Times and Seasons

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven….He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart. Ecclesiastes 3: 1, 11 ESV

The idea of a balanced life is nothing new. We have balanced diets of sweet and savoury, meat and veg, and the balance we need to do life in all its complexity. Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, tells us that everything has a season, and sandwiched between verses 1 and 11 are the well known words which unfortunately we mostly hear at funerals, referring to “a time to live and die” and other opposing sides of the same life.

God has made everything beautiful in its time, and how true this is. From the flower in the bud which is undoubtedly beautiful, to the withering leaf when that same plant is anything but beautiful. If you are a more mature person, as you look back to teenage years, do you not think of yourself as a once handsome man, or beautiful girl, and now looking in the mirror those days are gone? There is a season and everything is beautiful in its time, and we see it and accept it as truth. The old saying goes: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” so is it too much to think that there is beauty in life at all stages? Even for the older, more mature, with signs of life etched on their face, and the older flower or plant which will eventually give new life as it falls to the ground? Yes, everything is beautiful in its time! Everything and everyone!!

God has also put eternity into man’s heart according to the wisest man, Solomon. So what does he mean? We share the planet with atheists and agnostics and they claim that there is no afterlife, and no God. I have a recurring thought that those who shout loudest about there being no God, are the ones most likely to be struggling with the very concept. Empty vessels perhaps? God’s Word is true, and when it says that God has put eternity into man’s heart, then we can go to the bank with it, no matter what some ‘learned’ academics and the ignorant may say. It is impossible to show or prove, but I believe there are more deathbed conversions, and examples of the ‘dying thief on the cross’ encounters with the living Christ than we can ever know.

But What?

But I came to give life—life that is full and good. John 10:10 ERV
But you refuse to come to me to have that life. John 5:40 ERV

You can’t help but ask the obvious question. Why? The leaders of the church in Jesus’ time knew everything, or at least they thought they did. They knew their scriptures inside out and back to front, and this Jesus was obviously an imposter. They could see it, and they questioned anyone else that thought differently. They never stopped being taught, even when they became Scribes and Pharisees. The trouble is they never really learned. We can see that being the case in secular life, so why not in the synagogue?

The parallel is uncannily similar today, and the question is the same. Given the promise of real, full, abundant life for free, why would anyone turn their back on it? The Pharisees couldn’t see it and today there are those who know better, both in the general church and outside it. It’s not that the gift of life isn’t offered in our day and age because it is, and the cost is the same, it is a free gift. Full life for the living is free.

We have advanced in so many ways since Jesus’ day. Science and technology have taken over, and we can talk our way out of anything. That last part hasn’t changed from the Pharisees’ day. The biggest difference today is that we may have convinced ourselves that Jesus was an imposter, or a lunatic, or a liar. Maybe a bit of all three. This is made easier since society has downgraded church and Jesus to a mere side show. When you dismiss the gospel of Jesus Christ, His life, death and resurrection, you can ignore anything He might have said. In fact, you can ignore all of the Bible as a fairy tale.

If you were offered a gift of something you wanted and needed greatly, wouldn’t you at least give the giver a chance by taking the gift and seeing if it is true? Are you so arrogant and sure of yourself that you would turn away from it without a second thought? We haven’t come very far as a human race since Jesus’ time, and I suggest we are no different today.

The Greatest Question

Then Agrippa said to Paul, "Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?" Acts 26:28

I believe the biggest question you may ever wrestle with is whether or not there is a God. This is not a light or frivolous thing, but deadly serious. If you decide there is no God, saying you are an atheist, there is a risk you may be wrong and the consequences are great. On the other hand, if you believe there is a God, and act on that knowledge, the benefits are eternal. Of course this brings on many other questions, but you have to start somewhere.

Some folks look at faith as a kind of insurance policy, and will accept faith, live a good life here on earth, and eventually get into heaven. This is good, but is it enough? Believing that there IS a God, and believing IN God are two different things. It is fair to say that everybody has to answer the question for themselves, but if we are serious in our belief in an all powerful, all knowing Deity, who created us because He loved us, that would mean we should respond in some way. It is easy to agree that some superior being created us, and all things, but what happens if we do not respond in love?

Do we go to church? Maybe, but in a half hearted way? Do we say we are as good as the next person, but lack any moral compass? Maybe, but does that make us any better than the next person who might not even believe in God? Do we love our neighbour, brother, sister, as Christ loved us? Now we are getting closer to our best response, because make no mistake, how we respond to our belief that God exists, makes us the kind of person we will become. Yes, with repentance, that makes us more like Christ. Only then we are not just someone who believes in God, we become a Christian. What a difference, and for eternity!