ARE WE REDEEMING TIME? (Shirley Chacko, Arlington)
Published on 07 April, 2020
There is a beautiful poem written by Linda Ellis titled - The Dash – This is basically centered on the simple idea of how we view the dates on a tombstone. Usually we make note of the year that a person was born and the year the person died. What matters most of all is the dash between those years. The dash represents the years of a person’s life. The dash serves as a symbol of each one’s time here on this earth. It stands for all our years of life and substance. The Dash speaks all about our achievements, what we own, people we love, the way we treat each other, relationships and whether we appreciate people more. This poem makes us think if there are things in our life that we would like to change, for we never know how much time is left. So when we are dead and our eulogy is being read, with our life’s actions to rehash, would we be proud of the things people say about how we spent our DASH?
Even as we read this article, one of our most valuable assets is slipping away. This asset is shared equally by rich and poor, young and old. And once it is lost, it is impossible to regain. This priceless commodity is time! Time is precious because a happy or miserable eternity depends on the good or bad use of it. Time is precious because time is very short, because we are uncertain of its continuance, and when time is past - it cannot be recovered. Time is free, but it's priceless. You cannot own it, but you can use it. You cannot keep it, but you can spend it. Once you have lost it you can never get it back. Time is a gift from God and all of us have been given the same amount of time, which is 24 hours in a day. Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time. Every day, hour, minute, second is precious for us and our time should be spent very cautiously.
To the world, the phrase “redeeming the time” could mean either; driving 65 mph in a 35 mph zone; skipping breakfast; cosmetic surgery or coloring one’s gray hair to black to recapture a youthful look.
But to those in God’s Church, it has an entirely different meaning with significant consequences. Apostle Paul admonished the first-century Church to “redeem the time.” This same admonition needs to be paid attention by Christians living in the final era! The phrase ‘redeeming the time’ in NIV version of the Bible says – Making the most of every opportunity.
What does it mean to “redeem the time?” The word “redeeming” in the Greek can mean “to buy up, ransom, or rescue from loss.” We need to “rescue from loss “the time that remains in our life. We can only redeem today and plan to redeem tomorrow, because yesterday is already gone! We alone are responsible and accountable to God for the gift of time that t God has given to each of us.
Let’s look at the very next phrase from Paul in Ephesians 5:16 “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Look at the important word because in this passage. Yes, we are to redeem the time – but we do so because the days are evil. We are living in the last days, a time when building holy, righteous character is becoming more and more difficult. Many paths of wrongdoing and wrong thinking can cause us to lose focus on God’s way of life. Because the days are evil, the opportunities we have to do good and to bring glory to God are swallowed up by busyness and our worldly mindsets. Because the days are evil, if we just “go with the flow” of our culture, we will lead wasted lives. Because the days are evil, our sinful nature is the default owner and decision-maker concerning these precious windows of time we have to make a difference on this earth
The problem if we don’t redeem time is that - Evil can consume us. We fail to realize or understand the temporary state of human existence or that our days are numbered. We think we have all the time in the world and tend to put off or procrastinate as much as we can. When Paul looked around at the world that he was living in, he saw the evil such as Impurity, greed, idolatry, and disgusting sins of all types surrounded Paul, and they surround us even today. So pervasive is the evil of these days that our opportunities to do good will slip away and be consumed by darkness unless we act. We have to rescue and redeem these opportunities from the clutches of an evil world.
How many of us have put off overcoming or facing personal problems, wasted time in foolish and silly activities, neglected our relationship with God, or took lightly our calling as His elect and chosen child of God? There are consequences to procrastination. The nation of Israel chose to delay entering the Promised Land, and the result was forty years of wandering in the wilderness. All of us have been given the opportunity of using our time for God’s glory. We are called to be wise and make the most of our time. However, many of us know that we let procrastination rob value from the time God has entrusted to us.
On Sunday night, October 8, 1871, the well-known evangelist, D. L. Moody, preached to the largest congregation that he had ever addressed in Chicago. His text that evening was taken from Mathew 27, verse 22 - “What shall I do then with Jesus who is called Christ?”, and at the conclusion of his sermon he said, “I wish you would take this text home with you and turn it over in your minds during the week, and next Sabbath we will come to Calvary and the Cross, and we will decide what to do with Jesus of Nazareth.” Then his song evangelist, Ira D. Sankey began to lead in singing the hymn, “To-day the Savior calls; for refuge fly; the storm of justice falls, and death is nigh.”
But Sankey never finished the hymn, for while he was singing, the rush and roar of fire engines whistled by the church on the street outside, and before morning much of the city of Chicago lay in ashes. To his dying day, Mr. Moody deeply regretted that he had told his congregation to come on the next Sabbath and decide what to do with Jesus. “I have never since dared,” he said, “to give an audience a week to think of their salvation. If they were lost they might rise up in judgment against me. I have never seen that congregation since. I will never meet those people until I meet them in another world. But I want to tell you of one lesson that I learned that night which I have never forgotten, and that is, when I preach, to press Christ upon the people then and there and try to bring them to a decision on the spot. I would rather have that right hand cut off than to give an audience a week now to decide what to do with Jesus.”
Like Moody before the great Chicago fire, we have allowed ourselves to say, “Tomorrow!” But unfortunately for most of us, that day never comes! God does not command us to make the most of our time, without giving us the ability to do so. God has given us enough time to carry out His plan for us. We should redeem time because of the fleeting nature of opportunity. We should redeem time because of the brevity of life.
I pray that we will be alert in these last days, be sober, be vigilant and be filled with His Spirit and ultimately our goal should be to win souls for Christ.
Even as we read this article, one of our most valuable assets is slipping away. This asset is shared equally by rich and poor, young and old. And once it is lost, it is impossible to regain. This priceless commodity is time! Time is precious because a happy or miserable eternity depends on the good or bad use of it. Time is precious because time is very short, because we are uncertain of its continuance, and when time is past - it cannot be recovered. Time is free, but it's priceless. You cannot own it, but you can use it. You cannot keep it, but you can spend it. Once you have lost it you can never get it back. Time is a gift from God and all of us have been given the same amount of time, which is 24 hours in a day. Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time. Every day, hour, minute, second is precious for us and our time should be spent very cautiously.
To the world, the phrase “redeeming the time” could mean either; driving 65 mph in a 35 mph zone; skipping breakfast; cosmetic surgery or coloring one’s gray hair to black to recapture a youthful look.
But to those in God’s Church, it has an entirely different meaning with significant consequences. Apostle Paul admonished the first-century Church to “redeem the time.” This same admonition needs to be paid attention by Christians living in the final era! The phrase ‘redeeming the time’ in NIV version of the Bible says – Making the most of every opportunity.
What does it mean to “redeem the time?” The word “redeeming” in the Greek can mean “to buy up, ransom, or rescue from loss.” We need to “rescue from loss “the time that remains in our life. We can only redeem today and plan to redeem tomorrow, because yesterday is already gone! We alone are responsible and accountable to God for the gift of time that t God has given to each of us.
Let’s look at the very next phrase from Paul in Ephesians 5:16 “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Look at the important word because in this passage. Yes, we are to redeem the time – but we do so because the days are evil. We are living in the last days, a time when building holy, righteous character is becoming more and more difficult. Many paths of wrongdoing and wrong thinking can cause us to lose focus on God’s way of life. Because the days are evil, the opportunities we have to do good and to bring glory to God are swallowed up by busyness and our worldly mindsets. Because the days are evil, if we just “go with the flow” of our culture, we will lead wasted lives. Because the days are evil, our sinful nature is the default owner and decision-maker concerning these precious windows of time we have to make a difference on this earth
The problem if we don’t redeem time is that - Evil can consume us. We fail to realize or understand the temporary state of human existence or that our days are numbered. We think we have all the time in the world and tend to put off or procrastinate as much as we can. When Paul looked around at the world that he was living in, he saw the evil such as Impurity, greed, idolatry, and disgusting sins of all types surrounded Paul, and they surround us even today. So pervasive is the evil of these days that our opportunities to do good will slip away and be consumed by darkness unless we act. We have to rescue and redeem these opportunities from the clutches of an evil world.
How many of us have put off overcoming or facing personal problems, wasted time in foolish and silly activities, neglected our relationship with God, or took lightly our calling as His elect and chosen child of God? There are consequences to procrastination. The nation of Israel chose to delay entering the Promised Land, and the result was forty years of wandering in the wilderness. All of us have been given the opportunity of using our time for God’s glory. We are called to be wise and make the most of our time. However, many of us know that we let procrastination rob value from the time God has entrusted to us.
On Sunday night, October 8, 1871, the well-known evangelist, D. L. Moody, preached to the largest congregation that he had ever addressed in Chicago. His text that evening was taken from Mathew 27, verse 22 - “What shall I do then with Jesus who is called Christ?”, and at the conclusion of his sermon he said, “I wish you would take this text home with you and turn it over in your minds during the week, and next Sabbath we will come to Calvary and the Cross, and we will decide what to do with Jesus of Nazareth.” Then his song evangelist, Ira D. Sankey began to lead in singing the hymn, “To-day the Savior calls; for refuge fly; the storm of justice falls, and death is nigh.”
But Sankey never finished the hymn, for while he was singing, the rush and roar of fire engines whistled by the church on the street outside, and before morning much of the city of Chicago lay in ashes. To his dying day, Mr. Moody deeply regretted that he had told his congregation to come on the next Sabbath and decide what to do with Jesus. “I have never since dared,” he said, “to give an audience a week to think of their salvation. If they were lost they might rise up in judgment against me. I have never seen that congregation since. I will never meet those people until I meet them in another world. But I want to tell you of one lesson that I learned that night which I have never forgotten, and that is, when I preach, to press Christ upon the people then and there and try to bring them to a decision on the spot. I would rather have that right hand cut off than to give an audience a week now to decide what to do with Jesus.”
Like Moody before the great Chicago fire, we have allowed ourselves to say, “Tomorrow!” But unfortunately for most of us, that day never comes! God does not command us to make the most of our time, without giving us the ability to do so. God has given us enough time to carry out His plan for us. We should redeem time because of the fleeting nature of opportunity. We should redeem time because of the brevity of life.
I pray that we will be alert in these last days, be sober, be vigilant and be filled with His Spirit and ultimately our goal should be to win souls for Christ.
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