But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law.
(Galatians 4:4-5)
One of the great illusions of our time is that we control time. We surround ourselves with clocks and calendars and second-measuring apps, but they mislead us into thinking we have a handle on time. We try to convince ourselves scientifically that each second, day and year is the same size, but we know they aren’t. This verse gives us a different way to think about time when it says Jesus came in the “fullness of time.” For us, time is slow or fast; here Paul echoes the idea of time, for God, being full or empty. One of the effects of God being “born of a woman” was stepping out of eternity and into our sense of time. The God who always was, always is and always will be, for a brief time, experienced our ‘before, during and after’. That God-beyond-time is now in you and me by faith. Maybe that means we need to stop thinking about ‘passing time’ or ‘marking time’, but following Jesus to fill up our time with the redemptive plan of God. I don’t know when I arrive at my “fullness of time”, but I want my time to be fuller by this time tomorrow.
Lord, forgive my presumption and confusion about time. When you redeemed me you redeemed my time as well. I give you permission to fill up my time with your plan today. Amen.
