride features Aerosmith, a favorite band from my younger years – but that is a whole different blog post.)

Jim and I both have bad backs, which will get a little worse next week. But, I’m packing some Motrin and I’m getting in line. There is hardly anyone who likes Disney better than me. (Well, maybe my friend Sheila Bailey!) I grew up in California, and the name of my street was “Buena Vista.” If you watch an old Disney movie, you will notice it was made at the “Buena Vista Studio.” Yes! My street came to a dead-end at the back entrance of Disneyland, where the studio was. My grandparents lived close by, and we could use binoculars to watch Tinker Bell slide down from the Matterhorn while standing in their driveway. Disney is in my DNA and I wanted to turn sixty with Mickey and Minnie. Come to think of it, they are aging well!

Birthdays that end with a zero seem more significant, but they really aren’t. I’m just one day older than I was the day before. I think one of the biggest differences in life on earth and life eternal is the time factor. Almost everything on earth is measured by time. As King Solomon said, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Solomon goes on to say there is a time to live, a time to die, a time to plant, and a time to harvest. I would add there is a time to ride fast rides and a time to watch the kids ride them. So, I’m headed to Disney now because I’m not sure when that last season kicks in!

Ecclesiastes is not usually on a person’s list of devotional thoughts, but I have always loved that book. There is time for everything on earth, if you do everything when you should take the time to do it. I think Ecclesiastes isn’t about the futility of life; I think Solomon was teaching us about the priorities of life. I think people should live whatever season of life they find themselves in, looking forward to heaven but fully enjoying their moments on earth. If we saw our earthly lives with godly perspective, then things like turning sixty would feel more like standing in line at Space Mountain. The closer we get to the end, the closer we are to the best ride of this life. When we get off the ride, Jesus helps us out of the car and we exit to the gift shop, where everything is absolutely free and stamped “Made in Heaven.”

I think we should try to live healthy lives and spend as long on planet earth as God allows. Each day is the opportunity to live for Jesus and store treasure in heaven, our eternal reward. I’m going to heaven, but I want to bring as many people with me as I can.

That is the way I want to view the rest of my birthdays. If I could take all of you with me to Disney World, for free, I would try to do that! It’s the greatest place I know to have fun! But I can take people to heaven with me, for free! It’s free because Jesus already bought everyone a ticket. How sad if I didn’t make sure everyone got theirs.

I wish all of you a blessed week. I’m unavailable, off the phone, off my computer, and out of touch for the next week. I’m sixty and I’m going to celebrate! (Now, I need to go color my roots. I don’t celebrate everything about getting older!)