A Time and a Season

Good Afternoon Dear Church,

I hope and pray that you are having a wonderful Fall day! I love this time of year, when the leaves start changing, the fire pits start burning, and the apple cider starts flowing. And this makes me think of what I was reading this morning in the Bible, Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. There is a "time" and a "season" for everything. There is a time for Summer, and (thank the Lord!), a time for Fall, a time for Winter, and then a time for Spring. There is a time for "joy" and a time for sorrow. Some things in life are particularly glad and joyful: the grin of a 7 month old baby, the celebration of a wedding, the delight of a hard day's work. There are some things in life that are particularly sorrowful: the loss of a friend, a time of particular stress, even tensions between family. There is a time for everything.

But, just because there is a time for everything does not mean that all times are created equal.

In fact, in the long run, the tears of today will fade into the joy of tomorrow like snow in the summer. For Christians, our sorrows today, real they are, are "light and momentary" (2 Cor 4:17). As Paul says in Romans 8:18, "For I consider that the sufferings for this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." In the time to come, a day of resurrection, of the New Creation, of seeing our Lord face to face, we can have a glory that outweighs any loss we have endured here on earth.

So my encouragement for you today Christian, whatever your stress, whatever your pain, whatever your sorrows today, look to tomorrow. Look for the day ahead, when Christ will wipe away every tear and death will be no more. Look forward and rejoice! For the Kingdom is at hand.

In Christ,
Pastor Matt