Taking every thought captive for obedience to Christ (2 Corinthians 10.5)

Vision
Time
It’s a common question, one we’ve all asked more than once: “What time is it?”

As philosophical and abstract a subject as it is, time and how we use it are important issues in Scripture. Moses understood that God wants us to fill our time with wisdom (Ps. 90.12). Paul echoed the same idea, adding that we have to pay careful attention to the time of our lives, and exercise good stewardship over it if we’re going to keep from becoming fools and live like wise people instead (Eph. 5.15-17). James cautions us about thinking that somehow we are the masters of our time and the determiners of what transpires in it. We need to look to God for how best to use the moments and days of our lives (Jms. 4.13-17). And Solomon urges us, concerning all the time of our lives, not to let our use of time be bounded or defined by merely secular and material priorities. The time of our lives is moving toward a day of reckoning, and in the present – every present moment – we need to engage our time consciously unto to the Lord and for His wisdom and glory (Ecclesiastes).

The question, “What time is it?” therefore is a question about a moment; yet it’s also a question about every moment, for no matter what time it is, that time is only relevant to the relentless flow of time, and everyone and everything in it.

A better question therefore might be, “What is time?” This is the question Gene Tracy asks in the 25 April 2016 issue of Aeon (“A science without time”). I should say, Mr. Tracy doesn’t so much ask this question as wonder why more people don’t. His interest in time seems to revolve around our subjective experience of it, especially as our time comes to an end in death. He explains, “Our human sense of time is that we are bound by it, carried along by a flow from past to future that we cannot stop or slow.”

In Mr. Tracy’s view, time flows out of the future, through the present, and into the past, as a succession of subjective moments attached to all other subjective moments, to a greater or lesser extent. I don’t think that definition is really tenable, however, since the future, whatever it holds, does not yet exist. How can anything flow from something that does not exist?

Mr. Tracy regrets that physics thus far has declined to deal with the question, leaving it to philosophers, cognitive scientists, and other abstract speculators. Time comes to us as a “now” which is “built out of a mix of recent memories and our current sense perceptions, what we see, hear, feel, taste and smell.”

Then again, time may be a complete illusion, a totally subjective matter. That doesn’t seem likely, however, except as an interesting thought experiment.

A more accurate explanation of time from the secular perspective is that it is the succession of moments flowing out of the past, through the present, into oblivion. Secularism offers a deterministic view of time, at least beginning with the Big Bang. At the Big Bang, forces, powers, stuff, and laws were put in place that move inexorably toward a predetermined but unknowable end, and within which everything merely does what the laws of physics determine. It is within this view of time and the cosmos that certain neuroscientists insist that our every conscious decision is already made before we decide on it by processes and functions inherent in the brain and our environment.

From the secular perspective, it doesn’t matter, in the long run, what we do with our time, whether for good or ill, because time and everything experienced or achieved in it ends up in the cosmic dustbin, whether by heat or deep freeze.

Compare this with the Christian view of time. The Christian maintains that time is given to us for wisdom and the glory of God. Wisdom is that way of life which consistently acts according to truth and love to allow and enable God’s creation – whether people or things – to flourish for good. Time is a gift, the succession of moments which comes to us immediately from the Word of God, passes through our present, and returns to Him as an offering. To the question “What is time”? the Christian answers, “It is a precious gift from the Lord and an opportunity to fulfill our reason for being.”

To the question “What time is it?” the Christian replies, “Time to glorify God and enjoy Him in all things.”

Time received and spent as the Bible recommends becomes time adorned with love and good works which returns to God as an offering of praise and thanks.

For reflection
1. How confident are you that you are “making the most” of the time God gives you each day or each week?

2.  Meditate on Psalm 90.12 and James 4.13-17. What is your approach to planning the time God gives you? Can you see any way you might improve your planning in order to make better use of the time of your life?

3.  How conscious are you of the moments of your life returning to God as an offering of praise and thanks? How might you improve in this area?

Next steps: At the end of each day, review your day in prayer, offering the time spent that day with thanks and praise to God.

If this ministry is important to you, we ask you please prayerfully to consider becoming a supporter of The Fellowship of Ailbe. It’s easy to give to The Fellowship of Ailbe, and all gifts are, of course, tax-deductible. You can click here to donate online through credit card or PayPal, or send your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 19 Tyler Dr., Essex Junction, VT 05452.