01 Jan Kairos in Your Chronos – Jan 14

By Yosia Yusuf

What?

Is this English?

No it is not. It’s two ancient Greek words that means time.

So why do I need to know?

Because according to the second wisest man ever lived, to differentiate between the two is to understand little bit on how the world operates. This is what he actually said, “Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favour to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all.”

If you have lived long enough, you should not be a stranger to this wisdom. We have seen it happening over and over again in front of our own eyes. Remember the not so good looking friend whom your first crush decided to go out with? Or that millionaire who was a drop out from your high school? Or the guy that you used to bully who is your boss today? What happen? Time and chance!

The word chronos is the root word of the English word chronology. It can be translated as sequence of time. So if I tell you that I wake up at 6 and take shower at 7, I’m describing the time in ‘chrono(s)logical’ way. It is how we describe time in second, hour, day, week, month and year.

However, there is another way we used to describe time and that is kairos. The most basic explanation of kairos is the right timing. It’s when there are many other more qualified people than you but the company decided to hire you anyway because you happen to be in the right place at the right time. It’s when a regular salary man went to American Idol and wowed the world with his ability to sing Opera and become famous overnight. It is also the reason why she chooses to date him and not you, despite the fact you think you are better than him in every way. It is kairos.

As much as we love kairos, it is not in our control. We cant make a kairos moment for ourselves. However, we are given chronos. You and I are given today. Right now. This very second. This very breath. What are you going to do with it? Kairos is not in our hand but He who control kairos, give us a direction on how kairos works in our chronos

“The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” – Eccl 12:13