Sojourner Truth, the former slave, who with her freedom became a great, abolitionist crusader, once said:
“God will take care of the poor trampled slave, but where will the slaveholder be when eternity begins?”
We’ve been talking about time this week—its relation to the night and day, how it interacts with space, and what it means to waste it. But time is only part of the picture. Sojourner Truth’s quote reminds us that time is just a prelude to eternity—and that what we do in time actually matters…forever.
It is tempting to think that our own actions don’t matter quite so much as that—after all, we’re not slaveholders. A little unkindness here, a little lie there, perhaps a disrespectful word to our parents…what’s the big deal? In a few hours or a few days, it will be forgotten. The passage of time, we think, will take care of it.
But Charles Spurgeon’s caution is for all of us: “Behold, at this hour our moral history is being preserved for eternity. Processes are at work which will perpetuate our every act and word and thought.”
What if Sojourner’s question is not for the slaveholder, but for me? Where will I be when eternity begins? Surely that is worth a bit of time to consider.
Have a wonderful day.
