Understanding the truth about God’s time.
Bible: "one day with the Lord is as a
thousand years" (2 Peter 3:8). God deals with time in eternal terms. The carnal man deals with time temporally. A demand might be made by a carnal believer, premised on earthly time (24 hours to a day, 365 days to a year); but the spiritual believer, seated with Christ in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6), never needs to force God into earthly time because he is already living by the eternal (1 John 5:11). The spiritual man is living the Christlife, and because the Christ-life is growing he watches every detail of the earthly journey. He knows that eternal life can be most quickly jeopardized by stepping out of God’s time into earthly time. This knowledge constantly urges him to yield to God’s dealings in his life with a passive faith that the Father, who cares for him, is taking charge of his life and is shaping him into Christ’s full stature through all these strange developments.
The Carnal Demand
Demanding, in view of God’s time. element, is obviously carnal, while trusting, in the spiritual believer’s life, is an absolute of sonship. Until the Lord is ready to lead the carnal believer into spiritual life, there is nothing this believer can do but wait. This waiting is tedious,
hurtful, and purging. Nevertheless, these times are in the Father’s hands, and He will continue to refine until He has what He wants. During these times, God may use Satan, sickness, troubles, trials, and even success as instruments of refinement.
On occasion, it will seem that the Lord will never deliver. In fact, the Father does not permit these things to come just so He can show His glory in deliverance. These crises come and stay until the Father has a son broken and receptive to the eternal plan (1 Corinthians 2:7).
The amount of time does not depend on us, but, rather, on what the Father wants out of us. The glory He ordained for us before the world is the object of all His dealings in our lives.
Bible: "one day with the Lord is as a
thousand years" (2 Peter 3:8). God deals with time in eternal terms. The carnal man deals with time temporally. A demand might be made by a carnal believer, premised on earthly time (24 hours to a day, 365 days to a year); but the spiritual believer, seated with Christ in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6), never needs to force God into earthly time because he is already living by the eternal (1 John 5:11). The spiritual man is living the Christlife, and because the Christ-life is growing he watches every detail of the earthly journey. He knows that eternal life can be most quickly jeopardized by stepping out of God’s time into earthly time. This knowledge constantly urges him to yield to God’s dealings in his life with a passive faith that the Father, who cares for him, is taking charge of his life and is shaping him into Christ’s full stature through all these strange developments.
The Carnal Demand
Demanding, in view of God’s time. element, is obviously carnal, while trusting, in the spiritual believer’s life, is an absolute of sonship. Until the Lord is ready to lead the carnal believer into spiritual life, there is nothing this believer can do but wait. This waiting is tedious,
hurtful, and purging. Nevertheless, these times are in the Father’s hands, and He will continue to refine until He has what He wants. During these times, God may use Satan, sickness, troubles, trials, and even success as instruments of refinement.
On occasion, it will seem that the Lord will never deliver. In fact, the Father does not permit these things to come just so He can show His glory in deliverance. These crises come and stay until the Father has a son broken and receptive to the eternal plan (1 Corinthians 2:7).
The amount of time does not depend on us, but, rather, on what the Father wants out of us. The glory He ordained for us before the world is the object of all His dealings in our lives.
