The Glass Is Half-Empty, Thank God!

Thus, the end of the kronos-"cup" does not mean the termination of kairos-content.

The biblical revelation of the nature of time can have powerful impact on our thinking, worldview, and attitude about the past, present, and future.

No matter where we stand in kronos-time we can always anticipate greater fullness ahead. To change the metaphor, rather than a cup, think of kronos-time as a track, and the destination as kairos. From any point in the journey, there is an important "station" or intersection ahead that marks progress toward the "fullness" of the destination. Passengers rarely if ever report, "I am halfway gone," but "I am halfway there."

This is the significance of the Old Testament, as summarized in Hebrews 1:1-2, "God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in his Son…" So Abraham, for example, went forward in faith in his own kronos-period, yet looked out beyond the rim of the "cup" for "the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God…" (Hebrews 11:10).

The man or woman who looks at time through the lens of Scripture lives with anticipation. He or she anticipates meeting God, encountering the opportunities and momentous moments of his kairos all along the way.

The impact is not only in the perspective of our present and future, but on the past as well.

We are to forget those negative and sinful things that are behind, but, since God was in our past also, we can fetch from the past all the joys, blessings, and hard lessons that were there and enshrine them as treasures.

In Christ every new junction of history is viewed with realistic assessment, but also with expectation. Time is moving toward Christ, not away from him.

Rejoice that the "cup" of the future is "half-empty" because that means there is room for more.