Redeeming the Time

Today I went to make clinical rounds at the Genesis Care Centre as I do almost every Monday. The Care Centre is a 40 bed inpatient HIV/AIDS palliative care unit that is operated by Genesis, a ministry of Norwegian Settlers Church. Each time I am there I am so thankful for the opportunity to be a part of this work to lovingly care for patients with advanced AIDS. At the same time I am often frustrated by the fact that so many of the patients come to us with such advanced disease with very little hope of recovery. Today one of the male patients died while I was making rounds. What's frustrating is that effective HIV treatment with ARV medications is readily available in South Africa. Almost all of the patients that come to Genesis Care Centre could have avoided being in the situation if they had made the decision to seek help a year or even 6 months ago. Yet largely because of the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS they chose ignorance and denial over testing and treatment. Now often they are ready to make a different decision but the opportunity is gone. Despite good treatment many of these young men and women will die.

The Genesis Care Centre

My visit to the Care Centre brought to mind something I have been thinking a lot about during this New Year period - time. Time: a year, a day, a moment. Time: past, future, present. Time: 2008, 2009, today.

Jonathan Edwards said (in 1734) "There is nothing more precious than time and nothing of which men are more wasteful". I think he was right. Time is the most precious thing we have in life. What makes something precious is its importance together with its scarcity. Edwards describes 4 aspects of time that make it precious.

Time is important because our welfare depends on it. Our welfare in this world and more importantly our welfare for eternity. Time is short. This truth becomes more self-evident with each year I grow older. James 4:14 says "For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away". Time is uncertain. We know that time is short but we don't know how short. Will today be my last day? Time is irrecoverable. 2008 is past and the time I failed to use wisely is gone forever. My youth is gone no matter how hard I try to recover it.

As I thought about this last point I realized something else important about time. It is precious in inverse proportion to its duration.

A year is precious,
but how much more a day
and of this moment
I cannot begin to say.

If I didn't appreciate the preciousness of time in 2008, I can in 2009. And what I don't do in January I can still do in February (or probably more likely, March). If I let this morning slip by without telling my wife I loved her, I can still tell her this evening (and I better do it today). But this moment that is now gone forever cannot be recovered. It can only be redeemed. Lets commit to redeeming every moment this year, or at least today.

Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity ("redeeming the time" in KJV), because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:15-16

Desiring God

The title of this post is also the title of a book by John Piper. If you're pressed and don't have time to read this blog post, it's OK. Just go out and get the book, read it, and enjoy it!

Hopefully some of you are still with me. I shared in the last post ("A 2008 Report Card") that as I look back on 2008 I am convicted that I have failed an important test this past year. Along with the Ephesian church I have often forsaken my first love (Revelation 2). Like them I have been busy for God, doing good things and even enduring hardships at times. But often during this past year my relationship with Christ has been dry and felt empty more than stale. At times I have sat wishing I felt closer to God, struggling to pray, distracted by the work and the needs as well as by my own concerns.

In his book Piper describes and promotes what he calls "Christian Hedonism" as he addresses what Psalm 73:25 is talking about. What does it really mean and look like in my life to agree with the Psalmist that "the earth has nothing I desire besides you (God)", to make and keep Jesus my first love.

As I was beginning to draft this post including the reference to John Piper's "Desiring God", I went to his web site of that title. There I read his article "I Love Jesus Christ" dated 31 Dec 2008. In it he is expressing almost exactly what I wanted to express in this post. He describes how those words impacted his life and what it means to love Jesus. It's nobody's surprise that John Piper can express it better than I, but it surprised me that God moved John Piper to pray for 2009 exactly what He moved my heart to pray.

Would you pray with me that in 2009 we would love Jesus Christ more than we ever have? And may our Lord Jesus grant that from time to time we would deliver quietly and naturally a thunderclap into the hearts of others with the simple words, “I love Jesus Christ.”

So I will just ask you to click on the title of this post to go to the Desiring God website. Then click on This Weeks Taste and See entry for December 31, 2008. I want to invite you to join John and I in making this prayer a reality in 2009 in each of our lives. Let's desire God Himself and not only His blessings this year

A 2008 Report Card

As the New Year approaches I think it is a natural human thing to review the year past as we anticipate the year ahead. I believe it’s one of the things that sets us apart from God’s other creatures. As we reflect on the year past we Christians naturally, and I think rightly, begin by reflecting on what God has done in our lives this year. This process is analogous to what Samuel did in placing an Ebenezer Stone – recognizing that “thus far the Lord has helped us” (see previous post). As I look back on 2008 I do clearly see God’s hand of provision and protection in so many ways, in so many places in my life. I also know that there have been battles fought and victories won that I have no awareness of. For that I am as grateful to God as I am for his more evident work in my life.

But as we reflect back on the year we not only remember God’s goodness and faithfulness, we also reflect on our own responses, accomplishments and results. Here in South Africa the school year coincides with the calendar year and so provides a very fitting analogy. Tomorrow the senior high school “matric” students (matriculates) will be able to go to their schools and receive their test results from their teachers, finding out if they passed the tests. At this time of year we are like the “matrics” getting our final report card for the year. As we evaluate ourselves on this past year we are also receiving the evaluation of our Instructor.

How did I do? How do you think you did? If we are honest with ourselves I think we all conclude as I have, that I did OK in some areas but I know I fell down in other areas. But what does my Instructor think? Does it depends on the "curve"? What will the standard be and did I make the passing cut off?

I believe the only place we can get a look at the standards that will be applied is in the Bible. And the standard I see there is an extremely high one. The curve is steep. The standard that was applied to the Ephesian church will also be applied to me. In Revelations chapter 2 we find Christ’s assessment of the church in Ephesus.

I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men… You have persevered and have endured hardships in my name, and have not grown weary.

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place.

Did I pass this test in 2008? Or have I forsaken my first love? My first love that is described in Psalm 73:25. “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you?” Why do I desire heaven? Is it only because God is there? Are there other people or things that I desire when I think of heaven? And what does it look like (feel like) to desire nothing besides God on earth (in this life)?

I'll share some more thoughts on this last question in the next post, but obviously I am convicted that I have not received passing marks on a critical test this year. Fortunately just as those "matrics" who failed to pass all the tests get a second chance to take and pass those tests again in the next few months, so God is giving me another chance, a New Year to improve on my results from 2008. I praise God for his patience and grace. Lord I want Psalm 73:25 to be true of me. I desire that I would desire nothing besides you. Lord make the needed change in me.