I'm not talking about the Old Testament story of the clock going backwards. Though that would be great for a bit longer sleep! I'm talking about the perception of time from God's perspective. There was "in the beginning" and "there will be an end" so we know that there is "time" and we are living in time but we who are Christian are not. Sound confusing? I'll try to explain the concept of which I speak and the Scripture testifies. "In the beginning" is a starting point of telling the story. We know that time has always existed as God has always existed. We know that "eternity" will continue that infinite "time" for both the believer and the non-believer alike. What happened between then and then? Time is evident with the rising and setting of the sun. The tides are on a time table. The seasons mark the rotation of the earth and the tilt by which we have the seasons. All of this we know and acknowledge. What we don't really understand as Christians is the time continuum for those who believe and have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. This "time" is marked with the fall, rebirth and physical death of mankind. When Adam and Eve ate of the fruit, "time" began for humans. They no longer lived forever in the Garden of Eden.
I remember making the trip to one or the other of my grandparents farms when I was a child and the holidays rolled around. We had a stopping time for work (which on the farm was perpetual) and a beginning time of leisure which existed until we returned home from the day. There was no overnight as we had to be home to milk the cows and care for the other animals. Once home we were back to start work time. I use this example to show that we do have that same time sample in our daily lives. You can take the analogy and put it upon many facets of our lives both at home and at work. It stretches to time before we begin school to whenever we graduate from school. What is necessary is that we see the flow of life. We who are Christian have a cycle as well. Prior to our understanding and becoming Christian we are in a state of being dead in the world. That "time" stops and so does the curse Adam and Eve brought upon all mankind when we choose to accept Christ's offer of life. Time for the human begins when they are conceived and ends when they give their lives to Christ. The Bible tells us that God knew us before the beginning of time. If that doesn't boggle your mind, nothing will.
Most Christians choose to live their lives confined by time and remain in the world's prison of time. They don't have to but they do so by choice. When we encounter the living God, there is no end to that encounter. We are forever freed from the prison of time. The continuum is broken and was broken with the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Christian from the time of their conversion no longer are confined to time. The life of the Christian goes on forever. There is no end to the Christians life. The act of physical death actually happened when we died to self and became alive in Christ. There is no end of the Christian life. With the last breath we exhale here on earth we take our first breath in heaven with God. That's forever! Choosing to live with no "time" allows the Christian to do the work of Christ ongoing and should be the only urging we need to share the gospel with those who are still in the time prison of unbelief. Nothing should mean anything to us more than the life Christ has breathed in us. Nothing. Time stops when the Christian first believes. Period! It's always your choice.
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