REFLECTING ON TIME
[This message has developed around thoughts in an outline by:
J. R. Thomson
Greenmount and O’Leary Churches of Christ
June 27, 2021
INTRODUCTION:
1) Throughout life there are times and events that cause us to take note of the passing of time.
A) We do this on our birthdays.
B) We do it on wedding and work anniversaries and when someone retires.
C) We also take note of the passing of time at the beginning or end of a school year.
ca.) Today many of our young people have ended their schooling for this year, and others will finish it in the next day or two.
cb.) But the end of the school year, marks a time of advancement in both age, and scholastic maturity.
cc.) Today, I want us to look a few minutes as we reflect on the passing of time in our lives.
I) WHAT DOES REFLECTION SUGGEST TO US CONCERNING TIME PAST IN ITSELF?
1) Its passage has been rapid, yet it has been filled with events of great importance.
A) I suspect that last September those ten months until the end of the school year this month seemed like a long time.
B) Maybe even earlier this month as the days were getting nicer and you looking to summer vacation it may have seemed as though this school year would never end.
ba.) But now the year has ended.
baa.) Looking back it seems pretty short of a period of time.
.01) In fact Psalm 102:11 tells us “My days are like a lengthened shadow, and I wither away like the grass.”
bb.) So the questions come up: What have you learned this year? How much have you grown? How have you changed?
bba.) Rather students in school, adults in the work place, or even Seniors in retirement have had another year of life, of learning, of changing, and hopefully of growing.
C.) Young people, this past year has had many significant events.
ca.) You have completed another year of your education.
caa.) You have learned many new things that will go with you throughout life.
cb.) You have completed another year of your life.
cc.) Many of you have grown in stature.
cd.) Some of you have made new friends, and perhaps a few of you have even developed a special friendship with someone of the opposite sex.
ce.) All and all it has been a year of changes and progress in your life.
cf.) As I think on this I am reminded of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
.01) This passage of Scripture reminds us there is a season for everything in our lives.
.02) Even in our education there is a season or season for our learning.
.021) For some it means preparing to enter the school system for the first time.
.022) For others you will change grades and possibly of schools.
.023 For others it means the end of the school system and the beginning of life in the labour force.
.024) Wherever you are it means the end of one season of your life, and the beginning of a new season.
2) Once a season of life has gone we cannot get it back.
A.) We can not change the past.
B.) Some of you may wish you had studied harder, or put more time into those book reports and other assignments.
ba.) But in those areas, like all other areas of life we have only one opportunity to do what needs to be done, and to set goals as to what is the most important things to accomplish.
bb.) For that reason we need to be the best we can be, and to do the most we can do.
3) The year has changed us; some for better, some for worse.
A.) Rather the changes in our lives have been good or bad,they have changed us.
aa.) Every person in this room is a different person than we were a year ago.
ab.) As such, we need to stop and evaluate time.
aba.) As you do so have you become a better person, or a worse person?
.01) The reality is that those are our only two choices and options.
.02) We do not have the option of staying the same.
.03) In fact in life, if we try to stay the same we are in fact without realizing it stagnating, and starting to go behind.
.04) In life or education we are meant to keep growing.
.041) The ideal is that each of us are continually growing. We need to be growing physically until maturity.
.042) In our mental and spiritual walk, there should never be a time when we will stop growing.
.043) 2 Peter 1:5-8
4) Time is not forgotten by the Lord and Judge of all.
A.) We must remember that every part of our lives is known by God.
aa.) One day the world will stand before God to give an account of our lives.
ab.) The past is a reminder that we need to look at areas of the past to give us direction for the future.
aba.) This applies if we are in school, the workplace, or life in general.
abb.) We need to look at improving ourselves, setting new goals for the future.
.01) We need to do this in our educations.
.02) We need to do this our spiritual education, and development.
.03) We need to do this in every part of our lives.
.04) This was part of the philosophy of the Apostle Paul.
.041) Phil. 3:12-14
II) IN WHAT SPIRIT SHOULD THE CHRISTIAN CONSIDER THE TIME PAST?
1) His first and most prominent thought should be the mercy and loving-kindness of God in the days that have gone by.
A.) Those of us who are Christians need to remember the mercies and loving-kindnesses of God in the past toward us.
B.) By remembering the past we can focus on what our future our goals, and plans need to be.
ba.) We are also reminded of our relationship with Christ and others.
2) He should remember the long-suffering and forbearance given by the Heavenly Father.
A.) The past reminds us of the patience of God, and of how we have been given new opportunities to serve Christ, and live for Him.
aa.) Just as your school year has come to an end, you will soon begin a new year with new opportunities to be the best you can be.
ab.) Likewise in life we need to aim for the future.
III) HOW SHOULD THE MEMORY OF PAST TIME AFFECT THE TIME TO COME?
1) It helps us to realize the shortness of life, especially of what of life remains.
A.) When you looked at the beginning of the school year it seemed so long until the end of June, and yet here we are.
aa.) What seemed so long then has now come and gone, and we realize just how short it all was.
ab.) Just as this year has gone fast, every year of our lives goes by fast.
aba.) The older we become, the more we realize the speed with which time passes.
abb.) There are those of our congregation who are now up in their eighties.
abb.) To those of you in school that sounds like a very long ways off.
.01) But if you speak to some of those people they will likely tell you they could not believe how short of a time that has been, and are amazed that it has gone by so fast.
B.) I say this to you because even in your youth and as teenagers there is a need for you to have Jesus in your hearts and lives.
ba.) In school some of you are had to choose classes and the direction of education for high school.
baa.) Those choices will have an impact on the rest of your life, and what job you will have, and many other things for the direction of your lives.
bab.) Likewise the choices you make in regards to Jesus Christ will determine not only the direction of this life, but also of eternity.
.01) The book of Proverbs repeatedly tells us of the need for wisdom.
.02) Proverbs 4:6-7
.03) Scripture tells us that the wise man fears the Lord but it is a fool who says there is no God.
bab.) Just as the choice of courses you choose in high school will have an impact on your futures, so also the decisions you make or do not make to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour will also impact every part of your futures.
CONCLUSION:
1.) As we close this service today I want to again commend and congratulate each of our young people for the progress you have made in your education.
2.) I also want to remind you that as great as the choices are with your education, even greater is the importance of what you will do with Jesus.
