It's about Time

We are two weeks into our New Year 🎉 and two weeks today will be the end of our first month already. This time last year, we all saw the beginning of a new decade and 'raised a glass'🥂 to new beginnings, only to be robbed 😠 by the crowned virus 👑✴️ within months. Our plans for our careers 👨‍🎓👩‍🏫 our plans for summer breaks 🏖️ our plans for celebrations 🎊 all put to an end ⏹️. Whether you read this as a sceptic or a victim or a sojourner in this current climate, we are each affected by this momentary pause ⏸️ in time ⌚ and yet united with the desire to see normality return.

This begs the question of.... 

Q: What is normality? 

Is it a realistic goal to seek 👁️👁️ a return to the way things were? or is that just idealistic thinking? denying the past ❌  and forgetting that 2020 ever happened. Only on a personal level 💭 can we individually deal with reality, the reality that not everything is in our control 🎮. To some, this will be a hard lesson to learn, or will be a lesson that some would prefer to skip like your worst subject 😩. Despite the fact that this lesson has been taught from the very beginning.....as one of the 'invisible things' that are 'clearly seen' [Rom 1:20] .... 

Can we/you control 🌤️☔⚡ the weather?

Can we/you control growth 📈📉 and 👶 reproduction?

Can we/you control the actions 👣 of others?

Can we/you control the thoughts 💭 of others?

The answer to each of these questions is that we try, but the reality is that we do through ultimatums ☑️❎ or absolutes. For fans of Star Wars, you would know what I mean when I say that only the Sith 👺 deal with absolutes. For the benefit of those who do not, it is the 'this or that', the 'can or cannot', the 'do or do not', the 'take or take not' and so on. Therefore if I had to define what control 🎮 means, it is the enforcing of a will 🗒️ or the enabling of a will. Much like the duty of executors to ensure that the will of the deceased ⚰️ is carried out, that it must be carried out.

Now on the face of it, control 🎮 doesn't seem a bad thing. That is....until you meet his opponent 🥊🥋 that is, Free Will 🗽

You may be asking 🤔 are they not the same thing? To an extent they are, but only when a 'fair' balance ⚖️ is struck. It is only when control 🎮 tips the balance 🐘 and adds limitations and restrictions 🚧 that we realise that Free Will 🗽 is in a losing battle. In a battle of Wills, control 🎮 wins hands down 🏆 especially when control 🎮 has influence in media outlets and academia to manage how we think 🤔. Every sociologist and every psychiatrist will always question❓what you as an individual were exposed to and YET it is in our desire to control 🎮 our minds, but do we? Can we think freely without limitation? and do we not invoke control 🎮 by seeking such limitations?

Consider the above for just a moment.

Consider the effect of banned Free Speech that has now appeared over Social Media.

Consider the deviousness 😈 of contracts that seek to claim your/our 'intellectual property' so the 'bigger man' always wins.

Consider the Anti Lockdown rallies that have taken place throughout this pandemic in the Health VS Liberty struggle. 

Whatever your opinion may be, it is by your Free Will 🗽to have it! However you may also see the argument, the tug 🚜 of war that requires some form of restriction 🚧 to bring about protection 🛡️ and peace 😌. Now we may also have different opinions on how much restriction 🚧 and that is valid 👍 but this is what the Human Rights Act provides for; to promote Free Will 🗽but that control 🎮 overrides it where necessary. This proviso of course rests on when Parliament deems it necessary, so it matters come voting time 🗳️ to take the time to put the right people in those life-changing seats!

Now....you may argue, what is the point? They don't listen and 🤷‍♂️ I personally cannot challenge that view BUT it remains the only way to ensure your Free Will 🗽and your needs are addressed at the very least. They are not perfect, but who is? I challenge you to name just one. Whether you read this as a believer or not, I am sure you agree ✔️ with the conclusion that there is not one, not one mortal person who is righteous (right standing) by themselves [Rom 3:10].

I shall go further to say, particularly to those who are sceptical of those in faith ✝️ because of a Puritan Pharisee attitude, the 'holier than thou', let me set the record straight. No one is perfect. No one is above reproach. No one is without any fault. The Bible says clearly [1Jhn 1:8] that a believer lies to himself if he says he is without sin/fault. So much more so to an unbeliever. The good news however ❤️ is that despite doing wrong, God still loves us. What's more, he loves us equally because he treats us the same [Matt 5:45]. What's not to love from a forgiving father? 🤗💕

Q: So, is there a better way?

 

We are obsessed with 🎮 control. However, as has been established, every one of us is not perfect regardless of faith. For that reason, I shall set it aside for a moment. Why? Because I want to focus 🔎 on our shared identity as fellow human beings 👥 flesh and blood.

Our TV shows 📺 is commonly what binds us together, but what is it that comes on our screens? How many shows put our best foot forward 🦶 and how many kick us in the teeth 🦷? The approach we tend to take, especially when things are too good to be true, or when things drastically take a radical turn, that it's only in TV land. I mentioned before how control 🎮 influences our media and so I shall share a few:

Speaking of About Time, there was a film of the same name in 2013. As a fan of science fiction, naturally curiosity got the better of me if this was another time travelling adventure. Was I mistaken? Oh yes! 😂 (which fans of Doctor Who may recognise) especially when it explored the life of a family who lived by their Free Choices 🗽 but sought control 🎮 to travel back in time and correct it. Long story short, a film About Time was actually About a Girl 💕. How many times do we seek a way to change what we have done, to 'correct' it, when it is no more and no less an imposition of will. Control 🎮

I mentioned Doctor Who and for those who watch or have watched the series, it involves travelling across space 🚀 and time ⌚, coincidentally in a place/time that requires saving 🛡️. This is the total opposite of the previous film, because here control 🎮 is for a positive ✅ outcome, even if it defies modern science for it to even be possible. However the imprint on the series is in the name of the time machine (the TARDIS) that says that Time is Relative. In fact that is an exact quote from the main character and what it means, is that it is comparative 🌓🌗 and that it's not absolute/fixed. Although the series cuts off certain events as being time-locked 🔐 there have been instances where the untouchable has become touchable, breaking 💔 the rule.

Finally the example that will hammer things home 🔨🏡 is my all time favourite, Star Trek. This is set in the future when the errors that we make today are no more in the future, that instead of fighting amongst ourselves, we live out our values as examples 💪👍. Sounds good huh? and true because the missions don't always go well 😅 BUT Season 2 of Discovery explored Artificial Intelligence (AI). As with past series, the mission of exploration continued until the AI called Control took control 🎮 and practically usurped Starfleet, their values, their identity, their Free Will 🗽to the point that allies attacked each other 👀

Now I am not using this shows to shame them, but to highlight the Battle of the Wills. In fiction, we see Control 🎮 defeated, we see Control 🎮 rationalised and Free Will 🗽 fought for, while identifying the danger ⚠️ when Control can take over. This is the lesson that we can take from these.

This is no different than the lessons in the Bible. The Apostle Paul goes to great lengths 📏 to emphasise that we are slaves 🔏 to what we obey/like/will [Rom 6:16]. How often in romantic shows and movies do we hear how 'I'm a slave to love" 😊 and how often do we hear "You are what you eat" 👀. It is exactly the same principle.

However the reality remains that many things are out of our control 🎮 yet we seek control 🎮. It is by no means the ideal, but it is' the course of this world' [Eph 2:2] 🌍 to seek what we can get on Earth [Col 3:2], whether good or bad. Unfortunately the reality too is that people can want good things and bad things, as people can be bad and good to require control 🎮 and it's rules 🚧

The better way is only what I spoke of last week: to reform ❌ conform to the way things are. Right now, the Battle of the Wills continue 🤷‍♂️

Q: What does that mean?

Like with all journeys and missions, Rome wasn't built in a day, neither was a baby 👶 walking before his/her time. Today, the challenge is issued to reform - with Lockdown 🔐 we got time; and Time ⌚ was given to us by God. 

I would be negligent to withhold saying that Time ⌚ was created 🖐️ by God, when he made the physical universe [Gen 1:1] that was visible 👁️, from outside the physical universe that was invisible 👻 [Col 1:16]. It would defy all reason and logic 🧠 to suggest any inventor/creator has to be inside his/her invention/creation while he/she is making it 😂

However that is not all, because while he created Time ⌚ and is more 'Timelord' than the Time Lords of Gallifrey 😜😂, seeing he is the same yesterday (past) today (present) and forever (future) [Heb 13:8], he does ❌ control 🎮 our Free Will 🗽. Infact, he encourages our Free Will 🗽when he says eternal life is the reward 🎁 of whoever believes in him [Jhn 3:16], being why he encourages us to choose this life not death [Deut 30:19]. The operative word there is the fact that we get to choose freely!

Two options on the ballot paper 🗳️

Q: Which do you choose?

1. Reform? Free Will 🗽limited only by the Love of God towards Him and others [Mk 12:28-34] negating need for control ❌🎮 so use your time wisely [Eph 5:15-17]

2. Conform? Accepting the reality that Free Will 🗽is limited & that control 🎮 is needed to prevent abuse; although all controls are not universally accepted 😬

I will draw one final comparison, time ⌚ is 'relative' afterall. This comparison being of Time itself and simple mathematics 

➗ ✖️ ➕ ➖

365 days in a year. 12 months in a year, with 4 weeks on average in a single month. That equals 4 Sunday services ⛪ in a month and 48 Sunday Services ⛪ in a year.

What does this mean? 317 days to you, 48 days to God as the bare minimum. However if realistically half a day is devoted 🙏 to God, then that is 24 days, again as the bare minimum. That is barely a month to God and 11 months to you. God is not asking for much and once you realise that, you will want ❤️ to spend more than the bare minimum.

It is why Christ says Himself to come to Him, because his burden is light [Matt 11:28-30]. What's more, you wait until you read His manifesto 📖 which I challenge you to read in Matthew 5 if not.....leading to a comparison of the promises Republicans and Democrats make, of what Labour and Conservatives make.

Some would say and argue that with God, I am wasting my time ⌚. Consider then I'd say, of what you are seeing now 🔎 What of the 4 years of time it took to negotiate Brexit amid disunity? What of the second impeachment of Trump 10 days before he leaves office? What of the vote of no confidence in Labour's Keir Starmer for not being 'Anti' enough? What of the vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Boris Johnson for not being 'For' enough to remove lockdown?

I submit to you in conclusion that all this, in the times we are living in, it is this that wastes time. Time ⌚ is fleeting and yet time in lockdown offers opportunity, I challenge you to take it 🙏 and ask yourself.....

Q: How am I using my time?