Time


Some thoughts on time…

There are certain lines from popular songs that are in my head and probably will be until all my memories are erased, if that ever happens.  There are two that relate to time.  One is from the Steve Miller band and the line is likely familiar to some of you.  “Time keeps on slippin’ slippin, slippin’’ into the future.  Sorry if I have you remembering a song you’d rather forget.  Personally, I really liked that song when it came out, and even today I’ll listen to it occasionally.    Another more recent line comes from a song called, “Breathe” by an artist named Anna Nalick.  That line goes like this: “cause you can’t jump the track, we’re like cars on the cable, and life’s like an hourglass glued to the table, no one can find the rewind…” Images of San Francisco with its fabled cable cars comes to mind and provides an accurate image of the inevitability of time moving forward.  And an hourglass glued to the table is an effective word picture for a reality I’m trying to grasp.  Even with the greatest effort I can’t pry that hourglass loose, turn it over and restart the falling of those precious grains of sand.    
It’s painfully obvious but worth considering once again.  Can’t stop time.  Slowing it down might be convenient once in a while.  Speeding it up could help too in certain situations.  But the fact remains.  Time marches forward.  What’s comforting for the Christian is knowing that time has a destination and where its headed is in our best interests.
Time is linear.  There’s a goal and not a cycle of repeated ages.  We’re moving toward a Glorious Age.  We’re headed for the Day of the Lord.  We’re inching closer every moment to the Revealing (of Jesus Christ).  When the time comes, and surely it will, we will acknowledge who really wears the crown.  The One who deserves our complete submission and unfaltering loyalty.  The King of Kings, before whom every knee will bow, and to whom every tongue will confess that He is Lord of all. 
We’ve started a race and there’s a finish line.  Paul talks about it in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27.  Hebrews mentions the same race in 12:1-2).  We continue our climb and there is a mountain top.  There’s a paradise at the end of the road we’re on.  We’re moving toward a place where we’ll know we finally “arrived” when we get there. 
We’re on a journey and there’s a destination.  Every day, every passing moment we’re closer to “home.”  Let’s be like Paul.  Let’s press  on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.


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