Last night, we looked at the topic of time. For children, it can be hard to learn about time; they live in the present and find it hard to understand what has gone before (the past) or what lies ahead (the future). They are a good example of living in the present, but can find it hard to understand what is special about the past.
We looked at how time in our Christian world is divided into B.C. (Before Christ) and A.D. (‘anno domini’, in the year of the Lord, measuring from Christ’s birth) and how Christ is the defining point of history. We explored why Jesus had to die at Easter, exploring the fact that sin (our disobedience to God) meant it was necessary that a perfect Man died for our sins and how we could not manage that for ourselves! Only Jesus, being fully God and fully man, could do that.
Time may seem to be a paradox at time, but a God-centred view of time will always take the ‘long view’, unlike Satan who focuses on the now, trying to convince us that this is all we have. Ultimately, we live godly lives now because we know we have the future hope of Christ’s return and heavenly rewards await us.
