“My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready”  John 7:6

“Father the hour has come.  Glorify Your Son, the Your Son also may Glorify You.”  John 17:1

I tell you truthfully that it is a coincidence that I write this on the weekend that we, in the United States, change our clocks back an hour.  Also this is not about Eastern Time versus Mountain Time or for my current and former military friends Zulu Time.  It is not about increments of time from eons down to microseconds.  I know what you’re thinking:  “If is not about those things then you’ve got exactly two seconds to tell me what the heck it really is about!”

Now, now all in good time (okay enough of that).  Doesn’t this seem to be more about how we utilize our time; what we have been given our time for, then some arbitrary spacing of two hands on a dial?  In the Gospel of John, Jesus’ first miracle starts with Jesus replying to his mother: ” My hour has not yet come”  (John 2:4).  It seems to be more about a sure knowledge of His mission and the progression along that way.  When I was in the military, our operations would revolve around the concept of “H” hour.  That was the hour that a given operation was going to begin.  You planned and trained up to H-hour and after that was all about execution.  For another example you look at space launches.  There is a clock that counts backward (countdown)  “T-minus” until the clock runs to zero and then the event happens (FYI according to www.nasa.gov  the t stands for “test).  Thus, Jesus knew He was on a mission.  That mission was going to end in Jerusalem with Jesus Christ dying on the cross and then being raised from the dead.  He was going to become and is now King of kings.  Nothing was going to rush that.  Some tried to make Him an earthly king early, He would have none of it.  Some tried to kill Him by stoning Him or throwing Him off a cliff.  He walked right through the midst of them; it was not His time.

There seems another aspect that we can learn as well.  That is patience.  Jesus knew all that He was to go through, from talking to the woman at the well, to feeding thousands and even kneeling and pleading in the Garden of Gethsemane.  He was willing to wait.  Jesus Christ knew the Glory that awaited Him in heaven but He was willing to allow God’s plan to work fully through Him before He made His triumphant return.

Jesus says:  “your time is always ready.”  The contrast between His time, being on a mission, making a huge impact, allowing and waiting on  God to use you to make an amazing difference and the worldly time, chasing after riches, looking only to ourselves, seeking after only our own glory, bouncing from one cheap thrill to another with no true goal in sight is quite stark indeed.

Christ is eternal yet He also knows time.  He calls out to us to follow His example and to use our time wisely.  He extols us to understand that time is in God’s hands and God has a desire of the way that we should be using our hours.  Note when Jesus Christ’s time had come, He called upon the Father to Glorify Him; why?  So that Jesus would in turn Glorify His Father.  Can there be a more glorious mission or a better use of our time than to seek to Glorify God’s Name in and through our lives?  The question for us is how are we spending out time.  We must me careful how we answer, for the clock is ticking.

Our Most Gracious and Heavenly Father we give thanks that You have loved us enough to provide for us, time for life.  We sincerely ask Dear Father that You would pour Out Your Spirit upon us, testifying that You have a mission for each us.  Let it be that we will use our time in carrying out that mission each day.  That we will be patient knowing that Your timing is perfect.  And that the way that we use our time may be seen by others as time spent in Your Holy Service to Glorify Your Holy Name.  In the Name of Jesus Christ we pray.  Amen