Time

When it just doesn't fit anywhere else.
Post Reply
lesterb
Posts: 1160
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2016 11:41 pm
Location: Alberta
Affiliation: Western Fellowship
Contact:

Time

Post by lesterb »

[bible]ecc 3,1-8[/bible]

Time Defines Perspective

In this passage, Solomon gave us a snapshot of human existence from a new perspective. Time is another cycle that binds us. It not only limits the length of our earthly existence, but it also limits our perspective of our existence. Time is a prison cell that locks us in and keeps us from seeing beyond our immediate surroundings.

Our horizons can get very narrow sometimes. I spent two weeks in the hospital some time ago. The first two thirds of that time, I was in a room where I couldn’t see outside. I had walls on three sides and a curtain on the other side. I didn’t realize how much this bothered me until they moved me to a different room. Now my bed was beside a window, and I could see out. I could see clouds, and I could look down into a little courtyard. I could see the sunshine and I could watch it rain. It was wonderful, and it made me feel better almost immediately — just because my horizons had broadened.

My horizons still weren’t that broad. The courtyard was surrounded by buildings, and I was in the middle of a city. But it was better, much better, than being in the room where I couldn’t see out. That is the difference that perspective can make.


Time seems to be three dimensional, yet it isn’t. We often divide time into past, present and future, which seems like three dimensions at first glance. But, if we stop to think it through, that’s not how it is. An old song says, yesterday is gone, and tomorrow may never come, but we have this moment, today. Right now, is the only time you have. You can’t recapture yesterday, or jump right into tomorrow. The only reality of time is today. In fact, if tomorrow comes, it will still be today.

Since you can’t fast forward time, or rewind it, it is important to capture our moments as they flee past us. So how long does right now last? If God lays it on your heart to apologize to a friend for an unkind statement, and he’s standing beside you, you had better grab that moment, because once it’s gone, it’s gone. That moment will never reoccur, and who knows whether another moment will ever come along that lets you do it.

The box that time puts around you is very small. The dimensions of past and future are merely mirages that fool us and tempt us to waste today.
0 x
lesterb
Posts: 1160
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2016 11:41 pm
Location: Alberta
Affiliation: Western Fellowship
Contact:

Re: Time

Post by lesterb »

Thoughts or discussion?
0 x
Hats Off
Posts: 2532
Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2017 6:42 pm
Affiliation: Plain Menno OO

Re: Time

Post by Hats Off »

No - you said it very well!
0 x
MaxPC
Posts: 9044
Joined: Sat Oct 22, 2016 9:09 pm
Location: Former full time RVers
Affiliation: PlainRomanCatholic
Contact:

Re: Time

Post by MaxPC »

lesterb wrote:Thoughts or discussion?
Some thoughts from own experience:
-Time is not an adversary rather it's a friend. Enough time passing gives us new appreciation and perspective for God's plans and Will.

That's the concept that these Ecclesiastes passages reminds me of. Patience with every purpose under heaven yields rich trust in God's friendship and rich mercy for my own humanity.
0 x
Max (Plain Catholic)
Mt 24:35
Proverbs 18:2 A fool does not delight in understanding but only in revealing his own mind.
1 Corinthians 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God
silentreader
Posts: 2511
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2016 9:41 pm
Affiliation: MidWest Fellowship

Re: Time

Post by silentreader »

lesterb wrote:[bible]ecc 3,1-8[/bible]

Time Defines Perspective

In this passage, Solomon gave us a snapshot of human existence from a new perspective. Time is another cycle that binds us. It not only limits the length of our earthly existence, but it also limits our perspective of our existence. Time is a prison cell that locks us in and keeps us from seeing beyond our immediate surroundings.

Our horizons can get very narrow sometimes. I spent two weeks in the hospital some time ago. The first two thirds of that time, I was in a room where I couldn’t see outside. I had walls on three sides and a curtain on the other side. I didn’t realize how much this bothered me until they moved me to a different room. Now my bed was beside a window, and I could see out. I could see clouds, and I could look down into a little courtyard. I could see the sunshine and I could watch it rain. It was wonderful, and it made me feel better almost immediately — just because my horizons had broadened.

My horizons still weren’t that broad. The courtyard was surrounded by buildings, and I was in the middle of a city. But it was better, much better, than being in the room where I couldn’t see out. That is the difference that perspective can make.


Time seems to be three dimensional, yet it isn’t. We often divide time into past, present and future, which seems like three dimensions at first glance. But, if we stop to think it through, that’s not how it is. An old song says, yesterday is gone, and tomorrow may never come, but we have this moment, today. Right now, is the only time you have. You can’t recapture yesterday, or jump right into tomorrow. The only reality of time is today. In fact, if tomorrow comes, it will still be today.

Since you can’t fast forward time, or rewind it, it is important to capture our moments as they flee past us. So how long does right now last? If God lays it on your heart to apologize to a friend for an unkind statement, and he’s standing beside you, you had better grab that moment, because once it’s gone, it’s gone. That moment will never reoccur, and who knows whether another moment will ever come along that lets you do it.

The box that time puts around you is very small. The dimensions of past and future are merely mirages that fool us and tempt us to waste today.
You touched on a great truth, whether intentionally or unintentionally, I don't know.
On the spiritual, eternal side of the veil, events just are.
On our side of the veil, the material, temporal side, we have to define events, and deal with them, within the framework of linear time.
And I'll throw this in, even though I should know better, that's why understanding God's predetermination eludes us.
0 x
Noah was a conspiracy theorist...and then it began to rain.~Unknown
User avatar
Josh
Posts: 23829
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2016 6:23 pm
Location: 1000' ASL
Affiliation: The church of God

Re: Time

Post by Josh »

Of particular interest to me is how different the Hebrew language, and the Old Testament texts, are in their treatment of time.
0 x
lesterb
Posts: 1160
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2016 11:41 pm
Location: Alberta
Affiliation: Western Fellowship
Contact:

Re: Time

Post by lesterb »

Josh wrote:Of particular interest to me is how different the Hebrew language, and the Old Testament texts, are in their treatment of time.
Would you care to enlarge on that?
0 x
Post Reply