Time…by NathanPosted by Rick on March 29th, 2003
The following is another post from my buddy Nathan:
My apologies to those who read this. I’ve not been able to post on here due to my computer being down again(the company is in the process of fixing it as I type). More than a month has gone by since I’ve posted, and that doesn’t mean I haven’t thought about anything. I’m always thinking, always.
God made a world that constricts us. Everything has limitations. This not only keeps everything orderly, but reminds us of our own inadequacies. Which brings me to what I was going to write about. Time. It is the single most humbling creation God devised for us and His universe. If the Christian man(or even the pagan man at times) sat still and contemplated time, he would be frightened into falling at the feet of Christ on every occasion. After all, what about time is tangible? What can you have a firm grasp upon……what can you control?
The past? Only to a certain extent. It is a surreal labyrinth of tales, truths, myths, events, and ideaologies that occurred in a generation, land, or culture long before you existed. What can you see from it firmly? Principles? Yes, and more than that, you can see the Agenda and Plan unfold. Is it tangible though? Sure, we know that George Washington led a group of Christian patriots to liberty….but if we wanted, could we see it take place? Could our eyes watch the Battle of King’s Mountain unfold at our command? No. It is real to us because it was painstakingly passed down through faithful offspring(hopefully with as much truth in it as possible). We can see the European cathedrals, but we cannot hold conversation with a 12th century priest. We can learn and study the classics of music, but we can hear no mediaeval voice, no ancient Irish harp played by 3rd century hands. So, in a very real sense, we cannot firmly lay hold of much of the past(though cultural inheritance remains as the sole most powerful and physical part of men long perished).
The Present? Well, I ask you, what is the present? Even as I typed that sentence, it became history. It turned to the past…..yet again, that sentence you just “presently” read is the past. Can you ever be sure of your status and your knowledge of the world as a whole during any point of your life, during any “present”? Have you ever known what was going on all over the world during any “present” of your life? How do you define “present”? Is it always that one second in historical hindsight? That moment when you realise, “whoa, I’m now”? Even one miniscule second though can be broken down to hundredths of seconds. Which means that whatever truly is always “present” is the newest millionth or zillionth of a second that is so insignificant you can’t fully appreciate or enjoy it. Can you control it? Well, even the wisest know that with all the money, knowledge, and power in the world…..you could not control all things as they happen. Can you stop the sun in its current position? Can you prevent your brain cells from dying at this moment? No.
What about the Future? The Future, in the specifics, is the cloudiest and most elusive of all parts of time. Yet, simultaneously, it is the most real. You cannot see when you will no longer have time left to live on this earth. You cannot control the length of days in the life of your most beloved spouse or family member. Who can rightfully say when things will end, or where the specifics will go? Only obstinate fools think they know all of the future, or fancy that they can bend that mightiest creature to their will. Evil men, in attempts to be their own god, always plot and scheme this is true. But where are Hitler, Mao, Lincoln, Attila, and Ghengis Khan? They’re all dust, slowly being eaten by tiny organisms. They fooled themselves, they were not God. Neither are we.
This all sounds depressing at first, doesn’t it? It shouldn’t trouble the Christian in the least. Only when we realise how helpless we are in a world created with such rules, will we brought to a better understanding of the timelessness of God. He governs all, it is His play, His plan, His story. It is leading up to the most climactic and joyous conclusion in the vast vault of storytelling: for it is a victory that knows no time, no end, no conclusion. Eternal joy and neverending bliss will be ushered in when the bodies of both death and time are thrown into the dustbin of history where we can never know them again.
