Redeeming Time
Time. An extravagant gift that we shamefully waste each day.
We long for our "yesterdays," we worry about our "tomorrows" and we forget to fully live in our "todays."
Every day our bank is filled with 24 sparkling, shiny new hours. 24 hours pregnant with potential and hope. The catch: each minute of each hour must be spent. Time can not be hoarded or saved up in an account. Once that minute is spent, it is gone. It can't be recalled or relived, only remembered.
Do we recognize this amazing, free gift we are given each day?
Why does it seem when we remember the past it becomes more beautiful to us now than it was at that moment. Remembering our children when they were babies. Longing to kiss those tiny feet again. Did we realize at the time how precious that moment was or were we worried about the cost of diapers or the large to do list on the fridge?
Ephesians says, "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil." (Ephesians 5:15-16 NKJV)
Redeeming the time. That phrase hit me today. Redeeming the time. What exactly does that mean?
The word “redeeming” in the Greek can mean “to buy up, ransom, or rescue from loss.”
"Redeem" implies the preciousness of the opportune season, a jewel to be bought at any price. (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible commentary)
Time is like a precious jewel to be bought at any price.
Would I trade my diamond wedding ring for an hour? Is it worth it? An hour at the movies? An hour on Facebook? An hour with a friend? The hour my children were born? The last hour with a loved one before they passed away?
It seems once time has been spent we can see its value more clearly. Kind of like a backwards sense of buyer's remorse.
So how do we redeem the time?
We cherish each moment. Live it to the fullest. Buy it up, ransom it, rescue it from loss. Live in the "now." That is where God moves. He is the "Great I Am," not "I Was" or "I Will Be Someday." Faith is now. The Bible says, "NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]. (Hebrews 11:1 AMP) Faith is trusting God NOW with your tomorrow.
God is not bound by time, but we are. He moves in the now. We hear His still small voice in the now. When we stop. When we listen. When we buy time with Him because we recognize the value it holds.
Don't live in the past.
God cannot change our past, but He can redeem it. He can rescue it from loss. He can take it all, the good the bad and the ugly, and make something valuable and precious from it. Be it a life changing lesson or a key to set another free.
Don't worry about the future.
God tells us not to worry about our future. “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. (Matthew 6:34 NLT) The children of Israel were told to only collect enough manna for that day. Anything more would be considered wasteful. It would get rotten and full of worms. A lesson to live in the now.
Live in the now.
We can't save up moments. Once this moment is gone...it's gone forever. I realized this as we prepared to move from Florida to Minnesota. I wanted to hurry and cram in time with people I loved before we left. Like the more I time I spent with people the less I would miss them—like I could save up the moments in an account to pull from later. But I soon realized, we can't hoard up life's moments. They have to be enjoyed then and there. That's where the joy is. That's where the memory is created.
At. That. Moment.
Last night I watched the sunset over the lake. It was so beautiful. Bright hues of purples, pinks and oranges splashed across the sky. I began to take photos and I as I looked over my photos, I realized that each second of the sunset was different—the colors in the sky changed. Each photo captured a different moment of the sunset. It was amazing to me that one sunset held so many beautiful, separate moments. Had I waited ten minutes to grab my camera, I would have missed it entirely. Something so beautiful—gone in ten minutes. God took time to paint all those beautiful colors in the sky, moment by moment, making each one as beautiful as the next. And it only lasted ten minutes. It seems like a waste of time to make something so beautiful and so extravagant and to make it only last for ten minutes. I think that is the point. God is an extravagant God. He fills each moment to the fullest. We need to redeem the beauty of each passing moment by recognizing the precious jewel that it is.
Live in today.
Redeem the time.
Each moment is precious and valuable. God is out and about moving in what we call today. Don't miss Him in the moments.
Two photos of the beautiful sunset taken only a minute apart.
