Time is a beautiful thing. It relentlessly ticks forward and every passing second is etched into history creating moments that paint the story of our lives. For some, time is money and for others it is more valuable than money itself. It is a precious commodity of finite resource allotted to each person for their lifetime. And regardless if you use it for productivity or squander it, what’s spent is consumed and we have but tomorrow to utilize it better still.
As another year passes by, I felt it appropriate to share my thoughts on the concept of time and how I’ve recently seen two sides of the same coin. These concepts originally appeared to be opposites but upon deeper reflection they point towards the same thing. Thus, instead of “paradox,” I felt that “parallax” was a better way to describe the reconciliation of these seemingly opposing concepts of time. The first has to do with the fabrication of the idea of time itself and the second with its application.
The Fabrication of Time
What is time? Who decided to allot twenty-four “hours” to a “day” and for that matter, who decided when to start counting anyway? I view time as part of our collective imagination created as a means to help society operate and to quantify our lives; it is fabricated but also functional. For example, it is most definitely more efficient to say, “meet me there at four o’clock,” than it is to say “meet me there then.” “When?” “Then. And what does ‘when’ mean anyway?”
When we view time as a fabrication we come to realize that it is a finite creation of the human mind with a beginning and an end. Humans have beginnings and ends and thus the time allotted them also. If there were no one left alive that would effectively be the end of time. If time is created by humans there ought to be something infinitely greater for an infinite God to exist in; that is eternity. In light of eternity and God, we come to realize that the time we so desperately try to maximize is in fact so miniscule. What is another year gone by when eternity awaits us? Since we do not know when our time will meet eternity, we ought to number our days (Psalm 90:12) and learn to use the finite to seek the infinite. Time for each person is so short that we ought not count our blessings by the years but by the seconds. We must not take for granted to be alive one moment and still alive the next.
When we take all this seriously, the juxtaposition of the two is simply overwhelming. We are but a vapour, here today and gone tomorrow and we leave no mark on eternity. We may have our names written down in history books for generations but even those fade will away at the end of time. Time is almost meaningless in the context of eternity. Almost. It is not entirely meaningless because what vapour of a life we do have and what limited quantity of breath fills our lungs can be used to count for something in eternity. In other words, the bleak reality of time’s finitude should point us towards how we can access eternity and that is through Christ and making our lives count for Him (John 3:16, 1 Corinthians 9:25). Here the concept of the fabrication of time reveals how miniscule and trivial it truly is unless it is causes us to think of eternity and subsequently pursue the Eternal One.
The Application of Time
As mentioned above, the other side of the coin called “time” lies in its application. I originally thought that the fabrication and the application of time were opposite because in the fabrication of time, we recognize it is but a construct of our imagination – small and finite with a bleak reality. But in the application of it, it is prioritized, celebrated and used as if it had no end. In its application, we have all felt cheated when our time was not a priority to someone else when theirs was for us. In its application, many of us celebrate the dawning of a new year with the establishment of resolutions and dreams as if we are guaranteed the whole year to realize them. We praise time as it gives us new chances, new experiences, resolves hurts and lets us grow. Inasmuch as the application of time is concerned, the reality is not bleak but hopeful and expectant.
Up until a few days ago I had only viewed the concept of time in the aspect of its fabrication and how its finite nature leads us to thinking about eternity and the infinite God. However, recently I have been learning that the application of time can also lead us to think of eternity and seek God. This is the parallax of time: that regardless if we view time as finite and bleak or if we celebrate and prioritize it, we should still come to the common focus that is God.
Despite how small and finite time is, God chooses to work within it for our sake because that is the only way we can work. In the framework of time, he creates past, present and future as landmarks for us to use to see Him work. Time is applied in this way to show us many things about Him – for example, the past revealing much about His creative workings, the present becoming past revealing much about His daily provisions and the future becoming present revealing much about His sovereignty over all things. Great as all of this may be, we can only truly see, apply and celebrate time this way if we know Christ.
For the Christian, the application of time is of utmost importance to maintaining our gratitude and hope, magnifying Him in worship and motivating us out of passivity. God intends for us to apply the fabricated concept of time in order to establish landmarks in our lives where we can remember His past faithfulness and respond in gratitude. In our past He shows us the sinful man we were and makes us see our transformation in Christ as we celebrate a present life of freedom (1 Corinthians 5:17). He gives us hope for his future return when He makes all things new (Revelations 21:5). He renews his mercies for us daily that we might have something to praise Him for in every present moment (Lamentations 3:22-23). He tells us there is a time for everything – that it can be applied for rest and for action (Ecclesiastes 3). And there are still more references to the application of time with the purpose of pointing our attention to God and living for Him.
The Parallax of Time
I am not sure what concepts of time you subscribe to whether the fabrication of time, its application, both, neither or other, but I hope that in the last few paragraphs I was able to make clear that any concept is worthless if Christ does not rule in your life and over your time. Without Christ, acknowledging the finitude of time stirs up hopelessness knowing that eternity will swallow us up. Likewise, the application of time without Christ leads us on frivolous pursuits ending in nothingness when eternity strikes. The focus of that parallax is simply dissolution. However, with Christ, we can make what finite time we have count for eternity and apply it in such a way that it provides us a deeper understanding of Him; the focus of this parallax is God. As this year begins to unfold may we seek Him as God over our time and strive to live as so until we stand at eternity’s shores.
