Ephesians 5:16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. I. WHAT MAKES IT SO SUPREMELY IMPORTANT TO REDEEM TIME? 1. Its connection with eternity. Time is the seed of eternity. 2. So much time has gone by, and cannot be recalled. A dying English queen cried, "A world of money for an inch of time!" 3. Because of the worth of the work that is given us to do in it. What would be said of a farmer idling his time while his fields lay uncultivated, or a general occupied with trifles when the enemy was in the camp? 4. The special reason given in the text — "Because the days are evil." II. MARK HOW THIS REDEMPTION OF TIME CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED. 1. Take the exercise of the responsibility to God. Begin with heartfelt prayer. Seek to know the value, and to obtain strength for performing the duty. We must begin with God if we are to prosper. Even all our strength put to the wheel will not move it; the work will break down because the power is insufficient. But God will give what we need (Deuteronomy 33:25; 2 Corinthians 12:9; Philippians 4:13-19). 2. Having begun to lead a new life in the exercise of prayer, and in the life that prayer brings out for us to live, remember another important rule, viz., to keep the great end of life before us. We are either sinners lost in sin or saved by grace. If lost in sin, the work given us to do is, "Believe," etc. We look to the Saviour as the object of our love, and we go to Him as the source of our strength. One brings the brightness and the other brings the power. 3. Another rule for us to remember as redeemed and saved sinners, is our responsibility, and the one object of our life, viz., "To me to live is Christ," etc. Let us turn our eyes on Him. If we suffer our hearts to wander from that centre we immediately become palsied creatures, living for no earthly object or value at all. In conclusion, let us remember, in the exercise of this life, that He who died for us has a claim on the best of our time and the whole of our heart. (Charles Bridges, M.A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. |
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