Thursday, August 16, 2007

Got Time?


"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." (Ecc 3:1)

“When are you going to post another blog entry?” asked my friend the other day. “I’m not sure”, I replied. “After all I’ve been rather busy with work, travel and family issues of late.”

But that got me to thinking. One huge feature of our daily lives is the awareness of time. We feel, think, and act in the time flow. Webster's Dictionary defines time as: “The general concept, relation or fact of continuous or successive existence, capable of division into measurable portions, and comprising the past, present and future.” In any case, time bears powerfully on human emotions. Not only do we often regret the past, we occasionally fear the future and curb the present.

Time is frequently described as the fourth dimension, and is very important to scientific observation because the events that scientists attempt to measure and explain all occur within a time frame. However, we know from Einstein's Theory of Relativity that there is no standard or absolute time frame, because time can be defined only by measurement.

You see, the measurement of time is based on reoccurring natural phenomena. For example, a year is defined as the amount of time it takes for the Earth to make one complete revolution around the Sun. A day is defined as the amount of time it takes for the Earth to make one complete revolution on its axis. The year and the day are then broken down into more arbitrary units - months, hours, seconds, and so on.

Einstein and others have shown that objects cannot travel faster than the speed of light, which is 186,291 miles per second. According to Einstein's theory of relativity, if an object were to travel at the speed of light its mass would become infinite. Hence, the speed of light then could be a function of time, because time can only be defined by measurement.

God is both faster than light and not in a hurry at the same time. For example, it took 40 years for Moses to receive his commission to lead God’s people out of Egypt. God called Moses to accomplish a certain task in His Kingdom, yet God was in no hurry to bring that mission into fulfillment. God took His time to accomplish what He wanted with and in Moses. But what did God want?

Interestingly, Moses wrote, "Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom" (Ps 90:12). We are often more focused on the time something takes than the wisdom we are gaining as we live each day. When we experience God’s presence daily, one day we wake up and realize that God has done something special in and through our lives.

Even so, neither time nor wisdom will continue to excite us. Instead, what excites us is knowing Jesus Christ. As this happens, we are no longer focused on the wisdom because it is merely a result of our time with Jesus. In other words, wisdom is not the goal of our time with Jesus, but the by-product. Jesus is the Goal, alone and always!

God's timing in our lives will always remain a mystery. God will take the time he needs to get your ear and to impress on you his direction for your life. But our own understanding of time begins with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. “While we were yet in weakness [powerless to help ourselves], at the fitting time Christ died for (in behalf of) the ungodly” (Romans 5: 6).

PS. Scientists now suggest that a particle called a tachyon (from the Greek for "swift") may travel faster than the speed of light and cannot be slowed down. Some scientists believe that if tachyons could be detected and harnessed, they would help one to communicate anywhere in the universe instantaneously. So far the particle has not been found, but the new theoretical physics does account for this possibility.

Is time on your side? “For the vision is yet for an appointed time and it hastens to the end [fulfillment]; it will not deceive or disappoint. Though it tarry, wait [earnestly] for it, because it will surely come; it will not be behindhand on its appointed day.” Habakkuk 2.3

enjoy, ron

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