NOW

An important aspect of human life is the conceptual framework of time.  It governs us.  It masters us.  By all standards of measure, it enslaves us.  More often than not we serve it, rather than the reverse.

Our lives are fully engulfed and expended in the confines of its process of measure.  It defines the rhythm of when we sleep, eat, work, etc.  It hems us in on all sides,  We do little without some consideration of how it impacts our allotted time.  In many cases we find ourselves in search of our place on the chronometer at any particular moment.

This is also true for the believer.  The believer is routinely in search for what time it is.  Furthermore the believer routinely desires to know what needs done at this moment in time.  The concept of the spiritual expression of time, leads to the concept of now.  What time is it, and what is required of the believer in that moment is of crucial consideration.

This consideration of time and now, is further complicated by the fact that the finiteness and limited capacity of the created to understand and functionally comprehend the creator.  The Father is not bound by the construct of time.  It is simply true that God resides at the confluence of yesterday, today, and forever with complete understanding of all three.  While the human is barely able to comprehend the current context and the path that led to it.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not finding fault with God here, far from it.  I am pointing out that the mortal coil is dramatically limited in its ability to comprehend how yesterday came to be, how it impacts today, and how that informs tomorrow, next week, and next month.  We try, but on a day to day level its hard to live life while constantly seeing all the contexts and all the permutations as they reside in what was, what is, and what may be.

The best we can do is understand that God resides in what we can only refer to as the eternal now.  It is best seen as a place in which it is always now.  A place in which the ribbon into the moment and the ribbon out all flow from the same place and end in the same moment.  It is a place of union and unity.  A place in which all that God desires and wills for his creation come together in the precise expression of NOW.  

As we engage with a divine entity that lives in and works from the eternal NOW, it is crucial to grasp that with that entity, it is always time for something.  It is always NOW.  The time is always right NOW in each and every context of the word right as it informs now.

The next concept that it is important to understand is more complicated than the last.  God reveals himself to be two things at the same time.  He reveals himself to be eternally the same from age to age and epoch to epoch.  He also reveals himself to be eternally new in the same context.  So a God that never changes from the time of Adam until now is also the God that is new today, and will be new tomorrow as well.  This notion is a conundrum that has perplexed believers, pastors, and theologians alike throughout the ages.  Many have plumbed its depths only to come away with a headache and no discernable answers.  I have considered myself and have been forced to conclude that to understand it, I would have to be a being not bound by the limitations of mortality.  At some point, God said it, and just as God is allowed to reveal himself to us, he is also allowed to define himself.

In view of the concept of time as it relates to the believer it is crucial to understand how the eternal now, the eternal new, and the eternal same impact our consideration of what time it actually is and how that impacts us.  In doing so the most truthful statement that can be made follows.  This exact moment for the believer is the product of a convergence of the eternal natures of God in terms of now, new, and same.  This is geographically the exact bulls-eye moment of the good, the pleasing, and the perfect Will of God.

It takes a mind that is open to God to grasp that all of these things reside in and flow from the same place.  It requires that we accept that God is not fully transparent to the created in this matter.  Any consideration of these things leads to some measure of frustration and will only be grasped when we enter into eternity and our understanding of God can be made complete.  In this flat single context existence there is much going on that we don’t see, much we will never know in this life.  Acceptance of that while not the most pleasing state is what is required of us.

Our place in the equation begins not in understanding a being that our minds cannot hope to comprehend.  Rather it begins in reverence for that being, and knowing that the created was created to serve the needs and will of the creator.  And only in accepting that place in the equation do we functionally find our role.  And it is further in relationship with the creator that the concept of NOW is defined for us.  The relationship informs us of what is needed NOW, as much as it informs us as to what time it is.

In living in this harmonious place of union with the creator, our Father the value of what it is as a conceptual construct ceases to be important, because it is replaced with the will of the Father.  What time it actually is, is relegated to the interests of and will of the Father and we are informed of our place in it through said relationship.

This takes functional stillness.  It requires that we spend time not engaged in and engulfed by the boisterous expression that our daily lives takes on typically.  It requires time in which God can speak NOW into our soul, and we can be informed by it, and equipped to participated in NOW as the ambassador of an almighty being.