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But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day (2 Peter 3:8, NIV).
Have you ever thought a job would take hours, only to find it took 10 minutes? Or the exasperating opposite of thinking that a task would take 10 minutes, and three hours later, it’s not finished?
Through 55 years of following Jesus, I’ve found that the Spirit of God can condense our job by His Spirit — and voilà, ten minutes later, it’s done.
Once, upon entering a Russian church, the pastor told me (not asked me), “You are speaking tonight!” I hadn’t prepared a sermon, and in this church, a sermon lasted an hour. During the half-hour worship before the sermon, after asking God to help me write it, I had it in mind and spoke for an hour extemporaneously.
My sermons typically take three to eight hours of prep time, but in this church, I had only 30 minutes. I hoped this timeline would happen back in the U.S., but alas, upon arriving home, back to the hours of prep.
Time is different with God; it doesn’t exist in heaven. I have a theory that when we walk in the Spirit, our tasks get easier and take less time, but when we follow our self-oriented paths, our activities become weightier, more complicated, and take more time than expected.
Walking in the Spirit condenses our time, and we accomplish far more than we thought possible. How do we condense our time, replacing our lack of time with His time? In a sense, we have all eternity for our work.
With God, a thousand years can be just a day.
Don’t Boast Beyond Our Measure
We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the sphere of service God himself has assigned to us (2 Corinthians 10:13).
We each have limits on our capabilities. Learning our constraints frees us from being held captive by our (or others’) expectations of success that are beyond our ability.
Experience God’s Presence
The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” (Exodus 33:14).
Many studies suggest that a rested soul is more creative, understands events more clearly, and stays better focused. The world teaches meditation techniques, while the Bible suggests God’s presence. If we calm ourselves, we are still dependent upon our strength, but when we walk with God, we find His strength.
Become an artist by saying “yes” and “no.”
As Jesus said, “All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’” (Matthew 5:37a).
The most successful people I know discern when to say “yes” and when to say “no.” Rules don’t exist to affirm or reject a request. We need wisdom to discern the “rights” and “wrongs” of God’s artistry in our lives.
One giant in the faith said, “If we make decisions according to service rather than success, we will get our yeses and nos correct.”
Through understanding our grace path, walking in His presence, and using wisdom, our time condenses to accomplish God’s will, rather than being scattered haphazardly across our daily/weekly/monthly/yearly calendars.
We still work hard, but the hours fly by!