“The Kindness of Time” by Mark McGee
Time often gets a bad rap.
- I don’t have time to do that now
- There’s never enough time
- Time’s up
- I ran out of time
- Wish I had more time
- Time is really flying me by
- Time’s been unkind to me
I get it. I’ve said some of the same things in the past, but is there another way to look at time? I think so.
The Gift
Time is a ‘gift’ from God. God created time and gave it to all of His creatures. He gave it to them uniformly. Every one of God’s creatures gets 60 seconds in every minute, 60 minutes in every hour and 24 hours in every day. No more. No less.
What does differ among creatures is life expectancy. That’s how much potential time they have to live. Search for “life expectancy for _______” (e.g. dogs, cats, whales, humans) on the Internet and you can see how long people, animals, birds and other creatures can live. That information is based on scientific research, observation and experience. We know that some types of elephants and whales can live up to 80 years. Dogs, depending on the breed, can live 15 to 20 years. Insects, on the other hand, have very short lifespans. So, how about people?
Human beings have a fairly long life expectancy when compared with other creatures on Earth. Depending on where people live on the planet they can expect to live into their 70s or 80s. Life expectancy in the United States is currently about 79 years, but many of us probably know someone who lived to be in their 90s or even early 100s.
Whether a person lives to be 75 or 105, they have the same number of seconds, minutes and hours in the days they are alive. That is the real issue we need to consider — not how long we live but how we live the time we have.
Maximizing the Gift
Do you know how long you will live on earth? I don’t. I can guess, but I don’t know. Does anyone know? Yes. The God who created time knows how much time each of us has in this life. King David of Israel understood that –
“Lord, make me to know my end, And what is the measure of my days, That I may know how frail I am. Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my age is as nothing before You; Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah” Psalm 39:4-5
David lived to be 70 years of age, but accomplished more in his lifetime than most people who live to be much older. How did David do that? He understood that time is much more than minutes and hours and months and years. He knew that time is both a gift and an opportunity.
The Apostle Paul also understood that idea –
“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15-16
Paul chose the Greek word kairos for ‘time.’ The idea is ‘time as opportunity.’ That’s how we need to view ‘time’ in our lives. Rather than just seeing the minutes and hours and days and weeks that seem to be flying by, we need to see the opportunities to love and serve God and others during those minutes and hours.
Paul recommended that Christians ‘redeem’ those timely opportunities. The Greek word is exagorazomenoi and means ‘ransom, rescue from loss, buy up.’ We need to ‘buy up’ every opportunity we have in life with a view to the future. Paul’s context in Ephesians 5 is how Christians live their lives, walking “not as fools but as wise.”
Time to Make a Difference
What we do in life can impact the future in powerful ways, and I don’t just mean our future. That’s part of the kindness of time. What we do with and say to others has future implications for their lives as well. Christians have opportunities to make a difference in people’ lives every hour of every day. The difference we make has ripple effects that can impact future generations. Showing kindness to a person today can affect how that person will demonstrate kindness to others tomorrow. That’s how future generations can be affected – for good or for evil. As Paul wrote, “redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”
One of the best ways we can make immediate and generational improvement in people’s lives is by being kind. We live in a troubled world and kind words and deeds can go a long way in making someone else’s time better. We can smile at people, say kind words to people, do kind things for people. Jesus said, “For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward” (Mark 9:41).
I’m not talking about the world’s ideas about kindness that are so often attached to self-promotion. I’m talking about the kindness we learn from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. His kindness is sacrificial. His kindness is faithful and true. His kindness is unconditional. That’s the true kindness of time.
Is it easy to demonstrate kindness in this world? Not if you demonstrate kindness to everybody you know or meet. Some people will receive your words and deeds of kindness with appreciation, but many won’t. Remember how people treated Jesus when He was on the earth? No one demonstrated more kindness than Jesus, but people killed Him. Remember how people treated the Lord’s disciples? The apostles demonstrated kindness continually, yet most were martyred. God has not called us to demonstrate kindness to only the people who are kind to us. He has called us to demonstrate kindness to all people. It was that demonstration of kindness that turned the ancient world upside down (Acts 17:5-7).
Remember the words of Paul when showing kindness to someone who is challenging –
“And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32
Time to Repent
The Apostle Peter wrote — “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” (2 Peter 3:9). God is kind to give us time to “come to repentance.” He is demonstrating His kindness through His ‘long-suffering.’
We know that God is angry toward sinners. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18). He wrote in Ephesians 2 that we were all “by nature children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3).
Fortunately, Paul continued to write –
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).” Ephesians 2:4-5
As a former atheist, I am fully aware of God’s kindness towards ungodly and unrighteous people. It was the kindness of Christians that opened the door for friendly conversations that eventually led me to repent, believe and confess Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior (Romans 10:9-10).
If you are reading this article and thinking about your life and what comes after you die, I encourage you to seriously consider God’s kind offer of salvation and eternal life. He loves you so much that He sent His Son to die for you (John 3:16). He is rich to all who call upon Him — For ‘whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:12-13).
“But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:4-7
Written by Mark McGee
Mark McGee is a career journalist and former atheist. He worked on the news staff of several radio and television stations (including Huntsville’s WAAY-TV from 1984-1996) and two large metropolitan newspapers. Mark was a reporter, correspondent, anchor, managing editor, executive producer, and news director during a four-decade career in news. Since retiring in 2009, Mark has worked as a communications director and consultant.
Mark has written three published books and more than 250 Ebooks. He also writes regularly for several Christian blogs. Mark serves with Ratio Christi Campus Apologetics Alliance and works with students at the University of Alabama Huntsville.
Mark has been active in martial arts and self-defense training for almost 60 years and has been teaching from a Christian perspective for almost 50. He offers free self-defense clinics to businesses, schools and churches in the Huntsville area and is an instructor with Christian Soldiers Karate at Whitesburg Baptist Church.
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