Time Travel: What is Your Target Part II

Thank you for joining me for Time Travel: What is Your Target Part II

Briefly, Part I was my attempted to define time from both a Biblical and non-Biblical view and at the end the conclusion was that everyone’s life on Earth ends (except for Jesus who rose again after being buried and his body guarded for three days).  Now I’d like to dive a little deeper into the “what’s next question”.  

The person who agrees with the Biblical definition of time knows that while time on Earth is limited, the time extended beyond earth goes on for eternity.  Eternity defined by Merriam-Webster as “infinite time”.  As humans who use planners and calendars it is hard to put this in perspective.  The emoji “mind blown” is what happens to me personally when I begin to try and quantify eternity. Biblically is the best way to think of Eternity.  You see God (The Trinity) created time and order. Before there was this order there was God and since the order and until the order comes to a close there will still be God in charge of all order and time.  The Bible in the book of Hebrews affirms this point.  Hebrews chapter 13 verse 8: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever”.

So the obvious (to me anyway) next question is what’s next.  There are several answers to this question and this is where everyone as the human race that is begins to splinter away from the common denominator of birth and death.  The answer quite frankly is: “How do I live my life knowing that I have only a set amount of years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds.  

The answer to the obvious question above is do you believe Jesus and his claims about who he said he is, namely God or do you not.  

If you agree and if you are doing so for the first time or have just recently began following Jesus and the Bible I would love to know about it.  Please send me a message from the comments or you can DM (Direct Message) me on Twitter @larryboy96.  

For those of you that are followers of Jesus and the Bible there are some amazing promises for you in the Bible.  For example, your citizenship from the moment you decided to follow Jesus was changed from that of simply being tied to Earth and moved to being tied to Heaven.  Amazing right!  Look at what Jesus said in the Gospel of John: John 14:2-3 “2 In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”  

What an amazing promise!

Practically what does this mean?

It means that your citizenship has changed.  Look at the book of Philippians: Philippians 3:20-21 “20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”  Those who follow Jesus aren’t waiting for death to claim Heaven as their address but rather they are living with eyes pointed to their savior and new home and all of the benefits and promises that come along with that new address.

For those who aren’t following Jesus they are staking all that they have on the address that is taped to their mailbox.  Now there aren’t any official promises or mottos but there is a fun attempt at making one for the post office: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds”.  According to google though this isn’t an official motto.  What does this mean. If I’m leaving as my only address is the one taped to my mailbox?  It means you can make up your life as you go.  No promises of goodness or friendship or even family that will last beyond the grave.  

If this blog is causing you for the first time to think beyond what will happen after you die I’d love to talk to you about what you think and I would be happy to provide even more document promises from the Bible about what life is like beyond the grave.

In the meantime I would like to give you the following things to think about.  

While there is a chasm between the person who doubts God is real or denies that God is interested in them, the opposite is true for the person who lives by faith (not seeing but believing).  Jesus has destroyed that chasm and brought healing and friendship between you and God!

Listen for the voice of Jesus:

John 10:27-28: “27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

Know and live out the Greatest Commandment:
Matthew 22:37 - 39 “37 And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment.  39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  This becomes even easier to do as you read and study the Bible which is God’s love letter to you.

Additional Practical Living Tips in Light of the Good News!:
1 Timothy 2:15, 22: “15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth., 22 So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”
Hebrews 12:1, 2: “1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

When you have questions pray and ask God for answers and know this promise is for you:

James 1:5 “5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”

Remember the chasm between you and God was never about your good work but it is all about a relationship built on faith;
John 15:12-15 “12 ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.’”

Conclusion
The Bible (God’s Word to Humans) is clear; God is the creator of time, time is so much more than just your short life span here on Earth.
Eternity is coming and it is closer each day.
There are choices each day for how you want to live your life.  Will your perspective be limited to what you can see on the clock or will you pursue God in the Bible, choosing his eternal plan for you, beginning today without an expiration date?

Time Travel: What is your target? Part I

Time is something that has been on my mind a lot lately.

Recently our dog died.  My wife had surgery to repair a tendon after falling in a hole three months ago.  During both of these events the clock kept spinning.  It is funny because even as I type these words on Blogger I pause to reflect on the words I've just typed.  There isn't a pause button for me to hit so the clock continues to spin and that spinning isn't felt by you the reader unless I mention it here on the pages of my blog.  My point?  What is my point?  You must take it on faith that there is feeling in each and every word I put on this page.  Some words are more painful and difficult to type than others.  As you read this (I hope you read to the end) you will be bringing your own thoughts and experiences to this blog.  Maybe you have had similar experiences and if you have had some degree of those experiences I hope this blog gives you comfort in your time of grief and sadness.

Time.  What is it?

The first view of Time:  It is a fixed point or series of points that have been going on for centuries (some faith is involved here because no one I know or have even heard of on earth today was there when the first second, minute, or hour passed by on the clock).  The beginning and end are unclear and what you choose to do as the clock spins may or may not have any significant value for anyone other than you.

The second view of Time: It was constructed by the God of the Bible.  Realizing that maybe you haven't read the Bible or been given the Biblical view of God I will pause here and explain how God reveals himself in the Bible.  God is a Trinity.  God has three unique and separate persons in the same being.  God is Father, Son / Jesus, and Holy Spirit. God and all that he is and does will fill more space than Blogger would allow me to use and wouldn't do accurate justice to who the person of God is.  Please leave a comment if you would like to talk further about God and the personhood/personal God is.  References to God creating time are found in Genesis and the Acts of the Apostles:

• Genesis 1:5: “God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.”
• Acts 1:7: “He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.”

So with that brief description of time,  why is it important to talk or think about time, especially if your mind is made up about time?  It is that very question that drove me out of blogging stagnation and inactivity.

Everyone who reads this text has something in common.  We (me included) is destined to leave planet earth. Mom if your reading this please excuse for my bluntness but we will all die.

• Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 “1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;”

Okay, so I've reached common ground with the human race.  We will all die, and where I needed to or not I've included a verse from the Bible to prove that I agree with the Bible here too.

At this point I'm going to break.  This is Part I of "Time Travel: What is Your Target".

Please come back for Part II of "Time Travel: What is Your Target.  In the second part of this blog we leave our commonalities behind us and we make choices.  Choices of how we will spend our ride here on planet earth watching the clock spin.