Tension is a wonderful word used to describe much of the theology in the Bible.  For example, there is tension between Jesus being human and God.  There is tension between God being sovereign and humans having responsibility for their actions.  Another tension is found in Ecclesiastes 3:1-15.  Our teacher begins this section emphasizing the constraint of time on humans.  There is a time for every action, and the wise person knows which action is appropriate for the designated time.  But this is not the tension.  The teacher introduces the tension in verse 11.  He writes, “He [God] has also set eternity in the hearts of men…” (NIV).  Here is the tension!  Humans are constricted by time, but God has placed in us a sense of eternity.  Our lot as humans is to live within time and crave eternity.

How do we live with this tension?  First, be reconciled to the God who controls our eternity.  This life is a shadow, and how we live today echoes into eternity.  Will you live eternally with God as your delight, or will you be eternally under the wrath of God?  All people will exist forever after physical death.  Therefore, be reconciled! 

Second, follow Paul’s command and “make the most of every opportunity…” (Ephesians 5:16).  In the spirit of this passage Jonathan Edwards, pastor in the eighteenth century and one of America’s finest theologians, wrote, “Resolved: Never to lose one moment of time, but to improve it in the most profitable way I possibly can.” 

An exercise:

Make a detailed account of your time for one week.  Record how much time you spend sleeping, playing, working, praying, watching television, etc.  Then consider how you spend your time.  Do you redeem it, as Paul commands?  How can you continue to improve your use of time?  Do you approach each day seeking to make the most of your time on earth?  What would your calendar look like, if you redeemed the time?  What would you increase?  What would you decrease?

Passages for Further Reflection:

James 4:13-17

 ¹⁷ So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. ¹⁸ I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. ¹⁹ And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. ²⁰ So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. ²¹ For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. ²² What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? ²³ All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless. ²⁴ A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, ²⁵ for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? ²⁶ To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind (NIV).

Every now and again, I will post some little devotionals that I have written on certain passages of the Bible.  These devotionals were first written for Faith Community to accompany the weekly sermons.  Today's devotional is on 1 Thessalonians 3:1-6 and concerns questions regarding suffering and the Christian. 

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Is there a time when you saw God deliver someone from suffering?  How did the deliverance influence your faith in God’s goodness?  Did it build your confidence in God’s ability to care for you? 

Paul found that intense pressures and suffering caused him to depend more on God (2 Corinthians 1:9).  How do intense pressures in your life affect you?  Do you find courage in God or despair?  Do you try to make it on your own or trust in God who raises the dead?  What does (or would) trust in God look like under intense pressure?  That is, what are some steps you can take to trust more in God than in your own power, while you are in the midst of suffering or intense pressure?

Realistically, what do you expect the Christian life to be like?  In other words, do you see suffering as an anomaly or oddity in life?  Read 1 Thessalonians 3:1-6.