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"Instead of a sense of urgency that says, 'I have to get busy making something happen,' I can now live with a posture of trust that is summed up by the statement, 'It’s up to God to make this happen.'"
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 196.
I hate that feeling that comes when I realize that time is growing short when it comes to getting something done. That feeling is most overwhelming when so much of what needs to be done to get to completion is still yet to be accomplished.
You know what I'm talking about. How would you feel if you were to wake up on a Friday morning realizing that that project you have put off for a while now is due on Monday afternoon. I can remember that mix of panic and dread as I considered how in the world I was going to get done all that needed to be done in the few short days remaining before a project was due. That same dread and panic can slip into our lives when we view destiny like a project we have failed to make happen.
Please don't take this discussion as an admonition against procrastination. Time management and other project focused tools isn't what I think we need more of in order to live the life of the victor God has made possible for us. No, we don't need tips and techniques - they are a dime a dozen in the natural world. What we need to help break the panic and dread that comes when time seems so short is a perspective that doesn't leave us trapped in victim thinking.
Time is such a cruel and merciless task master. It marches forward no matter what the situation. There is no letting up when one considers the unending tick, tick, tick of the clock. Time doesn't care one little bit how busy your life is or how many challenges you have had to face. Time stops for no man and that simple fact can make destiny filled with dread and panic when destiny is thought to be the sole responsibility of you and of me.
I love what today's Bible reading is trying to communicate about time and our destiny. Let's take a look at it together.
For God says,
“At just the right time, I heard you.
On the day of salvation, I helped you.”
Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6:2 (NIV)
The use of the word "today" in our reading is so important for those of us seeking to live the life of a victor. The right time is right now! Today is the day of salvation. When viewed in the light of this perspective, victim thinking issues surrounding the short time we have left to make destiny happen pale by comparison. Let me explain that a bit further.
So much of the panic and dread that I feel when it comes to destiny stems from the fact that, that mean old clock just keeps on ticking. Did you know there are over 31 1/2 million seconds in a year! Each tick you hear on a clock is counting down to when that clock won't tick any longer for each one of us. So far I have lived through some 1.8 billion ticks of the clock. Want to know how many ticks you have, just multiply 31.5 million times your age and that is how many ticks you have heard in your life time. The bigger that number is, the shorter it is till your clock won't be ticking any longer.
I'm definitely on the down hill side of the time remaining to get something accomplished in this life. The more I think about that the greater the stress I feel. What has helped me so much in this process is viewing destiny with the perspective God has on the subject.
You see, God has all eternity to get done what He has planned. I'm created in the image of God, so why shouldn't I view my destiny through the same lens? This doesn't give me permission to ease up on doing but it makes my doing able to be measured in a way that isn't limited solely by this thing called time.
I think that is why today's Bible reading has drawn our attention to the here and now. As far as God is concerned, tomorrow doesn't mean a thing to Him. It is the today, the right now of your life that God wants you to be focused on. It isn't how many ticks you have wasted in life or how you might best utilize the number of ticks you have left. What matters to God is the silence between the ticks on the clock right now.
It is the second you are living out right this moment that has power to change the world. That's what today's reading is saying to me. Right now is the right time. God has already heard you and is hard at work making this moment be all it can be in your life. The salvation you need to make your life stand for something in this world has been delivered. Today is your day of salvation. It has already been made to happen and whether you see that or not, you are a victor because of God's plan of salvation through Jesus Christ.
Living with the attitude that it is all up to us to make this life be all it can be is a victim thinker's way of living. By saying this, I'm in no way giving permission to simply coast through life. What a waste it would be to do that with something as precious as life itself. No, coasting isn't what we are to do, just as we aren't to fret over whether we will arrive at that mysterious place called destiny. It is by living in the place where this moment is all that matters that makes the power of destiny take hold in the life of a victor.
Today is your day. Right now is your moment. If you hear these words and jump to thinking that it all is going to work out your way, I guarantee victim thinking will be part of your near future. Right now and the power of today has nothing to do with our view of worldly success. Right now and today is all about the power of God flowing through His Child in a hurting and lost world.
Make that power be all it can be as you go about your day living in that place were time literally stands still. Live in between the ticks and let your victor status be all it can be to allow God to make your destiny be what He has planned all along for your today.
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