After the first contact with the Amondawa tribe in 1981, anthropologists soon learned the people had no concept of time. The small tribe of less than three hundred people lived deep within the Amazonian rainforests of Brazil. They simply lived according to the patterns of day and night and the rainy and dry seasons. They don’t mark by age the different stages of life such as childhood to adulthood but rather change their names. No words exist in their language for time, or periods as months, years, or past and future. Explorers have discovered only a few other remote peoples around the world with a similar concept. Those living in the modern world who perceive life with a view of past, present, and future, can never wrap their minds around people with no perception of time.
Scripture has much to say about time. Most agree that when God created all things (Col 1:16) this included the creation of time. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1). God Himself had no beginning. He existed eternally before the beginning. Although He will always exist outside of time, He also works within time yet not confined by its limitation. All living things have a beginning and will have an end. The Bible cautions us that we are stewards of our time. So teach us to number our days (Psalm 90:12). Paul writes making the most of your time (Eph 5:16). Show me, O Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life (Psa 39:4 NIV). Jesus taught we must prioritize our time. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness (Matt 6:33).
An important aspect of time is our perception and how we view it. Whether we focus on past, present, or future, this dictates our cognitive processing of information and this differs from culture to culture. Typically, people perceive time with one major perspective paired with one minor—present-past or present-future. Anyone with a past-future view has serious personal issues because they are seeking to escape the present. Most the tribes with which I have ministered were present-past. I soon discovered that preaching on the future return of Christ meant little. People didn’t think about the future. They processed everything in present-past. Being from an electronics background, my training taught me to perform constant preventative maintenance on equipment. This prevented future failure. Their present-past perception never considered checking equipment until it stopped working. In contrast to preaching about future things, I once taught on the genealogies of Jesus in Matthew chapter one, Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren. . . (v2 KJV). People talked for days about what great sermon I had delivered. They place a great emphasis on the past and their ancestors.
So what does this have to do with me, you ask? The norm for the Western world is present-future. However, a subtle shift is taking place even among Christians with teachings that only focus on the here and now—wealth now, no suffering, divine health, etc. These are obvious but more subtle are those who preach nothing but self-help messages and never on the glory of God, the workings of the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ suffering and our suffering, heaven, or worship of the Lord. Hearing only self-help preaching can bog down any believer in the here and now leaving them with an earthly-minded perspective. We must be careful to maintain a balance of present-future.
All the above lesson was to help us understand an additional perspective that believers need which is an eternal perspective, in other words a present-future-eternal focus. I’m sure every reader believes in the second coming of Christ, but do we live that way. Are our daily actions controlled by that? Today, the world is in chaos and if we limit our focus on the here and now or confine our future to this life, we will have little hope. However, when our perspective includes a mentality of eternity in all things, peace will come to us even in a time of turmoil. We will rest in a hope that doesn’t depend on what is happening in our lives. We can find joy even in our lowest moments. Paul from prison wrote, Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things (Col 3:1, 2). Jesus lived and died with a mentality of eternity. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb 12:2 NIV). The key in this verse is for the joy set before him. He looks beyond the suffering of the cross with an eternal perspective and focused on the joy He would have in heaven with His Father and the joy with His bride, the Church, for eternity.
Remember how short my life is (Ps 89:47 ESV). What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes (James 4:14 NIV).
Sustaining Word for the Week: Don’t allow the here and now bog you down. Life is too short and eternity is a very, very long time. Change your thinking to a present-future-eternal perspective.