What's the hurry?

I was driving along Ryde Road when a car came up fast behind me. You know the type: aggressive, close to your bumper, trying to force you to change lanes. I have long experienced this from young male drivers, but this was from a lady in her sixties!

I realised that there is something wrong with our culture. What was once the norm for young men with too much testosterone and little self-control is now mainstream. I wondered what was happening. So here are some of my thoughts.

1) Our view of time

“The clock is ticking”

The clock and the calendar dictate our lives. We constantly study them to tell us what to do. Why? It’s because we see time as organisation. If we manage it well, then there is so much that we can achieve.

Now if you’re like me, you’ll feel that the pace of life has increased. The truth is that it’s not the work hours and demands of family that have changed, it’s number of networks we now belong to that has increased. The pressure to interact, complete projects and meet commitments is now demanded in multiple domains.

So time becomes precious. In fact, it becomes a commodity, which you can place a price, save or waste. If you lose time, you don’t get it back. So we speed the treadmill up, uncertain of where we are mean to arrive.

We are aware that time is getting away from us. More than that, we live in fear of ageing. We try to defy ageing (which is defying time) whilst trying to manage it.

 
So what’s the answer? We need to view time from God’s perspective.

Life is a continuous linear redemptive process, That is, we are moving forward, but there is a destination. The kingdom of God is the domain that should shape our time. In fact, Jesus places it as the priority for our time management (Matthew 6:33-34).

The Bible is very interested in time. It speaks of the days and years of our lives (Ecclesiastes 3:1-14), of the final day (Malachi 3-4) and the eternity after (Revelation 21-22). That said, the Bible doesn’t provide tips on time management. Strange, you may think?

 It’s because time is controlled by God. Ephesians 1:9-10 speak of the times reaching their fulfilment. There is a purpose that Jesus fulfils. Now because He is in control, He calls us to holy living. I can’t justify my anger, intimidation or frustration because you wasted my time. It’s God’s time, and He knows where it is heading. So time is an opportunity to be godly. Even when I am stressed and staring at a deadline, the priority is godliness. That is what we are meant to manage.