Time will disappear into eternity
December 4, 2008 (Thursday)
I retired from the pastorate of First Baptist Church, Rockport, in the winter of 1996. The following Fall, many little children entered the First Grade at school. Last Spring, those children graduated from High School. Now that thought alone gives me perspective on how long it has been since I retired. The Lord has kept me busy in retirement, and the years have passed very quickly.
Long ago, James discussed the brevity of life and the urgency of living a life that pleases the Lord: “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that’” (James 4:13-15 NIV).
I am a mist. Now you see it, now you don’t. That’s life, according to James.
This life is like the foyer of Heaven. It’s where we are as we wait for the main doors to swing open so that we may enter the big room. We will leave this world of “past” and “future” and enter the world of “now.” Time shall be no more. Sin shall be no more. Tears shall be wiped away. All will be well. Let me quote again the old chorus, “Everything’s all right in my Father’s house, where there’s joy, joy, joy!”