By Kenneth L. Chafin
I think about when I hit seminary. The two things that characterized me were intensity and dumbness. I had a calling that was unbelievable. It was transforming my life. But with that calling I picked up all the ideas I had been exposed to, about half of which were totally inadequate in their understanding of the Bible or God or the church or anything else.
Suddenly I am in a school where they are opening up windows in my heart and in my head. Those old stale ideas are floating out the windows and a fresh breeze is blowing in my life. Can you think of those places in your life?
There are times when we know it is God's timing. God is dealing with us and we know it is His time. We sense that in the timing of God it is decision time for us. There is a need to respond to what God is doing.
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Just as we must respond to the gift of His son Jesus Christ, we need to respond to what God is doing in our lives and the circumstances of our lives. Nothing stays the same. Life is not just a catalog that you pick up and order what you want out of it. You and I don't stay the same. You are not the same person you were this time last year. Some of you are dramatically different persons. Doors don't stay open forever. They close. Options run out. And feelings pass.
In the timing of God often there is a sense of emergency and a "seize the moment" kind of quality to some decisions. There is the "today if you hear His voice harden not your heart" implication. I think on this day when we launch ourselves into thinking about God's timing and the birth of His son, Jesus Christ, we need to do a little thinking about God's timing in our lives.
What time is it for you? Is it time to get your act together and maybe clean up your act? You and I live in a world that seduces people's best intentions. We start out so wanting to serve God and to be God's, and then we get compromised just by living in this world. Maybe this is a time to put it back together, with God in the center. Time to clarify your values. Get a better feeling of what is right and wrong and match our lifestyles with our values. A time for renewing some basic relationships with friends, parents, children or spouses. Maybe a time to get to know God.