Enough Time

Boy howdy, if I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard or spoken the sentence, “I don’t have enough time.”  Not having enough time is a fundamental truth of being a mortal. 

One of the most helpful concepts of my seminary education was taught to me by Dr. Damayanthi Niles: Finitude.  Finitude, at its heart, is the concept of limitation. We are  bounded on all sides by the limits of time, space and context. 

Our culture embraces infinite freedom, capacity, and possibility, but these are illusions. Our time is too limited. Jesus reminded us that our greatest freedom is obedience (Mark 10:44), our possibilities are greatest when we are standing by faith alone (Mark 11:23-24), and our capacities rest in our trust in God, not in ourselves (Matthew 14:22f). 

So what does enough time mean for us as followers of Jesus?  I would suggest that it means at least three things:

• Honor what is before us in the now.
• Our time is precious regardless of our achievements and outcomes. Time is not money.
• Enough time is the amount of time we have.

Let’s unpack those ideas briefly.  First, Jesus was extraordinarily good at honoring the present moment. He was constantly interrupted, harassed and demanded of, and yet, in the Gospels we see him attend to what was before him. Jesus said "sufficient for today are the evils of today."(Matthew 6:34). He didn’t dread or stew over the fact that his death was on the way. In fact, the only time he is portrayed as anxious and upset was in the 24 hours before he died (more). For years, he knew it was coming, but he trusted God to keep him.  Doing that is an act of trust .  

Time is not money. Income disparities fundamentally claim that one person’s hours of work are worth more than another person’s. The 10 hours of the CEO and the 10 hours of the security guard are fundamentally the same, yet one is paid 300% more for them.  This is not God’s economy.  God holds each of our lives as equally valuable. Our achievement, income, accomplishments in any 24 hour period, or over a life-time, do not define us. Who we are defines us – the qualities, character, and choices of our lives matter. They are timeless and eternal.

 Enough time is the amount we have. In a culture where we are encouraged to live as long as possible, our faith invites us to another way of thinking.  Enough time is the time we are given. Living by faith is living relinquished to God’s timing. This might mean choosing to say no to the industrial medical complex’s constant effort to keep us alive until we die by degrees and a thousand diminishments.  Jesus came that we might have abundant life – life to its fullest.  In God’s created order, death is a gift, not a curse.

What is enough time for you? Your time is a gift. Give some back to your creator and trust that God will always meet you in the present. Just be there to receive it.

​-- Pastor Rebecca