What Time Should I Go By? Chronos or Kairos?

When’s the, eight o’clock train leave?

The clerk lifted a thick eyebrow and peered over thin glasses perched on the end of his nose. “Eight.”

The cowboy nodded and flipped open a worn silver pocket watch. It read five ‘til eight. He sauntered over to the window and looked up and down the tracks. Empty tracks. He tilted his head as he looked at the clock over the bank across the street. It read one minute to eight.

He turned around, held the watch to his ear, and stared at the clock on the train station wall. It read five minutes past eight.

“Hey mister,” the cowboy said, scratching his whiskered chin. “What time should I go by?” He lifted his watch. Mine says five ‘til.” He nodded toward the street. “That clock out there says a minute to.” Then, he frowned. “But yours says, five after.”

The train clerk shrugged. “You can go by whichever you want.” He raised two shaggy brows this time as he peered over his spectacles. “But there’s one thing you can’t go by.”

The cowboy crossed his arms. “What’s that?”

“You can’t go by—" he looked out the window “—the eight o’clock train; ‘cuz, it’s done gone.”

Some say location, location, location, is everything. But, it’s not. You can be at the right place, but if you’re there at the wrong time—you’ll miss the train. Or plane. Or boat. Or worse yet…the moment.

There’s more than one kind of time. Chronos, helps us not miss our train; kairos, helps us not miss Life.

Chronos refers to the kind of time we read on our clock or calendar. It can be measured. It’s where we get, chronology or chronological.

Some examples of chronos time are:

Galatians 4:4; “But when the fullness of the time (chronos) had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

Acts 2:1; When the day of Pentecost had fully come… was an exact date on the calendar; chronos.

John 2:4 “Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour (chronos) is not yet come.” Jesus was saying, His time (chronos) to go to the cross, had not yet come. That time was a date certain, on God’s calendar.

However, Mary seized the opportune moment and said “Do whatever He says…” Jesus’ response to her faith, turned a problem, into an opportune time, a kairos moment.

Chronos is earth’s clock. Kairos is Heaven’s.

Only God fully knows both. Acts 1:7 says: “And He said unto them, ‘It is not for you to know the times (chronos) or the seasons (kairos), which the Father hath put in his own power.’”

He’s God. We’re not.

Elijah went by God’s time. According to the talk of heaven’s clock, he knew it was time (kairos) to pray that it would not rain—and it did not rain, for three and a half years. Then, he looked at his kairos watch, and knew it was time for rain; so even under a clear blue sky, he boldly proclaimed, “I hear the sound of an abundance of rain” ...and it did rain. A lot. 

Notice, his prayer was according to kairos; not according to need. 1 Kings 17 and 18.

Kairos means an appointed time, an opportune moment, or a due season.

I do prayer walks, whenever I can find, or make, the time. But one day, while I was busy, while I was working, while I had other things on my mind and my agenda, I heard, probably not audibly, but it might as well have been. “Go for prayer walk now.”

I did.

I just happened to be walking past Jim’s, when I spied a man knocking on his door; peaking through his window. I walked on by, then turned around, thinking that was just a little too weird. He said, Jim had called his company for a ride, but now he wasn’t answering. He told me, according to company rules, he wasn’t allowed to open the door.

Well, company rules don’t apply, when marching to the tune of kairos time. I opened the door and hollered, “Hey Jim, this is Doug, you alright in there?”

“Nooooo” came the faint cry.

He was on the kitchen floor and couldn’t get up. In short order we had him up, and medical assistance attending him.

We may think all we can do is pass the time, (chronos), as we walk through our mundane uneventful, boring life. But, if we’re listening and obedient, we can experience an entirely different realm of life happening all around us. Unzip the veil, and dare to peek, just beyond the ordinary and natural and step into the extraordinary, supernatural awareness of God’s divine timing, seizing the moment, the kairos moments, all around us.

Continued part two: Reaping Kairos

(Above was part of our Whispering Pines Village Wednesday Bible Study)