Time
Mansfield Baptist Church, the church I have the privilege to serve as pastor, is a partner in education to Mansfield Elementary School.
We do that as one way to have a tangible investment in the community where God has us. We find ways to serve the school and the community with no expectations of receiving anything in return. We strive to model selfless giving to our community.
Since we are a partner in education, I am invited each year to the Awards Day on the last day of school. This past Thursday was that day for the 2017 school year. As I sat in a gym full of students, teachers, parents, and grandparents, we had the opportunity to acknowledge the progress and accomplishments that students attained throughout the 2016-2017 year.
Do you remember that “last day of school” feeling? It is a day filled with excitement and relief. Isn’t that how life works? One season ends while another season begins. One accomplishment leads to another challenge. One “job well done” leads to a new beginning in another area. Life is full of endings that start new adventures in our life.
Ecclesiastes 3 speaks of this ongoing cycle. Verse one says “there’s a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven.” Time works that way.
Everything in life, including life itself on this earth, has a beginning and an end. Time rolls on. It never stops. It never pauses. It keeps a constant pace and never takes a break. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Time presses forward.
Some find the nonstop progression of time depressing. But it doesn’t have to be. In fact, the confines of time are only disappointing to those who are living for this time. When we embrace the existence of eternity and turn our thoughts to our forever, especially through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, we can accept time for what it is, a precursor to eternity.
Eternity should be our focus. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God “has set eternity in our hearts.” God made us for eternity. God created us to live with Him forever, commune with Him forever. We are made to experience God forever.
But, as so often is the case in our lives, sin gets in the way. Our sin messes up so many things in our lives, including our view of time and eternity. When we lose the proper view of eternity, we become too enmeshed in time. That causes us to hold on too tightly to those things and those seasons that God wants us to move through as we progress to the next season that God has for us.
As this school year ends, let’s learn from our students how to celebrate the season that is closing and look with anticipation to the season that is opening. If we do, we will learn to be more thankful for the seasons that go and more open to the possibilities of the next season that is approaching. Have a great summer!