Redeem the Time

 Scripture: Ephesians 5 v 14 - 19: "Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. 

15  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.
18  And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
19  Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;"

When we are born again its as if we woke up from a coma or rose from death.  Everything is full of life and light.  We are a new creation in Christ, conforming to His stature and His access to the Father.  We literally and spiritually have a new lease on life.

We have real privileges that were unknown before this moment because Jesus said that we could not perceive His heavenly kingdom if we were not born again of our spirit.  We are awakened to spiritual truth and the distinction between good and evil.

We should have one real desire at this point - to redeem the time!  This means that we need to make up for lost time.  The lost time is every day since we were able to know God, but didn't.  Every day we wallowed in our sins and were indifferent to evil.

We should make a plan with Jesus and our families to redeem the time.  Give up a few hours of TV or leisure time to get direction from the Lord on what He would have us do to share His Kingdom with others.  He knows our situation, even how many hairs on our heads, and what we are best suited to do.

This is not about church and its functions, but about us in our individual capacity.  It may start with sharing these blog posts with people who may never hear about Jesus from anyone else.  Or inviting some people for a barbecue and saying a blessing over the food and company.  

The trouble is that we are often reluctant to share the gospel with our family and friends for fear of ridicule, or inability to counteract their arguments or their own opinions on eternity.  We have also been traditionally brainwashed into believing that priests, pastors, ministers are the only ones allowed to evangelize or preach or even share testimonies.

I am reminded of a friend back in the 80's - we met when our sons, aged 7, had a play date and she had come to collect him.  There were certain Bible verses on plaques on my lounge wall, which she must have noticed.  She said she had something urgent to say to me.

During that week she had woken up in the night aware that there was someone in the room.  After her initial fear she felt peace.  The room seemed alive and she heard the words repeated several times, Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  Then it all faded away.  She felt the need to tell someone, but didn't know who.

She had never been to church in her life.  So she was relieved to be in a place with someone who had Bible verses on the wall.  Over several weeks we met nearly every day until she informed me that she was ready to believe and receive Jesus as her Lord.

Those weeks were spent redeeming the time when she was empty of light and filling herself with knowledge.  I had to leave the grumbling 99  righteous sheep to their own devices while going after this one lost lamb.

Another interesting side to this testimony was the year before, outside the school, I was unknowingly parked behind her car.  The Lord told me to pray for her salvation.  She even obligingly got out of the car so I had a good look at her.  It was only after meeting her and seeing her bright red car again that I remembered praying for her.  God is so faithful, to reveal Himself then bring her to the very door of my home.  He makes it so easy when He knows we can fulfil His will.

Just be available to God for any eventuality and when He calls on us be able to drop everything else and go.  He will guide us through the situation that He has set up to save a soul or bunch of souls.  He is the Saviour, we are just sheep with His plan to follow.

The secret of success is adjusting our egos to allow God to initiate and control each part of His plan.  Staying in communication with Him is as essential as an air traffic controller guiding a plane to land.  There are other things flying around that need to be avoided.

The quickest way to redeem lost time is to let Jesus work everything out.  He made this world in 6 Days so He knows how to speed things up.  Our part is to learn how to yield to His nudges and fully co-operate with Him.  He knows our talents and abilities and sometimes throws us in the deep end to do something totally out of our ballpark.  This is to keep us reminded that we can do nothing without Him.  Our egos sometimes get in the way.

These days much time is wasted because those appointed to hold positions in the church are bound by tradition or false teachings.  They have no idea that these things are even a problem.  It means that millions of people who are faithful churchgoers have never met Jesus Christ, nor known the wonders of the Holy Spirit.  It means that we, who do know Jesus, must work with Him to change their direction.

By the signs of His coming increasing daily we have no time to lose to reach these wandering souls.  He will work with us to move upon those trapped in mainline churches that are stagnating in their pomp and ceremony.  There is nothing else we can do that will please Him more.

I would like to thank those who cared so much about this blog that they made sure the technical difficulties were resolved so that we did not waste valuable time.  The time has been well redeemed.  May the Lord bless you. 

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, its so wonderful being part of Your Kingdom but let us not waste time but be about Your business.  Let us be available when needed, no excuses, just moving in the direction given.  We want to understand and fulfil Your will as often as required.  Thank You Father for every opportunity to share how You saved us.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.