Let’s pause from the constant business of our every-day lives in a very fast-paced world and consider the concept of time and creation.

COME AS A CHILD – LESSON ONE

What do we really know about time?

My first thoughts are that God lives on the outside of time and we live on the inside of time.

Time for God is so different from time for us. As a matter of fact, since God knows the end of all our beginnings; He probably doesn’t even need time. I think He simply made time for our sake.

As a matter of fact I KNOW that is true.

How do I know?

TIME AND CREATION IN THE BOOK OF GENESIS

I know because I’ve read the book of Genesis.

Have you read it yet?

If you haven’t pondered the wonder of this great first book of the bible; I highly recommend you begin to do so right away.

It is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G in a million different ways.

In the book of Genesis we learn a lot about the concept of time. It appears that time is just a great mystery that comes to us in the form of a special gift God gave to us so we would have a way to number our days.

Do you ever think about numbering your days?

I’ve thought about it a lot!

NUMBERING OUR DAYS

Life is a precious gift. We only get so many days and hours and minutes and the phrase “numbering our days” tends to remind us of this fact. The ancient Hebrew people actually lived by a calendar that helped them to number their days in accordance with God’s ways and commandments. They connected time and creation. I’ve blogged about that calendar a bit…..well a whole lot. If you want to begin to follow some of those articles; this one should get you started: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/sacred-appointed-times-and-seasons/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/holidays-and-holy-days/.

When I ponder this from a modern-day perspective; I always think about a Christian song with lyrics that speak about how we are to number our days. This beautiful song by Chris Rice turned out to be very popular. Here is a link to the song of which I speak; if you wish to listen to it for yourself: https://youtu.be/-xbTdyjPoFI?si=lBgB79s9C3KxRlHN.

As we go through the time in our lives and live out our days in the numbers and measurements that God gave us, it is amazing to ponder the fact that God watches over us from a place where time is not a limitation. There in that invisible place, God knows our beginning and our ending. He know all of the things that happen in the middle.

Even more amazing is the fact that as we go from our beginnings toward our ending; God gives us choices. He plans out each and every choice that He has given to us within our time.

UNDERSTANDING THE WONDER OF TIME

Long ago I taught Children’s Church. I wanted to help the children understand this wonder of time better. I often used an illustration from Jerome Berryman’s Godly Play stories to do this.

This is what I would say to the little children in my class as I held up a string rolled into a ball and tucked inside the fist of one hand with just a little part sticking out and unwound:

“I have a string tucked inside my fist that looks like time. This string will show us how time works. “

Then I would pull out the end and hold it straight and continue talking. “I can observe that time goes in a line. Looking at the first end of this string as I pull it out of my fist; I can note that time has a beginning. The first part is the newest part. It has just been born. It is brand new.

Now look again…..just pulling out more of the string tells me that time is getting older. The part that WAS new is getting old.

I wonder how long time goes? Does it go on forever? Could there ever be an ending?”

At this point I keep pulling out the string to see if it will end. I come to the other end of the string and hold it up.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT JESUS DID WITH TIME?

“I see that it has ended! The beginning that was so new at the beginning is now old. The ending is the new part now. So we have a beginning that is like an ending and an ending that is like a beginning.

Do you know what Jesus did for us?

Jesus tied the ending that was like a beginning, and the beginning that was like an ending together so we would always remember that for every ending there is a beginning and for every beginning there is an ending!

And that is how God taught Christians to tell time.”

You are beginning to see now that there is a lot to think of when we think of time.

Just the beginning of time is a whole story unto itself!

Time is just a great big wonderful gift from God! Let’s peak into our gift from God and have a look at the very first “in the beginning.”

The very first “in the beginning” was called Creation.

In the beginning God brought His wonderful gift to us called “Creation.”

ADULTS ARE ONLY GROWN UP CHILDREN

And that was how I introduced little children (with a grateful heart to Jerome Berryman; who provided the literature for the lessons that I learned this from) to the book of Genesis.

Today; in a completely different teaching mode; I can really think of no better way to introduce the book to adults!

In Matthew 18:3 Jesus was speaking to some people wanting to enter the Kingdom of Heaven and He told them this: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

God wants us to learn from Him with the trusting heart of a child; clinging to His every Word; and truly paying attention to the things He says to us from the scriptures He has preserved and made available to us. He doesn’t want us listening to others, or forming our own ways and making our own decisions based on our human thoughts; He wants us to follow Him; like a young child follows his father; trusting without reservation and having faith in every word that comes from his mouth.

A child will quickly imitate the actions of his father.

To teach his disciples; Jesus called a little child to stand among them and used the child as a perfect example of how to learn kingdom life.

As we begin to walk through the whole bible together; starting with this first wonderful book called Genesis we will learn many things; but only if we approach the study with the hearts of children eager to learn from their Father

WALKING WITH OUR FATHER THROUGH TIME

God will show us and teach us through the Holy Scriptures everything we need to know about how to walk through the wonderful gift He gave us called “time.”

There is a beginning to understanding the very best way to spend your gift of time. As a matter of fact the very first words of God’s Word to us start out with those very words: “In the beginning.”

Eternity isn’t a fairy tale; notice the bible doesn’t start out with the words; “Once upon a time.”

Eternity exists.

It is true and it is real and there is an order to its existence.

Before we can discover any of this; before we can begin at the beginning of time; we will have to go all the way back to before beginnings even began. (Try saying that out-loud very fast.)

We will need to visit a time when no beginnings existed.

It was a time when there was nothing at all.

Our next lesson will start the Genesis study in that place of nothingness.

Is there ANYTHING there at all?

Keep reading the pages of this COME AS A CHILD BIBLE STUDY to find out.