The Brevity of Time

February 27

“Beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance,” II Peter 3:8-9.

We are creatures of time. Oh, yes, we know we were created for eternity; we know it is the will of our Creator that we dwell with Him in the Heavenlies forever; but time is what we know.

As we cannot fully grasp the holiness and perfection of God because we have no point of reference for those of His attributes, neither can we begin to really apprehend the meaning of eternity, for we are constrained by time. Each of us has an ‘expiration date.’

It is difficult to fathom the world around us without us, because as long as we’ve existed on the planet, we’ve been part of it; but we fully understand that our tenure here is limited because every one of us has watched loved ones die.

We strive for ascendancy in our work, we endeavor to control our personal relationships, we seek wise counselors in our investment activities—we gear our lives around attaining a perceived advantage—sometimes forgetting entirely that “it is appointed to man once to die and after that the judgment,” Hebrews 9:27.

James 4:14 says, “What is your life but a vapor of air that is here today and gone with the morning sun.” In the Old Testament, David observes, “…Lord, let me know how transient I am,” Psalm 39:4, and in Job 7:6, God’s suffering servant says, “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle.”

Should we not realize that the seeming delay of Christ’s return is His heart’s yearning that all men would be saved? (I Timothy 2:4) In light of the brevity of time and the absolute fact of our own eventual demise, should we not make our salvation the utmost consideration of our existence? Shouldn’t we strive to fulfill the desire of our Savior’s heart that we not perish but come to repentance?