FROM THE SERVANT GENERAL
OUR THEME FOR 2023
(Part 3)
AN APPOINTED TIME FOR EVERYTHING
September 23, 2022
Today’s reading: Ecclesiastes 3:1-11
“There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.” (v.1). This is especially true with regards to God’s workings among humankind.
- God called you and you responded, and you entered into your new life in Christ.
- God brought you into community and gave you the privilege to serve in ministry.
- God sent you on mission, something you had never done before, and used you to bring Christ to different nations and cultures.
- God allowed intense suffering into your life, as a way of deepening your faith in Him and growing in holiness.
What God has done for you is blessing in itself. But how about what you have done for others and for the Kingdom? What fruit has it brought about? “What profit have workers from their toil?” (v.9). Have all your sacrifices been worth it?
“I have seen the business that God has given to mortals to be busied about.” (v.10). Especially with regards to His people. All Christians are called to:
- Live in the light.
- Love their neighbor, including their enemies.
- Proclaim the gospel of salvation in Jesus.
- Help bring peace and unity in the body of Christ.
We have busied ourselves with the affairs of the Kingdom. What have these done for the world? The world is deep in darkness and sin. People, including many Catholics, have grown cold in their faith. Much of the world is supportive of the culture of DEATH. Have our efforts been worth it? Should we continue?
Yes! But precisely because there is a degree of futility and even absurdity in continuing to do what does not make much difference in the lives of the greater number of peoples, we need to keep focused on the basics. And the basics are faith and love. We put our faith in Jesus and we remain faithful to his mission. We look to God who is love and manifest that love to others, irrespective of the extent of the fruit.
“God has made everything appropriate to its time” (v.11a). God’s timing is perfect. God called us, used us, and continues to send us forth. He has His ways, and it is not up to us to judge His ways based on our human perceptions or preferences. This requires a firm faith, and a strong foundation of love, which does not question the Lover.
Further, in His relations with His servants, God “has put the timeless into their hearts so they cannot find out, from beginning to end, the work which God has done.” (v.11b). We are not to be hemmed in by secular time and space, but look beyond to the immense depth of God’s work, even as we may not fully understand. For example, you proclaim Christ to someone and he seemingly does not respond, but you have already planted a seed, which God will later use to bring that person in.
Our task is to serve, and it is up to God to use us in any way He sees fit. We do not need to know the beginning nor the end, but just live in the present moment. We know that God is at work in the lives of people, and even now He might be setting up the moment when we will be given the opportunity to share Christ with another. And we know that God uses whatever good we do to also bring good to the other, even when we do not see the immediate fruit of our work.
There is an appointed time for everything, and it is God who appoints the time. We are just His instruments. Our part is to remain firm in faith and founded on love.
