Inspire, Fall 2003

L O G O S W h a t ’ s t h e W o r d ? T ime … that precious commodity of minutes, hours, months, and years that mark the progress of our march from cradle to grave and infancy to adulthood. The contemporary culture seems somehow enslaved to time as evidenced by sophisticated time pieces, PDAs, organizers, Daytimers, etc. Our days are neatly organized around hourly segments punctuated by 15-minute coffee breaks, 30-minute lunches, 10-minute naps, and one-hour meetings. The Christian is not exempt. Though we are citizens of eternity, we are creatures of time. Such is the way the Creator made us. And such is the way the Creator reveals Himself to us. He created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. He predicted a 400- year enslavement of His people in Egypt and a 70-year captivity in Babylon. The reigns of judges and kings are marked in years as are the life spans of the biblical greats. Redemption is also referred to in rudiments of time. Paul says Christ was born in “the fullness of time.” Luke notes that the conception of Jesus took place in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy with John. Luke gives us a glimpse into Jesus’ boyhood at the age of 12 and tells us that Jesus was about 30 years old when He began His ministry. Time and the Word of God One of the most familiar “time” passages is in Ecclesiastes 3. The text has even been used for the lyrics of a secular song. Solomon’s immediate concern is for people to understand that while we live in time, we are made ultimately for eternity. He wants his readers to see life from “above the sun” rather than under it. Nonetheless, he addresses the reality of time- cycles that define the human’s earthly pilgrimage. The dilemma for the Christian is not that he or she is incarcerated in time. Rather the challenge is the use of the time we have. I believe that’s what Moses meant when he wrote Psalm 90:12 — “Teach us to make the most of our time, so that we may grow in wisdom” (NLT). I understood it more appreciably in the last two years of my sweetie’s life. Though we had always pursued our lives and ministry with a realization that we were to use our time in light of eternity, it wasn’t until she had been diagnosed with cancer that we really came to grips with the preciousness of time. We began thanking the Lord each morning for the day ahead. We prayed the Spirit would help us “unpack” each hour, giving us a sense of anticipation and delight in what He would teach us and how He would use us. We often discussed the fact that this is the way believers should live, yet it seemed a confrontation with our own mortality was necessary for it to become a way of life. Time and the Holy Spirit A specific reference to the believer’s use of time is Paul’s exhortation in Ephesians 5. There he compels his readers, “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:15-16, Our Times, His Hands By Dr. David Drullinger 16 Fall 2003