Write On Time
I paused my blog for over a year. It was about time.
Some very concerning events had occurred which moved the cheese. I'd never heard of spiritual spatial disorientation, but what I experienced defined it. Believing, by faith, I was proficient at instrument flying, I launched headfirst into the storm. In reality was flying upside down. Unaware my calculations were off. Until I was.
It was about time. Time spent I can’t get back. Or could I?
Time given in thought, word, passion, enthusiasm, support, resources, energy, effort – thrown into the melting pot of good works for a good cause, but not the cause I thought I was sowing into. It was a good lesson to learn. And even though I lost altitude and was free-falling at alarming speed, I leveled out in time to avoid a catastrophic splat. Thank Jesus.
Got me thinking about time. This word came to mind.
15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
17 Wherefore be ye not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is (Eph. 5:15-17).
Have you ever been there? Standing on the other side of “time” sown in the wrong direction? That "time" you thought you understood what the will of the Lord was? Yes, that time. Well, here's the good news. God redeems time.
Redeemed time! Now, there's a concept! The Greek meaning of redeemed is:
“to buy up, i.e., ransom; to rescue from loss (improve opportunity).
It's a reset -- as if time and circumstances never happened. Think about it. There's no time in eternity. Time erased has no effect on the body, soul, spirit. In other words, when God redeems time you're not going to look like what you've been through. It's NOW faith. And NOW faith is outside of time.
11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11:1)
Now. Not time. No waiting in line. Now. The same kind of "Now" whose harvest came in faster than the plowmen could plow!
"The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills, (Amos. 9:13)
I believe this day is here. We would save a lot of "time" if we could learn to live in "now" faith outside of time. It wouldn't matter so much when we got it wrong. We would know that time redeemed would get us back on track and we would still meet the goal, hold onto the vision, and fulfill the calling on our lives.
There will always be missteps. As long as self-willed humans are involved, somebody will make a mistake, not see our part in the story, or erase us out of the chapter. But in the larger story -- the one God has written about us -- there will always be victory. Our part is only to believe and receive when we pray that not only will His will be done, but for our sake, it already has been -- in that "now" place outside of time called eternity. Living by faith is living outside of time. In fact, if you live according to time you are not living by faith. Faith is that place where hope has taken a quantum leap from a possibility to a reality, regardless whether it is yet seen. Faith sees what time hides. Time is not the deciding factor between success and failure. Time questions faith. Faith says you already have it. Wait for it, for it will surely come.
For we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7).
One thing I've learned. Time cannot hinder you. Time cannot define you. Nothing is ever lost to time because time is not the determining factor. Only faith determines the outcome. When you walk by faith, you will do all you're called to do, and you will be who you were always meant to be. No more dread. No more regret. No more "time" lost.
Let those words cut a fresh neurological pathway in your brain and you will be back on track -- in no time.
My times are in His hand (Psa. 31:15)