Eternal Approach

“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.“ (Galatians 4:4,5)

Whatever we do, time marches on. Nothing can slow it down or speed it up.

On a bad day, it is slower than molasses. On a good day, it races by at light speed.

I was recently watching the movie, The Time Machine. In the old version, the best one as well as the one produced by George Pal, it is set just before New Year’s Eve.

The original author of the book was H.G. Wells. He was a man that believed in the goodness of men to overcome evil. He believed in a lot of the progressive views of societal & governmental control that are popular today among liberals.

Hoping for Change

Such as in the basic goodness of human nature which, he believed, could be improved by the creation of a good and perfect environment. Within such an environment, men would supposedly make good choices rather than evil ones.

In other words, the basic, non-biblical world view that blames the environment for man’s evil choices rather than the condition of ones own heart.

And, of course, we’ve seen how well that worked for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Perfect life, perfect environment, evil choices.

So, every New Year’s Eve we come back to the hope that this switching over of the calendar will bring us a new and fresh start. Old problems will be swept away. We will have a clean slate and a new hope for this old world.

However, the world does not work that way. Its problems are far deeper than a falling ball in Times Square can solve.

It is all because of a sin issue. With a curse playing out on man and this present world. And with a steady progression of events toward the fulfillment of all that God has planned since before the foundation of the world.

The plan of God for this world will continue to unfold according to His timetable. There are events that must come to pass before we will see this world made new. Up ahead for Christians are times that will be both dark and bright.

And there is no rushing of this schedule.

The Moment by Moment Care of God

In this same, unrushed way, God deals with us in our individual lives. We have times of darkness and times of light. Of comfort and of pain. Of peace and of trial.

Because, “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

All of which are necessary to bring about the Lord’s purpose and desire in our lives.

Consider this passage, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. ” (Jeremiah 29:11)

Now that’s comforting. It proves that God is in control of all the details of my life. And that all of those miniscule details are designed to bring me to a joyful and wonderful end. As believers in Christ, we each have this hope and promise if we will only rest upon it. Or,  more accurately, on Him.

Despite all the stuff we go through, we know that He is directing everything that He allows to impact us — even in the smallest, seemingly insignificant ways.

Yet, we are not generally content with that. We want things now. We want the comforts, the money, the security, the vacations, the fulfillment and a whole pile of other things.

If we were honest with ourselves, our prayers would often sound like this. “Now would be good, Lord. Please, give me patience and give it to me now.”

I’d like to share with you a passage from a pamphlet that is very precious to me. I often come back to this in my own life. Click on the link below to see the full piece. (The writer, Albert B. Simpson, was the founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. He lived from 1843 to 1919.)

“And so I thought the healing would be an it too, that the Lord would take me like the old run-down clock, wind me up, and set me going like a machine. It is not thus at all. I found it was Himself coming in instead and giving me what I needed at the moment. I wanted to have a great stock, so that I could feel rich; a great store laid up for many years, so that I would not be dependent upon Him the next day; but He never gave me such a store. I never had more holiness or healing at one time than I needed for that hour. He said: “My child, you must come to Me for the next breath because I love you so dearly I want you to come all the time. If I gave you a great supply, you would do without Me and would not come to me so often: now you have to come to Me every second, and lie on my breast every moment.” He gave me a great fortune, placed thousands and millions at credit, He gave a cheque-book with this one condition, “You never can draw more than you need at the time.” Every time a cheque was wanted, however, there was the name of Jesus upon it, and so it brought more glory to Him, kept His name before the heavenly world and God was glorified in His Son. “

Himself (written by AB Simpson)

As you celebrate this New Year, may you find rest in Christ. My He be your Comforter, your Hope, your Peace and your Joy!

Take comfort in the promise that He will not be late to meet your need. He may not be early; but He won’t be late. He will always be on time — whatever your situation.

Happy New Year!