Step out of Time

I have been listening to the following Matthew West song a number of times over the past few days and it just keeps resonating with me... I wish you could hear the tune, but the lyrics will have to do unless you buy the "History" album.

"Out of Time" by Matthew West

So, you're hungry for a taste of the other side

Where the grass is thick and green

But your feet are on familiar ground

Frozen and afraid of what you might lack

Oh, if that's all that's holding you back

Come on, step out of time

Fall out of line

Leave a mark they can't erase

Find your heart and lose your mind

Watch the journey unwind

And let it be a new day

Out of time

How's your story gonna read

When they call your name

And it's all there in black and white?

Will you follow or will you lead?

Will you quietly disappear

Or is this whole world gonna know

That you were here?

'Cause it's time to be free

It's time just to live what you believe

What you gonna do with the life you're living?

What you gonna make of the time you're given?

When you're free you have been forgiven

Now come on and step out of time

'Cause once you go you're gone forever

Don't you know it's now or never

But I can feel a change in the weather

Now come on and step out of time

Come on, step out of time

Fall out of line

Leave a mark they can't erase

Find your heart and lose your mind

Watch the journey unwind

And let it be a new day

Out of time

Now I know the purpose of this life is NOT for ME to be noticed! We're not to focus on leaving just ANY kind of mark! The kind of mark we're supposed to be focussed on is directing people's eyes to GOD and eternity. We were, after all, created for God's glory.

Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my
glory, whom I formed and made. Isaiah 43:7

The glorifying-God kind of mark cannot be erased! The "size" or seeming impact of the mark left behind will vary according to human perspective...but ultimately, if people's eyes are drawn to God, this mark will have eternal impact because God will be glorified and will work it for His purposes in His time.

The reason this song resonates with me so much is that it draws up this image of stepping out of time--both a dancing image and a timeline image. The point is that God is calling us to see so much beyond our limitted vision of the here and now, all the pressures, the treadmill of life, the busyness that seems like we just have to stay caught up in, the trivial pursuits of life and on and on. Satan seeks to put blinders on our eyes, so we don't see the bigger picture, the larger tapestry of our lives that God is weaving. He doesn't want us to see or direct other's eyes to ETERNITY. He wants us to stay stuck on the treadmill, moment by moment focussing on ourselves and the pulls of this world.

Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8

But I know that God desires that each moment is to be focussed on HIM, whether the here-and-now moments or the moments that we will spend in eternity.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3:1-2

So, what does "stepping out of time" mean for me personally? This term seems to sum up what God is stirring in my heart lately.

Does it mean

...going overseas to minister in an orphanage?

...becoming a foster family?

...adopting a child who is in dire need, giving them a new "life"?

...ministering to immigrants in our own city?

...helping the poor and needy in a more tangible way?

...just being intentional about each and every interaction with each person in my sphere of influence?

What does it mean exactly? What am I supposed to be doing with me life? How am I to SPEND my life, each and every moment of it? Those are the nagging questions on my heart lately.

As I wait for God to answer I continue to seek to be intentional about each and every interaction with those in my sphere of influence as I know this is definitely something God wants me to do...

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Col. 4:5

But is there some "bigger" plan that God has in mind? I really don't know! It scares (and EXCITES) me to pieces! My life could be turned absolutely upside down if we were to go overseas or take in foster children or give selflessly to immigrant ministry...

WHAT is God calling me to do, to be, to become?

I want to step out of time. I don't want to waste this life. I want to spend my life for eternal impact.

So now, I choose to "fall out of line, to leave a mark that can't be erased, to find my heart and lose my mind, to watch the journey unwind and let it be a new day out of time..."