The Times They Are a-Changin’

​‘The Times They Are a-Changin’’ is Bob Dylan’s well-known song.

Though we can hardly believe it, the summer that really ‘never came’ this year, despite a glorious June and a great spell of ‘summer’ in September, is now well past.

The time ‘will be a -changin’ for real next weekend, so get ready by adjusting your clocks back - and the host of other electronic ‘thingys’ around a farm these days! The ritual of changing the clocks is relatively recent. The idea was that of a William Willet who wrote ‘The Waste of Daylight’ in 1907, suggesting putting clocks forward in spring and back in autumn, but he never lived to see it happen. The Summer Time Act only came in for us in 1916, in the middle of the First World War, when Germany first adopted it in an attempt to save fuel for the war effort.

So, the time is changing, but how often do we observe and comment on the truth of Bob Dylan’s old song that ‘The times they are a changin’? Changes happen every day, and the older we get the greater the changes we will have seen - some for the better and many for the worse.

In the Bible’s Book of Ecclesiastes we read, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-4).

These words affirm that God has given time, and ordered ‘the times’. So we do well to remember that there is no point in us thinking we can argue with the maker of time, or controller of ‘the times’. God does everything right and on time.

I think that there is a great comfort in that, especially in the times that we live in. But when it comes to time itself, we know we need to value it and use it wisely, because we can waste time and squander it. We all know that there is a right time to do many a thing and that a thing done at the right time can save a lot of time having to be spent later.

The Bible is very clear about important things we need to do in time. “Today is the day of salvation…” (2 Corinthians 6:2) brings the urgency of spiritual preparedness.

It means that God offers His grace to those who seek Him in this life, and that people should not delay, or harden their hearts to His voice.

It is a call to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ as our only Saviour and Lord. Life can be busy, too busy, for most of us, and there is never enough time to do everything that we need to do. However, as the Canadian-American author and motivational public speaker, Brian Tracy, once said, ‘there is always enough time to do the most important thing’. How true.

If we miss everything else in this life, be in time to receive the gift of the eternal life that Jesus came, lived, died for on a cross, and rose again to give us - and be sure of a life that is not ‘time limited’ in heaven!

Ian was brought up on a dairy farm near Limavady. He was a minister in Ballyroney and Drumlee congregations in south Down, and latterly Moneydig Presbyterian in County Londonderry. Due to a serious cancer diagnosis, Ian has had to retire from active ministry and now provides counselling and support to others with cancer.

If you would like to talk to someone about any of the issues raised in this article, please email Rev Kenny Hanna, PCI’s Rural Chaplain at [email protected] or call him on 07938 488 372.