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We could drop a whole lot of our stress if we understood that God’s timing is perfect and we cannot do a thing to save, spend, or waste His time. Do we need a change of perspective?
We race against time and chase after more time. We are pressed for time and stressed by time. Our gear is sync’d to atomic time, and some of it requires that we think in fractions of a second. We have to make sure that church starts right on time, so we’ve developed count down videos to make sure that everyone is right on time.
Let’s face it, we are far too concerned about time. Have you ever noticed that people in the Bible are rarely concerned with time? I am fairly certain that no one ever counted down to Jesus. Anthropologists tell us that the more expressions a culture has for something, the more important it is. For example, Canada’s native Nunavik people have more than 50 words for snow, and the Scandinavian Sami have more than 1,000 words to describe a reindeer. If we were to hang out in many church tech booths on Sunday morning, we might get the impression that time is the most significant thing.
Time for pause
Maybe it would help us to de-stress if we could roll back the clock and understand a bit of Biblical timing. First, you need to know that few people had a concept of exact time in the 1st century. There were sundials and hourglasses, but for most people time was relative.
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
Matthew 6:27
If the sun rises at 6 a.m., you call that entire hour “the first hour.” Remember that sunrise is different from season to season, so the first hour in winter is later than in summer. So, if your church were going to keep a Biblical time schedule, you would announce that church is scheduled for the 5th hour. That’s the entire one-hour period, five hours after the sun has risen (about 10 a.m.-11a.m.). Some people would arrive at maybe 9:30 and others wouldn't show up until after 11. How in the world would you keep everything in sync? How would you even know when to start the music? If that sounds like a stressful idea, maybe you need a timely lesson.
Chronos vs. kairos
In the language of the Bible there are two concepts for time: Chronos and Kairos. Chronos is the expression for a specific time. Our computers, video sources, light and sound boards, cell phones, and watches are tied to a chronometer—that gives an exact time. We understand “chronos.” The people in the Bible were much more concerned with “kairos,” however. Kairos means, not an exact time, but the fullness of time—the right or opportune moment. Plants give their harvest in kairos. Things come together God’s way in kairos. Jesus will return in kairos—the fullness of time. We could drop a whole lot of our stress if we understood that God’s timing is perfect and we cannot do a thing to save, spend, or waste His time.
We need to simply relax and remember the perfect timing that God is working.
Don’t get me wrong, I come from a broadcast television background and I know about things that have to hit exactly on time (chronos). I also know that this can take over your life (“Ok, kids, we have 23 minutes and 30 seconds to get to the park and play kickball!”). If that is taking over your thinking, it’s time to unplug from the clock.
God’s perfect timing
We must begin to reset our minds to be more in tune to kairos. For instance, we shouldn't be concerned with our [Apple Watch] when God pulls us into a discussion with that single dad who is struggling. We can’t freak out that the sermon is going long. We need to simply relax and remember the perfect timing that God is working. How would it look if your life was less about chronos and more about kairos?
