Redeeming the time on things of eternal value

Redeeming the time on things of eternal value

Do you realize that the vast majority of what happens in time is irrelevant. If it has nothing to do with God’s Son and living by His Word, it counts very little in the utter vastness of eternity. This small vapour of a life we have in this body is NOTHING compared to the eternity we will spend in one of two places. If you believe in Jesus Christ and His cross work, then you are called to an eternal, heavenly vocation, Eph 4:1, and you should be giving serious consideration to that life and purpose in the ages to come, which is being affected by what we do today. Read 1Co 3:10-15 for some details.

In the Book of Ecclesiastes Solomon says,

Ecc 2:11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon also said, “there is a time to be born and a time to die”. He makes another little statement saying, “that no man may find the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.” Ecc 3:11. The vast majority of men come into this process of time by birth, and they leave it at death and are no more the wise as to what God is doing from the beginning of the end. The vast majority of them go to their deathbed in vanity and in spiritual poverty.

This is not the will of God for you. God wants you to first be saved, but then He wants you to come to a knowledge of His will, 1Ti 2:4; Col 1:9. Paul says the following in the book of Ephesians,

Eph 4:17-18 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

In Ephesians chapter 5, Paul continues to say,

Eph 5:15-17 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

That means we are to understand what God is doing in time and be followers of him as dear children, not walking in the vanity of our mind, having the understanding darkened, and being alienated from the life of God which is in Christ.

We are to understand the will of God, our Creator, and to know what He is doing today. God isn’t doing today what He was doing two thousand years ago. We need to understand what God is doing in this present day, and in this dispensation of grace. We need to find out what God's will and purpose is for us by studying the Bible and then do what God says. That's how you prove the will of God, as Paul said in Romans 12:1-2.

We all have responsibilities in this life, but it is up to us to redeem the time that we have been given. In the time we have here and now, outside of our immediate responsibilities, we are to apply ourselves to the Word of God. Our life in the ages to come will first be judged by how much of Christ is formed within us, and then it will be adjudged and rewarded by our knowledge of God’s Word, which is His will, His purpose and His desires, the things that are eternal, and the things that hold value as the gold, silver and precious stones of 1Co 3:12.