In a Hurry for Ourselves

 
Now for people who think I am crazy because the world appears extremely messed up I say that positive change only happens over time. And much time still has to pass before it becomes obvious that the world has changed for the better. The hope we have for cures to all of our illnesses will probably not happen in our lifetimes. My hope is that my children will have better health than me. Also the continued growth in individual freedoms worldwide will happen eventually, but not quick enough for the millions of people that currently live under tyranny. And I hope that more and more people will search their hearts for spiritual truth, and by doing so will change the world for the better. However, I will be dead and buried long before any extraordinary improvement will be seen. So for the time being, we have to wait. And the waiting will continue into future generations. And so patience is demanded of us. And there ain’t a whole lot of that to go around.

People compress time into understandable periods. We can understand a lifetime and the smaller units that comprise it. We can understand days and weeks and months and years. But can anyone really understand a millennium? Can anyone really grasp the ages upon ages that have come before and are yet to be? We can understand the numbers, but can we relate them to ourselves? If God were to speak to me tomorrow and tell me that 10,000 years from now the earth and everyone on it will be wonderful. Can I really connect with this vision, when my tomorrow will be the same as today? This is why I think people have trouble with visualizing the future. We relate to what’s happening now - not what is going to happen after we are gone. God has a much different spin on time. We just need a little faith that He will work it all out.

I remember a quote from an obscure book that can be found in the Apocrypha of a Protestant Bible. It is called 2 Esdras and it is not considered a part of the canon. The prophet was asking God why bad things happen to good people. And when is God going to do something about this. The reply he gets is short and simple. We are in a hurry for ourselves, but the Most High is in a hurry for many. In other words we are concerned with ourselves and our immediate circle of friends and relatives. But the creator is concerned with a universe full of creatures. We lack a proper understanding of the big picture. Only through the passage of time will we be able to obtain a more complete understanding.

God Bless You,

Pastor Bill