A Thousand Years

Time is crazy these days. I mean the rate at which it seems to be moving! Wise Solomon wrote, “There is a time for everything.” Boy, I know he didn’t live in 21st century America! I have difficulty finding time to put gas in my car or to even open my mail! With so little time, I feel like I’m living life in Fast Forward. My “to do” list runneth over! There seems to be no end to the emails, articles, events, and meetings that beg for my attention. My days fly by. The weekends are a blur. I get home just in time to put my kids to bed. Where is all the time going?

I have to point my finger at our culture. It continually soaks up our precious time. From family to community to church, there’s always something goin’ on. Expectations of our presence are high too. And we over commit ourselves to everything under the sun. Now don’t get me wrong, I am BIG on commitment. But when we spread ourselves so thin by saying, “yes” to everything, we don’t end up doing anything very well. In addition we find ourselves so fatigued that we can’t fully enjoy what we are doing at the time. Other times we attend the event, but our mind is thinking about what we ought to be doing instead. We’re physically present, but mentally somewhere else.

Funny, but Jesus never seemed rushed or in a hurry. Crowds huddled around him and many clamored for his time, but it never seemed to bother Him. We never see Jesus stopping anyone mid-sentence to say, “I’m sorry, but I have to get to my nephew’s soccer game by 5:00.” And when it comes to our Lord’s view of time, what do we find?
2 Peter 3:8 says, “...with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” Jesus didn’t seem confined by the dimension of time.

I’ve always thought that verse only applied to the Jesus in the sky, the one who will return someday. And since He lives in heaven now, time is just irrelevant to Him. But who is to say He didn’t have that mentality while here on earth? Jesus was always patient. He never hurried or pushed people. He wouldn’t be the driver in that car cutting you off in traffic nor the shopper staring and tapping His foot while waiting for the new cashier to figure out how to ring up a tax-exempt purchase. His perspective was that he had a thousand years to talk to the woman at the well or to a smelly fisherman. His perspective was one of eternity and not just the here and now.

We have been promised the same eternal life Jesus enjoys. I pray that we as Christians can somehow regain the perspective of Jesus. How can we do that? Here’s a short list to help.
Stop adding to your “to do” list. Finish open items first.
Do one thing at a time. Stop multi-tasking.
Be mentally present. Focus your mind and thoughts to where you are.
Think in terms of eternity. Today is only temporary.

“Everything’s got its time.” (Ecc. 3:1 The Word on the Street) It’s up to us to slow down, step back, and just figure out what comes first.