Redeeming the Time: Making the Most of Every Oppurtunity

Most of us waste time as if we had more than we could ever spend, Amen? We do not value it for its true worth. Yet, lives are lost in minutes wasted. Every minute or every hour of every day is precious and we get to choose to be faithful or not – to live for Christ or self – to invest in the eternal or the temporal. Life is but a vapor. It is not repeatable and every minute is a miracle – and matters. Live with an eternal perspective – don’t waste your life, it is valuable beyond measure. Remember, our Lord Jesus died to save it.

It is a pity to fritter away any of our time as it is more precious than silver or gold. One can always make more money but never more time. Further, not one minute goes by unwitnessed by the Master, the God of all creation. It serves us well to consider what He deems as “protos” – the most important. Whiling away this precious commodity is an affront to God as He has placed all of us here with purpose and that is not to entertain and indulge ourselves to death. And, quite frankly, if we are not impacting our world for Jesus in some way, we are wasting our time and our lives.
   
The wise look up – resting in God’s purpose and authority over their lives and willingly receiving marching orders from Him, seeking always to abide in the center of His good and pleasing and perfect will. We make plans, but they are not authoritative plans – He often overrides them for something even better. Yet, this is all for our good and His glory never one surpassing the other. The important thing to learn is that He has a plan for every life and we want to walk in it. We don’t want to miss His best. We are the ultimate losers when we do. We must choose wisely and hold on to things loosely. His ways may seem very difficult and not of our choosing (and more often than not this is the case) but it is always for our best – always. And in the end, it brings forth much fruit not to mention eventual perfect peace and contentment. One never outgives the Master. Remember as well, God is in the process of conforming us into the image of His Son and He uses all that He allows towards that specific and blessed end. And the transition is often slow. Very slow. Yet, God is not bound by time and He patiently waits as the ashes become beauty, the oil of gladness in lieu of mourning presents and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair is worn. His desire is for us to be oaks of righteousness, plantings for the display of His splendor. How it pays to walk in step with the God of all creation. Indeed, our times are in His powerful hands. “And it is only time, but it flies right by and today is sweeter than we know…” (Battistelli).