Living Eternally
By Sharon Musgrove
God is not bound by time.
It is He who created time when He formed the Earth. For it is the rotation of our planet around
the sun that we measure to count our days to years. So, the creation of man’s universe, including
man himself, was not God’s beginning.
The initial opening of our eyes, our minds, our understanding of life,
does not correspond at all with God’s timelessness. But God uses this tool of time for our good.
The Ancient Greeks had two words for time: chronos and kairos. Defined simply, chronos refers to
quantities or durations of time, while kairos signifies quality of time,
or an opportunistic time. The Bible shows
how both concepts help us understand our lifespan in relationship to God’s infinity.
In Genesis chapter one, we read about the early days (chronos)
as God builds life as we know it, creating order out of chaos and developing
living things out of dust. With the
notation of evenings and mornings we get the pattern, day one (tick) . . .day
two (tick) . . . through day seven (tick tick tick tick tick).
Yet underlying the task of constructing a world, a sense of
perfect timing (kairos) is also present.
We see this in Genesis chapter two, where a narrative begins that
suggests God was using the right moments for specific activities. This delineation of time is marked, not by numeric,
but by the adverbs “when” and “then” indicating relationship to particular moments.
“When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was
going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— then
the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”
Genesis
2:5-7 (ESV – emphasis mine).
Just as Genesis is told from these two ways of looking at life,
God uses both to help us understand the life He wants for us. God uses the days on the calendar to reveal
patterns that point to both endings and beginnings. Counting helps us look toward the future,
that we might persevere through difficult times, giving us hope for renewal. Additionally, we see how God’s eternal
Kingdom works, in the now and in the later.
“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.”
Ecclesiastes
3:1-8 (ESV)
Perhaps the most obvious place in the Bible that brings
together both clocks of duration and opportunity is the book of
Revelation. This is the juncture of the
world’s collapse and the rise of the new Kingdom. It’s the end of times and beginning of times
all in God’s perfect time.
As Easter approaches, and people around the world commemorate
the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven, it is the
perfect time to look at the cross as the holy juncture of chronos and
kairos. The intersection of quantity and
quality.
God invites us to lean into His sense of all time. Just as He existed before we took our first
breath, He is welcoming us into a life that extends beyond our last exhale. Jesus showed us how to use our days on earth
for good, and when we trust Him in this gift, we enter an endless
life...unbound by time.
Let’s use this Easter as a personal intersection of quantity
and quality time, where we reset our intention on God’s good, eternal living.
Sharon has
been writing and teaching biblically based curriculum, Bible studies, and
devotionals since 2007.
She has
had the unique position of writing curriculum and teaching for two private,
Christ-based, residential recovery programs. Both programs primarily served
women in the homeless community.
Sharon has
traveled multiple times to Kenya, serving on medical teams and teaching in the
rural Maasai communities. She’s been privileged to speak in Leadership camps intended
on encouraging and empowering the impoverished, underprivileged, and often
abused young women.
Within
these ministries, Sharon has witnessed the transformative power of loving words
spoken to the broken-hearted. Sharing God’s love and witnessing its
transformative power has become her passion.
Sharon and
her husband, divide their time between Oregon and Hawaii. They have two grown
children.
Currently,
Sharon is encouraging others via her inspirational blog, but prefers sharing
face to face. Additionally, she is working towards a degree in Ministry.
~*~
Connect
with Sharon:
Website: Sharonmusgrove.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Sharon-Musgrove-Untethered-102208978041060
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sharonmusgrove_untethered/
No comments:
Post a Comment