‎The mystery of time, how to navigate it‎

By Chioma Obinagwam
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‎Yesterday is in the tomb. Tomorrow is in the womb. And today is the only thing that truly belongs to you.
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‎The Provincial Pastor of Lagos Province 40 of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Solidrock Parish, Pastor Bola Odutola.
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‎He stated that kings have been subdued by time. The beautiful have been humbled by it. The wealthy stripped by it. And his message to worshippers at Solidrock Parish’s Thanksgiving Service was simple: navigate it wisely, before it takes everything.
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‎Confiance News gathered that while delivering the sermon on the mystery of time, Odutola urged believers to deepen their walk with God, live with intentionality, and resist the illusion of permanent ownership over the things of this world.
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‎Speaking during the church’s Thanksgiving Service, Pastor Odutola drew from key scriptures including Acts 17:26-28, Ecclesiastes 12:1-7, and John 21:17-19 to anchor a message that was as much a philosophical reflection on human existence as it was a spiritual charge.
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‎”Time is a mystery. You are a must. Your time in this world is a mystery. Your survival in this world is a mystery. But you must understand the mystery,” he told the congregation.
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‎God Draws the Boundaries of Every Life
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‎At the heart of the message was a declaration that God, not man, is the ultimate architect of human timelines. Citing Acts 17:26-28, Pastor Odutola stressed that every life operates within divinely set boundaries, and that any disconnection from God results in a destiny that becomes stalled and grounded.
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‎”Whenever there is a disconnection with God, destiny is grounded,” he said.
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‎He went further to explain that the daily rhythm of sunrise and sunset is not merely astronomical. It is, he argued, the mechanism through which time exercises its God-given authority over every human being, regardless of wealth, beauty, or position.
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‎”The rising of the sun and the setting of it facilitates your aging. Trying to slow down the aging, you are actually fast-forwarding it. God has given time power to subdue man, subduing kings, ridiculing the beautiful, and harassing the handsome,” he declared.
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‎Nothing Belongs to You the Way You Think
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‎One of the most striking threads of the sermon was Pastor Odutola’s challenge to the concept of human ownership. Referencing Psalm 24:1, which declares that the earth and everything in it belongs to God, he reminded the congregation that the things people stake their identity on, including property, money, physical strength, and even the body itself, will eventually be reclaimed by time.
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‎”All the things you have, time will take them from you. Time will take even your house from you. You are the one calling yourself a landlord, after God has said the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,” he said.
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‎He extended this point to material wealth and physical capacity: “Time will deprive you of your bank account. Time will deprive you of your bones.”
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‎Drawing from Ecclesiastes 12:1-7 in The Message translation, he painted a vivid picture of a future in which the world continues peacefully and joyfully without any individual in it. The verse, which poetically describes the deterioration of the body in old age, served as a sobering backdrop to his call for early surrender to God.
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‎”There is one day when everything will go on peacefully and joyfully without you,” he reminded worshippers.
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‎Children Will Eventually Become Your Strength
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‎Pastor Odutola also touched on the season of life when physical decline means a reversal of the parent-child dynamic. Referencing John 21:17-19, in which Jesus foretells the manner of Peter’s death and the dependence that would mark his final years, the pastor noted that time eventually brings every strong person to a place of reliance on others, including their own children.
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‎”A time will come when time will cause your children to subdue you,” he said.
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Build Wisely, Live in the Present
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‎The sermon did not remain in the realm of the abstract. Pastor Odutola closed with direct, practical advice for believers navigating life decisions.
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‎On the question of building a home, he offered counsel shaped by wisdom rather than ego: “If you have not built a house yet, do not build a big house. Just build a bungalow and have a big compound.”
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‎And in what became one of the most memorable lines of the service, he offered a framework for how to think about time itself: “Yesterday is in the tomb, tomorrow is in the womb, today belongs to you.”
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‎The Thanksgiving Service at RCCG Solidrock Parish, Lagos Province 40, Ojodu, drew worshippers who left with both a renewed sense of urgency about their spiritual lives and a more grounded understanding of how briefly and contingently they hold the things they call their own.
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‎Pastor Bola Odutola has led Lagos Province 40 for many years and is known beyond the pulpit for the province’s active community development work, including the donation of multiple school buildings to Lagos State Government.