It never speeds up. It never slows down. Time is constant: steadily constraining our lives in this world, yet unceasingly bringing us closer to the end.
To us, time is just a measurement—it passes in minutes, hours, days, and years; but we live day to day subconscious of its passing. To us, time is eternal—it's all we have ever known; but we don't often think about the fact that we are only given a short allotment of it. Forgetting its brevity, we readily spend our time on meaninglessness pastimes, using it on whatever seems best at the moment. But are our lives to be spent away moment by moment? Will we use our time with a "present" purpose only? When we live for the "here and now," we forget that time had a beginning, and it will one day have an end. We forget that time is precious.
Of course, it's much more pleasant to live as if we had "all the time in the world." We dream; we scheme; we plan our lives away because we don't want to admit that we have no control over our lives at all. Yet, we are surprised when things don't work out like we'd planned them; we complain when we don't have "enough" time. Although time never changes, it always seems to "fly by" faster than we expected it to.
Time is temporary, limited to this earth. Even so, it is so easy to view our lives in the span and sequence of time alone. We see our past as years gone by and our futures as simply more years to come. It's the mentality of "this year is gone and over, but—hey!—I'll have next year!" But God says, "You do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes" (James 4:14). We can't count on tomorrow, or next week, or next year.
But, what if our lives were about more than...our lives? What if we were created for a greater purpose that totally exceeds the boundaries of time? What if the little bit of time we have could have eternal significance?
I want to challenge you (and myself!) to view this new year like you've never viewed it before. Although there's nothing wrong with New Year's resolutions (in fact, they're great), I don't want to get so caught up with "right now" that I completely miss the eternal perspective on my life. Today is more than today. Next year is more than next year. Our lives were created to have an eternal impact!
So let's make our resolutions; let's look forward to a fresh start. But let's keep in mind that 2012 is more than eating right, reading more books, getting better grades, losing weight, or whatever resolutions you may have. 2012 is a year of purpose. God put you in this world in this decade for a purpose! Let's use our time on stuff that really matters, on things that will count in the end.
If your life purpose exceeds the limitations of time, then it doesn't matter when it ends. What matters is how it counts.
Lord, teach me to number my days,
That I may gain a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:12
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