As Time Goes By

Do you remember Y2K! It has been fifteen years already since the dire predictions of doom and gloom when the clock struck midnight January 1, 2000. So-called experts predicted that computers would crash, the power grid would go down, and general mayhem would break out in every conceivable corner of the globe. Many stock-piled food. On December 31, 1999, we watched the century and millennium turn with our fingernails dug into the arm of the couch—but nothing happened. Well, when I returned to my office, my Windows 95 computer thought it was the year 1883. (I never had that fixed—apologies to my successor.)

And now another new year rushes toward us. They say that time seems to pass more quickly as one ages. Yep, I have a great seat on the time express these days. Didn’t we just put up the Christmas decorations—in 2010?

But things have changed since January 1, 2000. A few of us owned a mobile phone then, probably no more than one per family; today, every member of the family has a smart phone. To access the Internet, we used a dial-up network. As 2015 begins, I have a smart phone, a tablet, and a laptop computer—all with wireless, high speed capability. Social media has exploded and reshaped communication. The “war on terror” has raged for nearly the entire century to date. Our culture’s mores have dramatically turned since Y2K, witness the rapid advance of the cause of same-sex marriage.

When I widen the scope, and consider the changes in my lifetime, since the middle of the twentieth century, I am amazed at the change. Most would call it progress.

And then there is God. Literally, God has seen it all, from Adam to the atomic bomb, from Israel crossing the Red Sea to man landing on the moon, from stone tablets to the iPad. From God’s perspective, with all of the change, has progress been made? Have we made genuine improvements in things that matter to God?

Many things matter to the Lord, but the most important must be the people God created and for whom Christ died. God wants everyone to have a personal relationship with Him. When Jesus was born, there was one Christian—Himself. According to the Pew Forum, in 2010, there were an estimated 2 billion Christians! That’s progress. Churches are not perfect, but God is using churches to connect people to God in an amazing way.

Seven billion people live today without a connection to their Creator and Redeemer. We have an opportunity to change that number, to make more progress.

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:8-9 ESV)

Time is rushing by and time is limited. May God give us the grace of a little more time, so that none perish. And may God empower us to take the Good News to every person.

---