Tuesday, January 27, 2009

TIME and ETERNITY -- Devotional for January 26, from "Good Seeds"

God has made everything beautiful in its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
Remember the Ray Stevens song, "Everything is beautiful in its own way..."? Those words could make us feel a bit conflicted: does he mean literally EVERYTHING is beautiful, even things like disease and evil and death? Well of course he doesn't mean ugly things like that, for the song goes on to say, "...like the starry summer night, or a snow covered winter's day." Okay, so only beautiful things are beautiful, right? Yes, but why state something so obvious? Maybe if the songwriter had given a wider context of the Bible quote to his text, it would make more sense. Let's do that now. In His formation and plans for the world God indeed did make everything beautiful. After each creative act, "God saw that it was good." And He didn't just get things started only to abandon us, for the Bible says, again quoting God, "I know the plans that I have for you, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope" (Jeremiah 29:11), "and I will never leave you or forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5). Men tend to credit their own cleverness for the good things in their lives, while blaming God for all their troubles (like insurance companies calling a natural disaster "an act of God"). But just the opposite is true: God is the Author of all good. Anything less than good is a counterfeit of it, and a desecration of it, and those things originate from rebellious creatures, not a benevolent Creator. But God, speaking through Solomon, tells us that He placed man in a time/space continuum where all people, things and events have their own unique place and purpose. "All good things must come to an end" we say. Indeed, ALL things have a "half-life": a pre-determined beginning and end. The NAS renders this verse, "God has made everything APPROPRIATE in its time." That may be the best definition of the word BEAUTIFUL. Oh that we could learn to submit to God's timing! BUT...even though we are subject to the constraints of time, this verse also says that God has placed inside of every human being an instinctive longing to break free from the bonds of both time and space. Yes, He has planted in you and me thoughts of, and a desperate desire for, something else -- something more. We tell ourselves to be content with such as we have, and that admonition has its purpose -- but please, don't tell me that this is all there is...not when God is whispering in my heart that there is a glorious eternity awaiting, when I will break free from the surly bonds of earth, and of death, and fly away home! This still small voice of God speaks heaven to us all -- and Jesus died for all, in order to take us there!

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