It’s Time

How do you know when it’s time?

I’m curious to know what came up inside you when you read that question.

Did it confirm that you need to quit your worship leading job? Did you decide to integrate click tracks for your team? Did you just know that your hunch to bring a meal to share with your team at this week’s rehearsal was right? Did you know it was time to take that step you’ve been pondering to try intermittent fasting to become healthier? Did the Veggie Tales “Promised Land” song pop into your head? Did you remember the complicated conversation you’ve been meaning to have with the team member that just isn’t growing?

The right time has its way of showing up unannounced and changing… everything.

Scripture talks about two kinds of time: Chronos, that chronological, ongoing, daily, ever-ticking time, and Kairos, that “whoa, this is THE moment!” time.

We have to be aware of both.

The paralytic at the Bethesda was waiting for Kairos time. In Kairos time, you wait for it, and when the moment is there, you respond. In Chronos time, you just go with the flow.

Kairos has to do with times of opportunity and God’s appointed seasons.

I have a question for you. Which time do you think Ephesians 5:15-17 refers to, Chronos or Kairos?

“Therefore be careful (look carefully, be full of care as to) how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

We spend most of our time in Chronos time, what the Presbyterians might call “Ordinary Time.” But when Kairos hits, when it’s fulfilled, it happens quickly.

A nine-month pregnancy translates to 6696 hours. A long delivery is 18 hours? That means that 99.7% of a pregnancy is in preparation. It only takes 0.3% (three-tenths of a percent) of the time of pregnancy to birth the child.

Of course, we are to be faithful in the ordinary time, but the word in the Ephesians passage is actually Kairos time. We are to make the most of the opportune time, the time of opportunity.

So be patient, and when it’s time, don’t hesitate! Go with what God is doing.

-Dave Helmuth
(purchase my book, "Worship Fertilizer: (the first hundred)" HERE)

It’s Time (Nº 343)