Our life stories are made up of defining moments of various intensity and duration. There are two words for time in the Greek language. One is chronos time, the linear duration of time expressed in hours, days, and weeks. Chronos is where we get the word chronometer: a watch or timekeeping instrument. In Hebrews 5:12, the writer says, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God.” Time in this verse is chronos time. In other words, enough linear time has elapsed for you to be mature teachers.
Another Greek word for time is kairos. Kairos time refers to a moment, season, or opportune time. Kairos is not concerned with the length of time but with the significance of the time. While chronos is quantitative, kairos has a qualitative meaning. Paul uses kairos time when he said, “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6).
Our lives are made up of both chronos time and kairos time. Our life story is the sequence of events over a linear period of chronos time. But our life song is composed of those significant moments or seasons of kairos time, which I will call our defining moments. These moments may be of short duration (moment) or longer duration (season). In either case, what happened in the defining moment is what’s important, not the length of it.
(Note: In Rethinking Discipleship: The Quest, I identified the seven defining moments (kairos) in the life of Christ that makes up the gospel).
Scripture is primarily the record of defining moments of men and women who encountered God in kairos moments. It takes some effort to put the defining moments of Scripture into a chronological sequence. This is especially true of the life of Christ. The four Gospels focus on the kairos moments of people encountering Christ. When each event occurred in the sequence of Christ’s life is generally less critical than the recorded encounter.
Defining moments in the Old Testament are sometimes identified with alters, monuments, or feast days.
An altar was used either for sacrifice, adoration, or worship. During Abraham’s lifetime, he built five altars that testify to different defining moments. Isaac and Jacob built only one each. The difference could indicate the loss of spiritual dynamic of the patriarchs that occurred over (chronos) time. Abraham’s fifth altar was on Mt. Moriah. When God provided a ram substitute for Isaac, “Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the LORD it will be provided” (Gen 22:14).
When the Israelites crossed the swollen Jordan River to enter the Promised Land, God told them to pick out 12 stones and place them as a monument to remind future generations of what God had done. Thus, altars and monuments were helpful visual reminders of God encounters.
The Old Testament also tells of feasts and celebrations as ways to remember God encounters.
The week-long Passover Feast is probably the most notable. It served as both a reminder and a celebration of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt by the power and sovereignty of God. Observing the history of Israel in the Old Testament, it is easy to correlate the spiritual health of Israel with whether or not they kept the Passover.
The New Testament “communion” or “Lord’s Supper” is a celebration to remember Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Paul quoting Jesus’s words reminds us of its purpose: “And when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me” (1 Corinthians 11:24-25).
Throughout Scripture, God tells us to remember. The most obvious reason is that we are prone to forget. However, our God encounters, when God uniquely steps into our world, are to be remembered because they play a vital role in our spiritual health.
To compose our personal life song, we need to remember and identify defining moments where God showed up displaying a quality or trait. He wants us to personally discern those traits as they build our faith and trust in him. To do so, we need to keep several factors in mind.
- God is always present. Christ’s promise to his past, present, and future disciples was that he would be with them to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).
- God shows up in particular ways in our defining moments. However, we do not always recognize his presence because he often does not show up in the way we expect.
- We are often so focused on getting out of our defining moment (especially when it is uncomfortable) that we fail to look around to see God’s touch.
- We fail to look through our lens of faith, so we miss the supernatural by focusing on the natural.
Ezra gives us an excellent example of Israel’s life song in the book of Nehemiah. Having rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, a revival breaks out as the people gather to repent and confess their sins. As the Levites read from the Book of the Law, they are rehearsing Israel’s life song. Read Nehemiah 9 and notice how they connect the events (defining moments) with the touch of God.
In contrast, CNN would have reported the story as a series of natural events:
- A slave people revolted and left Egypt
- They traveled across the Sinai desert in search of a new home
- Moses, raised as an adopted Egyptian, was a dynamic leader who led them.
- Along their journey, the Israelites encountered various threatening obstacles that they tenaciously overcame.
- After 40 years, they settled in a place they called the Promised Land. But, unfortunately, the local inhabitants were not very excited about their arrival, so they put up a strong but futile resistance.
Compare the CNN version with Nehemiah 9. Notice that in Ezra’s version, each defining moment reflects on how God shows up. Ezra turns Israel’s life story into a life song. What is remembered is less about the events and more about the touch of God. The events were simply the laboratory for discovering the nature of God.
For Reflection
- Think of a defining moment in your life when God showed up in a special way.
Think of a defining moment in your life when God seemed to be absent.
- What are some reasons we are told to remember? “Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done, His marvels and the judgments from His mouth” (1 Chronicle 16:12; Deuteronomy 8:18).