The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe
"Time (the Servant of Eternity)"
Time will change tomorrow in most of United States as we spring our clocks forward one hour (Daylight Savings Time). Eternity, however, will proceed unaffected in its reality, truth, effect, and most of all, "the eternal purpose which God purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Ephesians 3:11).
"We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (II Corinthians 4:18).
The Apostle Paul does not suggest that we throw away the timepieces necessary to function in this present world. We must know times and seasons well enough to follow schedules, arrive at destinations, fulfill responsibilities, and enjoy many of the blessings that require we be at certain places, at certain times. Amid all, however, we must know as born again believers in the Lord Jesus that an infinitely greater reality moves with a meaning and significance that transcends the seconds, minutes, hours, and days of time. Indeed, in any moment we ask the question, "What is going on right now?", the first and primary answer is always that God works in all things to fulfill His eternal purpose in Christ.
"Know therefore this day and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord, He is God in Heaven above and upon the earth beneath. There is none else" (Deuteronomy 4:39).
Time is real. It matters. It affects us continually, and we must respond accordingly. It is not, however, primary in our existence. Eternity pervades every moment through the presence and working of the "from everlasting to everlasting" God in whom "we live and move and have our being" (Psalm 90:2; Acts 17:28). "My times are in Thy hand" (Psalm 31:15). Even the most godly among us recognize little of this greatest of all truths and realities. All believers must nevertheless plant deeply within our hearts that every time the clock makes it demands, it does so as the servant of the Eternal. Moreover, the centrality of the Lord Jesus in the heart of God the Father moves in all things to glorify and reveal His dear Son and our dear Savior. "God… worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" (Ephesians 1:3; 11).
Presently, we perceive and understand little about the glory of forever. That which we can know, however, does much in our hearts and minds to remind us that every moment of passing time serves the purpose of perpetual eternity. This is peace, the peace of the Prince "of whose kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1:33). We do well as time changes tomorrow to remember rejoice that the eternal life we already possess in Christ will sound and resound with the Father's declaration…
"Unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, o God, is forever and ever."
(Hebrews 1:8)
"These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."
(I John 5:13)
Weekly Memory Verse
As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God."
(I Peter 4:10)
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