I was driving by a local church here around Bennettsville the other day and read one of those signs churches like to put brilliant sayings on. This one said, “Time’s Up…now is the time to change.” Wow, I thought…time’s up? What if time really was up? Would it really be time to change?

In the Bible, when the scriptures talk about time being up, I don’t remember any chances to change from that point on. If time was up, the time for changing would have already past. I know that churches believe that saying things like this encourages people to make positive changes in their lives; meaning they repent and “turn to God.” The problem with saying things like this is two fold.

First, time isn’t up. If it were, we would be see the consequences of not doing whatever it is that was expected before time was up. In Christianity, that would be repenting, confessing Jesus as your savior, and living according to the dictates of whichever branch of Christianity you happen to belong. Once you believe time is up...and that you have a split second chance to change just before all hell breaks loose, you do the whole deal. You confess, repent, turn to God and change how you live. After you realize that time really isn’t up, you eventually go back to the same pattern of life you lived before someone convinced you that “time’s up.”

Secondly, the church keeps telling people that time is up and nothing happens. No wrath, no plague, no world destruction. They keep saying it and each time their credibility drops a little more until no one believes anything they say. Not only that, they keep dragging God into the mix each time telling everyone He said it. Now you’re killing God’s credibility.

It is one thing to disagree over what you believe the Bible is saying. God knows there are as many doctrines as there are people. It is totally another thing to bring God into it just because you want to try and bring more weight to your argument. I can’t can count the times that people have disagreed with me scripturally and because their point was weak and they were losing the discussion, all of a sudden, this is something “God told them.” When they say that, it is supposed to end all disagreement. Who could argue with God.

Well, God has said some things. They are all in the Bible and when you read it and understand the purpose of the scriptures and the trip Jesus made to this earth, it all makes perfect sense.

If God now has a stopwatch and counting down the time until it is “time’s up”, it is not so he can pour out his wrath on mankind. When you read the scriptures you clearly see that Christ came into the world to take on all of God’s wrath and judgment. When he hanged on the cross, bowed his head and said it was finished, time was up. The time of that age came to an end and a new age began.

In the new age, God was angry with man. All of mankind’s sins had been put on Christ. God had judged them in Christ and his wrath was satisfied. That is why it says in Isaiah that God would see the suffering of his soul and say I am satisfied. Man had an opportunity to reach Godly perfection through their works by following the Law, they failed miserably. During all of Jesus’ earthly ministry he spent his time trying to show the people who followed him that they couldn’t measure up, even if it only meant…just believe.

I am all for people changing for the better; and so is God. Not because God will love them more or not be mad at them; he isn’t mad. The reason I want people to change for the better is because it will help them. If they stop doing things that harm them and keep them from living happy, successful lives, I am all for that and so is God.

People need to change for the right reason and that reason is to stop hurting themselves and those who love them. There is no reason that has to do with whether God will be happy with them or not. He is happy and loves them no matter how messed up they are. God isn’t keeping any kind of record of how much good or bad they do. He stopped that the day Jesus died.