by Barbara Latta
The recent
change from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time required changing clocks and
watches and adapting our days to earlier darkness in the evening.
We feel that we
lose an hour each spring and gain it back in the fall. But we aren’t really
losing and gaining, just rearranging. The only way we can lose time is by
squandering it.
Time is a
commodity we aren’t conscious of. Minutes tick by while we go about our
business every day. As each second slips past, the hands on the clock have
moved through a day we will never re-live.
Time can’t be
placed in a piggy bank and saved like money. Hours can’t be earned like our
salary. Minutes are not retrievable like lost coins. Time passes and
disappears.
God tells us to
redeem time, so how do we do that?
“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as
fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians
5:16 NKJV).
A travel
experience I had taught me a lesson about redeeming time. As I prepared for a flight,
I waded through security, lugged bags up escalators, waited in the terminal
through flight delays and listened to the non-stop chatter of the canned
announcements telling me not to accept bags from anyone else. When I plopped
down in my assigned seat, I was ready to sit on the plane and relax with my
good Christian book while my selfishness was hoping no one would bother me.
How like God to
show me how I was closing myself off to other people by seating me next to a
woman who wanted to talk nonstop. I didn’t want to listen to this stranger. I
wanted to read my Christian material. Finally, the Lord got the message through
to me and I closed the book and turned my attention to my seat mate. She saw
what I was reading and we struck up a conversation about spiritual matters. I
gave her my book as we left the plane.
My time that
day was not my own. God assigned my seat next to this woman so I could learn to
listen and so she could hear His message through the material I was reading.
Each moment and
each day is a gift. What we do with it determines our future and can ultimately
affect the future of someone else.
When scripture tells
us to redeem the time, I don’t think God is expecting us to constantly be
preaching a sermon to someone. Yes, there are times we need to speak God’s Word
to individuals, but the way we live our lives speaks volumes also. He wants us
to use every opportunity to reflect His glory to a world full of pain, chaos,
evil and selfishness.
When the Holy
Spirit’s character comes out of us in our response to situations we are
redeeming that time in a way that shows Christ to a hurting world.
Some of the
ways we can do this is through godly character traits such as:
- Honesty – Telling the truth has become an anomaly; no one expects it anymore and when we do speak honestly, we stand out like a beacon; returning change to a cashier who counted the money incorrectly is a welcome surprise to that employee.
- Diligence – When we go the extra mile at our jobs and do something not expected of us or when we exert 100% of our efforts instead of simply getting by until we get paid, our actions speak louder than words to our employer.
- Purity – Taking a stand against immorality in a world polluted by vulgar language, pornography, abortion and human trafficking are actions that defend the abuse of others.
- Integrity – Doing the right thing even when it may cost us something exhibits the selflessness of Christ’s love.
- Defend God’s name – In a world full of blasphemy and promotion of political correctness, standing for God is not popular.
The worldly
society is not accustomed to people responding to situations in ways that put
other people first.
The earth has
turned, the sun has set and risen again for another day. Rather than saying,
“What did I do with yesterday?”, we can look at the sunrise and declare, “What
will I do with today?” Yesterday is gone and we don’t need to beat ourselves up
if we didn’t use the day wisely.
Many opportunities
for redeeming the time have slipped through my days. But thankfully, I am
learning to listen, and I finally yielded to God’s whisper while on that plane
and put my agenda on hold while I let my time become someone else’s.
Songwriter, Jim
Croce, wrote about the fragileness of time in his hit single, “Time in a
Bottle.” In his song, Croce wrote about wanting to spend forever with the one
he was writing about, his wife, by putting time in a bottle. Thankfully, when
we know Christ we will live in infinity with our loved ones; not by putting
time in a bottle, but by knowing the author of eternity. But until then we do
need to redeem our time, because the days are
evil.
When we leave
this temporary home, we are released from the bondage of time; but until then
we have a calling to fulfill while we are still breathing in our bodies.
We are God’s
mouthpiece and He uses us. If we treasure each moment as a gift of life, we are
redeeming the time our Father has given us. When we glorify the Lord, we are
shining a light during the days that are evil.
Do you have ideas
to redeem time? Feel free to share your thoughts.
TWEETABLES
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