Video from The Alan Parsons Project
Time is passing right now as you read this.
As soon as you think about its passing it is gone, never to come again. Now is all we have as our portion in this life but there is more of life to come. Death as we know it and we know extraordinarily little about it outside some biological knowledge is not natural.
We make a mistake when we celebrate death as a way out of this sinful and difficult world. Another mistake is when we let its impending reality create despair over all our life. The first mistake is to shrug death off like it’s not a big deal.
Rev.Peter Leithart explains that “the attempt to dress death in beautiful robes is a reoccurring theme of Western civilization”.
Death is not our simple escape. It is our enemy — and it is terrible.
With time, with the aging of our bodies and our ongoing redemption, there are seasons in life, windows of circumstance and opportunity that if we don’t act pass and are gone. God knows all and must constantly be at work in the many threads of people's lives to bring about good.
The Book of Ecclesiastes gives us a list:
A Time for Everything
1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
The God-Given Task
9 What gain has the worker from his toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man.
14 I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. 15 That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.[a]
From Dust to Dust
16 Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. 17 I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work. 18 I said in my heart about the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they are but beasts. 19 For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity.[b] 20 All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? 22 So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?
Time flying past us, going faster and faster it seems. Not enough of it, always running out of it. Wishing we were better at using it while at the same time feeling guilt, that we don’t have more for someone special, or something noble or important. We are always literally running out of time.
There is no denying it we have all wasted a lot of our God-given time here in this life. But the fact of eternal life with Christ and a resurrection body brings hope, a gleam in our eyes.
John Piper said this in an article from DesiringGod.org: Embrace the Life God has Given You
“But then, say to your weeping after a season, “No. You will not define me, sorrow because my God has said, ‘No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly’ (Psalm 84:11). Therefore, even though it was good in one sense, and I miss it in one sense, I trust my God, and he has not withheld anything that is good for me.” Yes, let there be weeping in those seasons — feel the losses. Then wash your face, trust God, and embrace the life he’s given you.”
Time is indeed flowing like a river, embrace it and BE present in it as much as you can, and praise God while you do so!!
Here are the lyrics to this wonderful song:
The Alan Parsons Project
Time, flowing like a river
Time, beckoning me
Who knows when we shall meet again
If ever
But time
Keeps flowing like a river
To the sea
Goodbye my love,
Maybe for forever
Goodbye my love,
The tide waits for me
Who knows when we shall meet again
If ever
But time
Keeps flowing like a river (on and on)
To the sea, to the sea
Till it's gone forever
Gone forever
Gone forevermore
Goodbye my friends (goodbye my love)
Maybe forever
Goodbye my friends (who knows when we shall meet again)
The stars wait for me
Who knows where we shall meet again
If ever
But time
Keeps flowing like a river (on and on)
To the sea, to the sea
Till it's gone forever
Gone forever
Gone forevermore
Forevermore
Forevermore
Forevermore
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