Our Time

John 7:6  Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.

Ecclesiastes 3:1     For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:  a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;  a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;  a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;  a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;  a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;  a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;  a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.  What gain has the worker from his toil?  I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.  He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.  I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live;  also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.  I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.

This scripture is written to teach the unsatisfying nature of worldly pleasures and attainments unless God rules the heart and life. The great lesson is “that man’s true wisdom lies in fearing God and looking forward to the judgment.” Do you see how it is describing the different seasons and facets of life. Though there are good things in life, the bad things can’t be escaped. Yet it reminds us of the  of the relentless of life and shows us the need to take full advantage of the time God has given us. Though God has given man a longing for and awareness of eternity, God has not revealed very much about His eternal work. This keeps the yearning for eternity alive in the heart of man as a yet-to-be-fulfilled longing.  We have an awareness but limited understanding, a longing to know but never quite able to grasp.  Our time this side of eternity sometimes does not seem to have purpose.  In reality our purpose is to live this side of eternity with the single purpose of humbly serving, honoring, following and obeying God.  Live happens, don’t let it happen outside of this purpose serving Him with your whole heart, mind and soul.