The phrase, "In the Beginning," is as common to the Christian faith as the Holy Bible itself. And with good reason too, because these words form the first written words of the Scriptures.
The above phrase, although not time-specific, certainly denotes a place in time. And though the Scriptures later refer to YHWH mentioning that a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like a day to Him, He is not implying that time is irrelevant ... only that He is NOT as time-specific as we are, or as regulated by it as we are. YHWH even mentions that He created the Sun to rule the day, and Moon to rule the night ... a distinct relation to the rule that time has.
Thus, time IS certainly of importance to Him, and re-iterated in Ecclesiastes, where the Holy Spirit mentions that to all things there is a season; a time to live and a time to die; a time for war and a time for peace, a time to rejoice and a time to be sad; a time to reap and a time to sow.
In fact, His Son, who forms the basis of our faith, took time alone from his disciples to be alone with His Father to pray. And He did that in accordance with His Father's infallible plan for us, which was to prepare Jesus for the time allocated to Him to die ... and a time for His resurrection.
I won't bore you to death with details (or self-proclaimed righteousness?) of Bible-punching all the incidents mentioned in the Bible relating to time, but the Prophecies mentioned by Jesus concerning the end of days (war, famines, floods, and rumours of war) must certainly be seen as an indication of the importance of time that is running out for us, or it would not have been included in the scriptures.
But what I can say with conviction is that where time is important to God, He certainly is not as competetive concerning it as we are. Races and competitions are man-made "obstacles" designed for enrichment. We need to measure time in hours, minutes, seconds and milliseconds, because it would be unwise for the aviator to use night and day as the only preparation in his planning, where quantities of fuel and distance have their own timing that needs to be considered.
But, as far as God is concerned, the race does not fall to the swift or the strong, for he who is last will be first, and first, last.
Does that make of time irrelevant?
No!
Time is just as relevant to us as it is for YHWH, because it teaches us to manage our daily responsibilities, and more importantly to offer us a means to PLAN.
I certainly doubt that YHWH has an issue with us measuring time in the units mentioned, and in fact may even endorse it as a means of applying our minds to wisdom ... but time as we know it should be subject to YHWH's timing, and the two should not be confused with the other.
We therefore must conclude that time, in respect of YHWH and man, is of absolute importance in the Biblical sense ... and the failure to respect each form collectively is detrimental ONLY to man.
