God’s Time and Ours, Worship: January 21, 2024

Ever had those days that felt like weeks or those weeks that felt like days? Those minutes that felt like hours, or the hours that felt like minutes? Time is a fickle thing on this earth, as we are bound by it yet our perspective of it is ever changing. Our Scripture Readings today all deal with time. As God deemed it time for Nineveh to have the opportunity to repent and know His grace, He came to Jonah a second time. In the Epistle, Paul reminds us time is short, and the physical world is passing away. In the Gospel, Jesus would begin His earthly ministry and call His disciples, echoing the words of John the Baptist, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15). Though to the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day, we live each day knowing that all time is in His hands. Until He calls His people to glory, we rejoice for the time to gather where His Spirit is, be blessed by His Word of Law and Gospel, rejoice in mercy and forgiveness, and make use of the time given to be witnesses to others.