“. . . redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”
Ephesians 5:16
That’s one of the Apostle Paul’s phrases (Ephesians 5:16); the phrase is sometimes translated as “make the most of every opportunity,” but I prefer “redeeming the time”. Redemption language is mostly used in connection with salvation. But the original context for that language was the slave market, when a slave’s freedom was purchased. When that happened, the slave was redeemed: bought at a price, paid in full, and set free. It’s a striking picture of what Jesus did for you: bought you at a price — his own blood — paid in full, and set you free. You’re not a slave (to the devil, to sin, to fear, to death, to selfishness) anymore.
Jesus did even more: he then adopted you as his child, and appointed you as his priest and ambassador.
He redeemed you. Is there a better story in all the earth?
And this is the language Paul uses in relation to time: Redeem it. Buy it back, set it free, and appoint it to a new purpose entirely. So much of our time is “enslaved” — we’re stuck in traffic, or waiting outside a doctor’s office, or sick in bed, or locked into a job we can barely stand. Time is our taskmaster. It rules us, and grinds us.
Well, redeem it: pray in the traffic jam, ‘walk across the room’ in the Doctor’s office, memorize the Word on your sick bed, turn your menial tasks into acts of worship. When you do that, you rule time, and it submits to you. You’re free.
My challenge to you this week: when you find yourself in circumstances you can’t change — time is not your own, but is ‘enslaved’ to some other purpose. Ask God how you might, there and then, redeem it. And then just do it.
You can comment on this devotional online at:
http://thoughtsaboutgod.com/blog/2013/04/24/mb_redeem-the-time/
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