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SCRIPTURE – ECCLESIASTES 3:1                                                                                                                                                           JANUARY, 2024

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

SUBJECT – NOW IS THE TIME [1]

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First of all, let me say that I hope you, and yours, had a Merry Christmas, and that you are starting this year on a happy note.

The message for this, and next month at least, has to do with something that, in a sense, is what we symbolically do every year at this time. And that is, we cast behind us what happened in the past year, and look forward to a new year with new goals and fresh ideas.

In the course of our lives, there are things that occur, that we tend to just overlook as being minor peaks and valleys, that we rtnd to forget about because they, in our minds, are no big deal.

Then, there are others that tend to be monumental in that they tend to be the cause of our altering the way we think, and do things. These are things that tend to make us who we are, or will be.

When these things occur, we need to realize this, God has allowed this to come about, as a means to guide us in to a place that He desires us to be in, so that He can use us, to Bless us and others, and to bring Glory to Himself.

When things, no matter what they are occur, they are by the Design and Providence of God! He is in control!!

If you will look at the subject scripture, it is the beginning of an 8 verse dissertation on 'time!!'

The 'times' addressed in this passage, are labeled 'seasons!' This means that the periods of 'time', are not necessarily split-second, but rather over the course of days, weeks, months or years.

What I intend to do is take you step by step through those verses, so that you can get the picture God has painted for us.

Hopefully, when I am through, you will have a barometer, as to how you should be dealing with things that come into your life, and get in line with His plan for it.

Verse 2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

It starts out with the obvious fact that everything that is born, will at some point, die. There is no way of getting around it.

Every minute of every day, someone is taking their last breath, and slipping out of the realm of the living.

The Bible tells us, 'It is appointed unto mankind, once to die,....'[Heb. 9:27]. You can thank Adam for that!!

Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum, while that is happening, someone else is taking their first breaths in the land of the living.

Now, while we have no choice as to when we enter this life, we do have choices as to how long we remain here.

People find this a little hard to believe, given the age old saying that seems to suggest that you have a preset time to die. They say, 'when it is your time, it's your time!!!'

Many get that idea from this verse of scripture.

The thing is, that is patently false.

The Bible lets us know that there are certain things that we can do, to either prolong, or cut short, our time on this earth.

In the Ten Commandments, God admonishes children to honor/obey their parents, so that they may have long lives. [Ex. 20:12].

Does that sound like a preset time to live???

If we look around us today, and the tragedy of what is happening to our young people, as to how their lives have ended, way too soon, we will see that most of them pursued things that showed that they had little or no regard as to what their parents told them.

Of course, this is presuming that their parent[s], were Godly.

When it comes to adults, the same thing applies, but on a different level. We may or may not have honored our parents, and lived to adulthood, but, we dishonor God, who is all of our, Parent.

So, as you can see there are no two ways about it, young or old, if you dishonor your parent[s], you will shorten your life on this earth.

Ultimately, at that point, if God determines that there is still some hope for you, He might allow you to hang around a little longer than someone else, for which He determines otherwise.

It is all up to Him!!!

The verse then goes on to say, there is a time to plant, and a time to pluck up, that which was planted.

This has a couple of meanings.

As anyone that has planted flowers, fruits and vegetables can attest to, There are certain times of the year to plant what you want to produce, and a different time to pluck up, what you have planted.

If you don't regard these times, then, you will not be able to reap the benefits of what you planted.

When it comes to human behavior, there are times when you should be planting/investing in things like family, friends, community and the like, for the purpose of being seen as someone that is what society sees as a productive member, and a credit to the community and society.

The Golden Rule says, 'Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you!!'[Mar. 7:12].

This is the root of many of our problems today. We want to treat others any old type of way, and when they repay us, then, we want to complain about how they are somehow disrespecting us.

Gal. 6:7 says, you reap what you sow!

When we reap the consequences of our actions, positive, or negative, that is tantamount to us 'plucking up', what we have sown.

Can you imagine a world where everyone honored their Godly parent[s] advice, and treated each other as they wished to be treated??

That would be something!!

Verse 3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

There are times that despite what we would like doing, we are called on to kill!! And there is a time to heal!!

What this means is certain individuals will come in to our lives that, for all intents and purposes, have nothing but our destruction in mind. And irregardless of how we try to show the 'love of God' to them, they still want to destroy us, and our families, community and nation.

It is at this time, that we have to determine that the only way to protect ourselves, and our families, is to destroy the individual[s] before they can destroy us.

It is not a pleasant thought, but, it is, what it is!!!

Certain people need to be gotten rid of, and not by putting them in a prison, or some other place of confinement, where, as their punishment, we provide them with just about all of the amenities that they would have outside like food, healthcare, conjugal visits, and entertainment for the rest of their lives.

Did you know that many of these confined individuals have managed to orchestrate the killing of people in the prison, including guards, as well as having friends destroy their enemies outside the prison??

Locking someone like this up, in hopes of neutralizing them, or re-educating them is not a wise thing to do. It is both a waste of time and money. God's money!!!

The first verse of chapter 1 of this book tells us,that the author of this book is Solomon, the wisest man to ever be born of a woman, apart from Jesus Christ. So, he ought to know what is what in situations like this.

He and his forefathers have plenty of examples for us to go by.

The next part says, there is a time to heal!

That term means, there is a time to forgive an individual for the evil they may have done to you. To restore them back to a position that they had with you before the offense.

The classic example of that is, God forgiving us for the evil we have done to Him, especially by crucifying His only begotten Son, Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!!

If He can forgive us for this, then, we should be able to forgive others for any, and everything they can do to us!!

Of course, just like God, who requires us to admit our transgressions, and ask forgiveness, so too, when someone asks your forgiveness of them for what they have done, then, you should be big enough to do the same.

In fact, Jesus says, 'If you will not forgive those that have offended you, then, God, will not forgive you of your offenses against Him' [Mat. 6:14-15, Mar. 11:25-26]

As you can see, God always sets the example, before He commands us to follow.

The verse then goes on to say, 'there is a time to break down, and a time to build up.'

There are times in our lives, where something that we have constructed as the foundation that our lives are built on, needs to be torn down because it is doing us no good at all. And in most cases, is downright dangerous.

This can cover a wide range of instances. But, in order to save time and space, I will capsulize it by giving you the basic example, and that is our spiritual condition.

From the time we are born, our spiritual condition is at enmity with God. Except for the very young, we have adopted a lifestyle that is absent of any recognition of God.

Every thing we do, every thing we think and everything we are becoming, is leading us to a position of warfare against Him. When problems arise, instead of turning to Him, we look to others for solutions.

When they tell us what we need to do, we very seldom question them, and adopt their solutions in to our lives. And, as usual, when they fail, we go back to those same individuals for another solution.

By this time, any person with a half a lick of sense would say, 'I need to try something different, because this isn't working!'

That is when you need to change to something different. That is when you begin to tear down, those things in your life that aren't working. What is needed is a totally different mindset, one that seeks to go outside of the human intellect, that is destroying us all, and turn to God, who has a proven record of straightening up the catastrophes that men make of their lives.

When you do that, you will be entering a realm that you might not fully understand at first, but that's fine. No one that I know of, outside of Jesus Christ, fully understands it.

However, with time and getting an understanding of it, you will begin to grow [build up] your knowledge and faith in God.

Of course, when you do this, the others that you have left behind, will begin to see you as not being one of them anymore, meaning this step will cost you friends, and sometimes even family.

Speaking from personal experience, I will tell you, when I made that change, many of my friends, and family supported me in the effort, even though some of them didn't understand it.

However, over time, they began to see a change in me, and wanted to know what it was that made me different. It was at that time, I told them that I had put my faith in Jesus Christ and His Solutions, rather than man, and his.

There comes a time in the lives of every individual, that they need to examine their lives as to where they are in the way of achieving the 'American Dream!!'

In order to do that, they must take an honest look at all sides of the issue, and be able to accurately decipher the clues, and evidence to be able to make the right choice.

You can't do that if you are blinded by an ideology[pride], that will only allow you to view things the way you were taught by parents, friends and community leaders.

All of this, is the result of human nature which, as I mentioned earlier, is totally at odds with everything that God says. This is what has to be torn down, before you can build a better foundation to build your future on.

Next month, we will continue in the area of time.

Once again, Happy New Year!!!