In Time (2011) is a motion picture dealing with the currency of time in a world where you earn time and spend it—run out of time and you’re dead. Time is a concept hedged in morality; it is the ultimate thing speaking for life and death.
Those living their lives in the ghetto live with a day—or even hours—on their forearm clocks, whereas those living in New Greenwich (which is out of reach for those in the ghetto) have hundreds or, in some cases, thousands of years on their clocks.
Ghetto life necessitates the survival instinct because the risk of death is so imminent. Those in New Greenwich, though, may never die and therefore usually don’t live.
The spiritual paradox in this: we can go through life busied by many things—work, pleasure, placating people, running from one thing to another—and never live.
Open or Closed?
Real living is, of a sense, about spiritual enquiry.
When we are open to spiritual enquiry the gateway to life is also opened.
As we shun the spirit within each of us, little by little we die, despite our prospects, cash flow, friendships and allegiances, reputations and fame, or anything else. Indeed, the world gives us copious excuses to run from the ever enquiring spirit deep inside.
When we are open, however, abundance from spiritual enquiry is afforded. We are ‘in time’ with the right purpose.
What is Spiritual Enquiry, and How Do We Achieve It?
Where do we start in describing this process of approaching the truth about ourselves, our world, and God, no less?
Spiritual enquiry may be the process of truthful reflection whereby we allow God to search us and reveal himself to us. This compels us to take note and to think and act differently.
Most times this doesn’t happen without either a concerted effort or the will to surrender to God, beyond the busyness. We make time for it or we don’t. When we don’t make time for it, only we lose. We can know our Bibles back to front and still not be living ‘in time’.
***
Being ‘in time’ is being alive in this world; not by the beating of our hearts so much as the vibrancy of our spiritual heartbeat. We merely exist or we truly live.
Living is conditional on our spirituality and spiritual enquiry is a way to bring us the life; because it aligns us to the truth. We become challenged and encouraged; not bored, distracted or bewildered.
Being ‘in time’ is a decision we make each moment—it’s contingent on our spiritual enquiry. If we’re not interested in such enquiry, God will not give us life. But if we are, God will not rest until we have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10).
© 2011 S. J. Wickham.
Photo: Twentieth Century Fox.
No comments:
Post a Comment