Kairos – I came
across this word today and it got me thinking.
According to Wikipedia, Kairos (καιρός) is an Ancient Greek word meaning the right,
critical, or opportune moment. The ancient Greeks had two words for time: chronos (χρόνος) and kairos. The former refers to
chronological or sequential time, while the latter signifies a proper or
opportune time for action.
In the New Testament, ‘kairos’ means ‘the appointed time in the purpose of God’, the time
when God acts (e.g. Mark 1:15: the kairos
is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand). ‘Kairos’ (used 86 times in the New Testament) refers to an opportune
time, a ‘moment’ or a ‘season’ such as ‘harvest time’, whereas ‘chronos’ (used 54 times) refers to a
specific amount of time, such as a day or an hour (e.g. Acts 13:18 and 27:9).
We’re all familiar with chronos – seconds pile on to minutes to hours, weeks, days, months
and years. Time flies by and one fine day we wake up and wonder where all the
years have gone? The grey hair on my head and the wrinkles on my face tell the
story of chronos. It’s a visual
reminder that I’ve spent over half a century on this earth.
That’s chronos.
But what about kairos? Are we seizing
our moments? And when is the right moment?
I believe the right moment is always ‘NOW’. The time to
take action is now! The time to make a difference is now!
Change will not
come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've
been waiting for - Barack Obama
The time to get to work is NOW – not tomorrow, not in a week,
a month or in a year.
Yes, I can. I know that I can. If I want change, I am the
person and the time to act is now.
Kairos, the perfect
moment, is always now!