"Redeeming The Time"

“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” (Eph. 5:15–16 kjv)

“Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.” (Colossians 4:5)

Time is a gift from God, and none of us know how much of it we are allotted. We all have a scarcity of time. We should therefore "make the most of the time" we have, and be wise enough to know what it means to "make the most of time."

Living in worldly and carnal pleasures, in sin, is not making the most of one's time! Living the kind of life that the Creator has prescribed is the only way to make the best use of our time.

We should ever be aware that our days are few and that we may not have another day. Rather than waste our days on frivolous pursuits, the word of God instructs us to be diligent about doing good (Titus 3:8). The way we "spend our time" defines and reveals who we are, our priorities, our values.

A fool makes unwise choices with his time. We need to live in such a way that we get the most for our time. We are to live as if every minute counts. We can always make more money, but we cannot make more time.

Time Lost vs. Time Redeemed

We all, to one degree or another, have wasted time. We have "lost" time and ought to be interested in redeeming it, or buying it back. In other words, to use a common saying, we need to "make up for lost time." We all have lost time when it comes to pleasing God and doing those things that he has ordained. In some respects, we cannot make up for those lost days. Yet, in other respects we can "buy back" those lost days.

I think of how we often "lose time" in fulfilling our plans for the day or week. When a traveler gets behind schedule, he will speed up his walk, or his automobile, in order to "make up for lost time." Many Christians, especially when they are first saved, look upon their former years as "lost time" when it comes to their relationship with God. They often work hard in attempts to make up for all that lost time in sin.

We are in a race as Christians. (See I Cor. 9: 24-27; Gal. 5:7; Heb. 12:1) One thing that slows us down (losing time) are running with weights, with those "besetting sins." To run faster, and to gain time, we should get rid of the burdens and the wrong activities.

Sinners, and even many professing Christians, are "killing time," wasting time, but we should be rather redeeming it. People in Hell at this moment are suffering the bitter anguish of wasted time. Instead of men "killing time," time is killing men. Instead of killing time, redeem it. Instead of counting the days, make your days count.

Men don't generally procrastinate when it comes to doing those things that please the flesh, or "living in pleasure," but they most certainly procrastinate in the things of God.

Don’t put off until tomorrow what should be done today, because procrastination is the thief of time. In other words "make time!" And, "get around to it." Retrieve the misspent past by the right improvement of the present.

Time A Commodity 

“Time is money.” That is true, yet time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time. Time is a strange commodity; we can't save it, retrieve it, relive it, stretch it, borrow it, loan it, stop it nor store it, but can only use it or lose it.

Not only do we "kill time," but we work hard to "save time." We both rob time and get robbed of time. Though we hear people say that they "have all the time in the world" to get right with God, or to do good, they really do not. We should learn therefore to invest time and not just to spend it. Good stewards of our time as well as our money and exertions is what God calls us to be. Stop saying, “If I had time.” You do have time. Take advantage of every opportunity.

Yesterday is but a cancelled check. Tomorrow is a promissory note. Today is all of the cash that you have. Spend it wisely.

Stewards Of Time

In the day of judgment all will have to "give account" of how they spent their time.

With all our modern conveniences and technological advances we should have more leisure time than any period in history, but the opposite is really the case. Men simply choose to spend their leisure time in unholy pursuits rather than to do as the song exhorts, i.e., "take time to be holy."

"For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing." (Acts 17: 21)

The words "spent their time" is from the singular Greek word εὐκαιρέω (eukairéō) and means, according to Strong, "to have good time, i.e. opportunity or leisure:—have leisure (convenient time), spend time." They spent their time in getting the latest news, the gossip, and in activities that please the flesh, rather than in truly seeking God.

"Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness." (Isa. 55:2 KJV)

For the word "money" in the above text insert the word "time." How many spend their time in things which do not really satisfy and make spiritually healthy?

If you knew you were going to die soon, how would you spend your time?

Concluding Thoughts

carpe diem - seize the day

"...no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries..." (I Peter 4:2-3)

If one has been saved, there should be a drastic change in how he spends his time. How are you spending your time?