Time: Through the Looking Glass

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“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” — Ephesians 5:15-16

Watching the film Alice Through the Looking Glass with my 9-year old made for an affectionate daddy-daughter date. Alice’s wonder-filled adventures are quite evocative to the spirit of those of us who would love to believe in as many as six impossible things before breakfast! After slipping through a mirror, Alice finds herself back in the whimsical world of Wonderland on a mission to save the family of the Mad Hatter. It’s a feverish race against Time, which Alice has always seen as a thief, or a villain. She steals the Chronosphere from Time to travel into the past, but is later reconciled with this character she once viewed as a nemesis. Time offers her forgiveness for the trouble she has caused and Alice admits:

I used to think time was a thief. But you give before you take. Time is a gift. Every minute. Every second.

Every one of us is marked by a steady march of time. Sometimes we even feel there aren’t enough hours in the day to finish everything. Then we wonder what happened to the time. Where did the years go? The problem, we imagine, is that the clock always seems to be running the wrong way. We lose moments to the past and can never get them back. Time, can often feel like a nemesis. But we do well to remember that time always gives before it takes. It is truly a gift, not a villain.

Billy Graham was once asked what he was most surprised by in life. “Its brevity,” he answered. The psalmist wrote “Show me, O Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life” (Psalm 39:4). God’s Word reminds us that there is wisdom in recognizing the brevity of life and how important each day is (Psalm 90:12). Time is a unique resource. It cannot be accumulated like money or stockpiled like raw materials. We are forced to spend it, whether we choose to or not. It cannot be turned on and off like an electronic device. It is irretrievable. And like any other resource, God wants us to be good stewards of our time.

Time: Chronos and Kairos

In Ephesians 5, we are encouraged to “look carefully” at how we walk, redeeming the time, or “making the best use of the time,” says the Apostle Paul. We are to spend our time wisely in seeking to understand what the will of the Lord is.

The Greek language has a couple of words that mean time. The first is most familiar—chronos. It refers to time as a measurable resource—the chronology of days. God himself ordained this measurement of days on the fourth day of Creation. In our society we tend to measure days by what we accomplished. Did we get everything done?

But another word for time is also used in the New Testament—kairos. It speaks more to specific, God-ordained times or breakthroughs throughout history. It may refer to the right time, an appointed season, the fullness of time, an opportunity, a time of salvation, or a time of awakening (Galatians 6:9, Titus 1:3, Galatians 4:4, Colossians 4:5, II Corinthians 6:2, Romans 13:11). Jesus’ birth was an example of kairos piercing its way into broken and sinful humanity at just “the right time” (Romans 5:6, Mark 1:15), slicing through chronos with the cry of a baby in a manger. Kairos is the word Paul used in Ephesians 5.

God Wants to Invade Our Chronos

Our omniscient, omnipresent God is not bound by the confines of time or space. Kairos is God’s dimension—existing beyond the common chronos we too often find ourselves racing against each day. Kairos moments allow us to get a glimpse into the “other side” of our existence. It’s when we pull back the curtain of the here and now and live with eternity in mind.

When we seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness, we find ourselves in kairos time. When we live with the purpose of glorifying God and accomplishing what He has given us to do, we exist in the kairos dimension. When God’s presence alone satisfies our every moment, that place where we are content in Him plus nothing, we can find ourselves living with an unspeakable joy in the kairos realm.

God longs to breakthrough our chronos spheres with His kairos moments—moments where our doubts are transformed into faith, our fears are turned into courage, our anxiety is transfigured into peace, and our commonplace becomes holy ground (like Moses’ kairos moment at the burning bush).

To value time as a gift, and not a villain, don’t let the daily grind of chronos rob you of kairos moments—those moments when God seeks to invade our chaos. A wise steward of time is not only conscious of chronos time, but kairos moments as well.

Think about that, my friend, as you abide in Him this week.

Prayer

Father, thank you for our fleeting time on this earth. It is truly a precious gift. Teach us to mindful of time so that we can apply our hearts to wisdom. Help us to not only manage our chronos time with discretion, but also to be keenly aware of those kairos moments when You are longing to breakthrough our madness. Help us to find incredible peace in the fact that our days are in Your hands, and our eternity is secure because of what Jesus Christ did in that kairos moment on Calvary’s cross. Your love broke through—and it always will. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

If we don’t use our time wisely, it will become a villain to us, rather than a gift. Tweet this

Questions for Reflection and/or Family Discussion:

Do you tend to see time more as a gift or a nemesis?
What might your life look like if it became less of a race against chronos time and more of an abiding in kairos moments?
When was the last time you had a kairos moment—a time in which you clearly sensed God’s presence invading your humanity?
In what ways do you think making the best use of our time can lead us into a better understanding of the Lord’s will?
How can you become more aware of kairos moments this week?

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