Not made for time, but for eternity
I recently received an email from a friend in Cambridge. He suggests that all of us have a certain frustration from being confined within time. We cannot hold on to time...but our frustration with time suggests that perhaps we are not meant to be confined by it. CS Lewis writes: 'We are so little reconciled to time that we are even astonished at it. 'How he's grown!' we exclaim, 'How time flies!' It's as strange as if a fish were repeatedly surprised at the wetness of water. And that would be strange indeed; unless of course, the fish were destined to become, one day, a land animal'. (1)
Our frustration with time is a reminder that we were not made for time, but for eternity. We are all meant to become (in CS Lewis' image) land animals – to emerge out of time into a greater dimension...but that is only possible because of the resurrection. It is the resurrection that gives us the courage not to fear time, or tomorrow, or whatever may happen to us in this world. Even before it happened, it was the resurrection that gave Job a hope beyond the here and now and into eternity. It was the resurrection that changed the disciples from deserting cowards into men and women of faith, conviction and courage, and it is the resurrection that can change us and our suffering into something more glorious than we will ever imagine.
This is an extract from Code Red, published posthumously in October by CMF and available online or from the office for £5. Andrew Drain was a young cardiothoracic surgeon who died of leukaemia in July 2010. His exposition of Job is illuminated by his own experiences and the book is already a CMF best-seller
reference
1 CS Lewis. Reflections on the Psalms. Harcourt, Brace, 1958. Chapter 12 'Second Meanings'
