Physicists have engineered the most accurate clock in the universe. It’s called the “optical single-ion clock,” and it measures time according to the movements of individual ytterbium ions. It’s so accurate it won’t gain or lose a single second for a few billion years. While this invention is a stunning technological marvel, it’s also a sobering reminder of the reality of physical time. We are mortal beings, trapped within finite time, living our lives at the rate of 86,400 seconds every day. Scripture is filled with reminders of this, but it also reminds us that we’re created for something beyond mortality: eternity. “‘All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.’ And this is the word that was preached to you” (1 Peter 1:24-25 NIV).
Long after even that single-ion clock stops ticking, God’s word will remain. And his word tells us what our place in eternity will be: life with him, redeemed and set free from all boundaries of physical time. Our life in Christ is one of perpetual invitation to participate in his great redemptive work. That means making the most of the time we’ve been given. Another way to put it would be a term we like to use here at GCI – stewardship. It means wisely using the talents we’ve been given to glorify God and forward his mission.
You see, we can either be sobered and intimidated by the reality of time, or we can be inspired by it to live a life that is meaningfully invested in things and activities that will further God’s kingdom — like a life that bears fruit for God and is lived out with the meaning and beauty that Christ brought to his own limited physical time here on earth. Remember what the prophet says in Ecclesiastes: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV).
We may not be able to fathom it, but God has beautiful designs and desires for every single one of the 86,400 seconds we get to live out each day. Let’s be encouraged to use them wisely, and gratefully, in ways that point to our hope in the coming kingdom of our triune God!
I’m Joseph Tkach, speaking of LIFE.
