A LIFETIME - One human life is like grass. We are born naked and die naked bringing nothing out of this world that can be counted by worldly possessions.
"For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers." - Psalms 90:4-6 ESV
AN ACT. 40 years... Moses had three of these: Egypt, the desert and as deliverer
"And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian." - Genesis 25:20 KJV
"And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite:" - Genesis 26:34 KJV
"And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan." - Exodus 16:35 KJV
"For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God[hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing." - Deuteronomy 2:7 KJV
A DECADE. We move and life changes so much over time. Work. Perhaps were we live. Fashions. Music. Culture.
"So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife." - Genesis 16:3 ESV
A YEAR. The full cycle of going around the sun. Perhaps the clearest cycle we see in nature
"The LORD said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son." And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him." - Genesis 18:10 ESV
A SEASON. Like Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall we have emotional seasons. They pass but leave an impact on our lives. Like picture albums filled with tan happ people on one page and then bundled up and building snow men on another.
"Woe is me! For I have become as when the summer fruit has been gathered, as when the grapes have been gleaned: there is no cluster to eat, no first-ripe fig that my soul desires." - Micah 7:1 ESV
"for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone." - Song of Songs 2:11 ESV
A WEEK. God created the world and rested in one week. Our week is a microcosm of the world we create with our decisions. I want to live each week like it is my whole life. Work. Rest. Play. Evangelize. Worship. Read. Create. Love.
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." - Exodus 20:8 ESV
"Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none." - Exodus 16:26 ESV
A DAY. Sun up and Sun down.
"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." - Matthew 6:34 ESV
A MOMENT. Now is what we have. It is where we live. It is our vantage piont. The thief on the cross had his moment but just that moment echos into eternity captured forever in the scriptures.
Time ripples away from us like circles. Each moment of faith is a stone cast in a clear pond. The circles reach beyond us.
"And Moses said to the people, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again." - Exodus 14:13 ESV
"Sing to the LORD, all the earth! Tell of his salvation from day to day." - 1 Chronicles 16:23 ESV
"Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation." - 1 Peter 2:12 ESV
Now is the moment to believe. Grace has removed every obstacle. It will even move us out of our own way if we let it and receive.
"As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe." - Mark 5:36 KJV
That is what we can do right in this moment. Only believe. Look at Christ and only believe. That moment of faith ripples backward and forward in time. Changing our future and erasing our past from our experience. The moment of faith ripples outward also and impacts the people around us.
The faith of a mustard seed is the faith of a moment where we trust in Jesus and the Father He has reconciled us to. Let's have the faith a of mustard seed.
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