Redeeming the Time

"Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15,16).  How often have you heard someone say, “I was just passing time”?  Or, the expression, “I am just killing time”?  The idea is getting through a period of time that has no value, waiting for something you really want. The verses quoted from Ephesians expresses the preciousness of time in a very unique way.  Verse 16 literally reads “redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”  If precious time is not to be wasted, it must be redeemed, that is, a price must be paid.  We are to put a very high value on each hour and each day God has alloted to us; and we must pay a price to buy back our time, so that it is not lost in evil.  Jonathan Edwards delivered one of his greatest sermons on The Preciousness of Time.  The older I get, the more heavily I feel the weight of Edwards’ powerful words.  The sermon he is most remembered for is Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.  I feel his sermon on Time is in every way the equal of its more famous counterpart, and is of greater relevance to the Christian.  Rereading this sermon yearly would be of inestimable benefit to every believer.  In the next few days we will spend a little time with Edwards’ great sermon.  You will never be content with “killing time” again, and you will think twice about how many hours you let television devour.