Category: Biblical Worldview

Ephesians 5:15-16 (KJV)
15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

I have written before on this phrase “redeeming the time” and the vivid pictures that are created by Paul’s original language. Paul describes the process of making the most of our time in marketplace terms.

To redeem a slave is to buy them and set them free. To redeem our time is to exert effort to rescue our time from slavery to the world, our sin, and our earthly systems and thoughts.

But we forget that redemption isn’t easy.

Every day we’re surrounded with a dizzying amount of choices. At every point in our lives, we have option upon option set before us.

There are decisions of all sizes: What career to choose? Should we serve on this committee at church? Should we take a five-minute break now? Should we quit our job and become a missionary in China? Should we spend today working on project A or project B? Should we exercise tonight or spend time with family?

How do we choose? How do we prioritize well?

And then how do we summon up the motivation to live out those priorities? Let’s be honest: Sometimes procrastinating on the internet is way more tempting than work.

In the first chapter of Philippians, Paul gives us divine wisdom on this issue. Tucked into his opening greeting, Paul gives us two simple ingredients for having wise priorities and robust motivation.

It didn’t happen the same as it does in the movies.

There was no painful sigh of a last breath, no dramatic dropping of the head, no exasperated last words.

Instead, she just slowly and peacefully moved her mouth. Her pulse – visible through her emaciated neck – got slower and slower.

We stood there and watched, wondering whether or not she was gone. My dad went to tell the nurse that we thought she had passed. While he had stepped out, she moved her mouth a little more and her pulse picked back up.

A few minutes later, we hadn’t seen any signs of breath or a pulse for a while. The nurse listened with a stethoscope and verified that, after three weeks in the hospital, my grandmother had finally gone home to be with the Lord.

It’s the end of December – a busy and fun time around the holidays. But it’s often depressing as well.

We only have a few days left to make good on all the goals and resolutions that we set for ourselves in 2013. For many of us, we’re far off the mark.

Another year has gone by – and what do we have to show for it?

When the calendar flips over to 2014, there’s a sense of hope for a great year ahead. But perhaps there’s also a sense of guilt at all the opportunities we’ve missed. All the time we’ve wasted. All the procrastination, the sleeping in, the unproductive running around with urgent but unimportant tasks.

It’s challenging to move on from all of this, because we have lingering senses of guilt. The consequences of wasted time are very real. Family neglect can damage relationships. Exercise neglect can harm your health. Work neglect can damage finances.

For me, it’s almost painful at times to think about how different my life would be if I could have better invested all of that wasted time throughout the years.

But the best solace is to view these missed opportunities through a biblical frame. Ironically, healing comes when we realize how horridly sinful our time wasting really is.

There are days when you’re just in the zone. You’re creative, you’re productive, you’re efficient, you’re energetic.

Then there are those days when you feel like you’re banging your head up against a wall. Nothing’s working out. Nothing’s flowing. Productivity grinds to a halt.

Could this lack of productivity be God’s discipline?