Thoughts on Discipleship by Dr. W. A. Dillard - HTML preview

DRIVING THE TICK-TOCK

“The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever.” Psalm 81:15.

Perhaps it was a small, wind-up alarm clock placed on a nightstand near the bed, or a larger wall mounted clock that struck the hour. It may have been the cherished grandfather clock whose ticking and tocking dominated the quietness until the hour chimes sounded, the purpose in them all was to accurately measure time, and faithfully transmit that measure to people preoccupied with other things.

Their sound was a constant reminder of the steadfast, unalterable passage of time. Each tiny measure seemed to tick “Now-gone, Now-gone.”

My generation is the last to have experienced the familiar trick-tock from infancy to adulthood. The sound was often motivational. At other times it conveyed comfort, and security as it overrode the anxiety of insomnia with the assurance that all is well and proceeding as normal. Even a puppy being weaned from its mother would cease its night time whimpering and sleep soundly if a ticking clock were wrapped and placed in its bed to mimick the heartbeat of another so close.

In the throes of nostalgia, it truly seems something dear was lost when the old, faithful instruments of tick-tock gave way to the silent digital instruments that simply produced a readout of the more precise time of day. Thus the colloquialism of “what makes you tick” alludes to the old tick-tock of mechanical time clocks. Like the ticking and tocking of the clocks, there is a ticking and tocking of life. It reveals purpose. Clocks had a simple, but specific purpose to which they were limited and largely faithful, but with people the ticking and tocking is widely varied, giving rise to the curious inquiry: “What makes you tick?”

Aside from the commonality of providing for home, offspring, and dedication to the tasks necessary to life commensurate with one’s generation, “What really makes you tick?” Is it the acquisition of power, wealth, popularity or other mundane things destined to pass away? Such pursuits are attached to losers whose “Mainspring” of life has been reprogrammed by the forces of evil away from the pursuit and enjoyment of truth that comes from the Creator.

In other terms, unlike people, it is always the potter, not the vessel who decides which lump of clay will be preserved as useful. Therefore, the vessels of humanity need to know this about their Creator: it is the very glory of God to conceal a thing, but the honor of kings is to search it out. Prov. 25:2. It follows then that all those who would be a preserved vessel of truth must return to the original programming of the Creator through the only channel He prepared for them: repentance from sin and faith in Christ Jesus. That is the foundational programming that allows the pursuit, or the “tick-tock,” of life to fulfill creation’s purpose.

After all, when life is soon over, all one may take into the next dimension is what he has become on earth: that is what he truly believes, and one can not believe what he does not know. What then are you pursuing? What is it that is driving the “tick-tock” of your life?

FOR THOUGHT? Has this article succeeded in drawing attention to a vision of life seldom considered? How will you answer the last question of the article? Will you make changes in your pursuits today?