Biblical Stewardship: Redeeming the Time

In the inside portion of my closet door, there hangs a sign that reads, "How do you live your life, when no one's watching?". This question, such an eerie reminder of how precious time is, not only amplifies the importance of time, but also leads down a path of the dangers of time unmanaged. Time is vital to our being. Each day that God allows us to see, we're given 24 hours, 1440 minutes, 864,000 seconds to be used for a purpose.

In the Book of Ecclesiastes, the writer Solomon, writes near the end of his time on earth describing in contrast the pursuit of the treasures of this world over the pursuit of God and keeping His commands. Chapter 3 starts, "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven." Our time, if stewarded properly and biblically, will produce greater heavenly treasures in due time, but most importantly, biblically stewarding our time honors God.

For instance, consider Proverbs 6:6-8. Ants are tiny creatures, but they seem to always be working! I once did a study in college analyzing the behavior and work pattern of sidewalk ants for over an hour - trust me, ants are constantly on the move! They're always in prepare mode - ready for any and every situation that may arise. In such way have we been called to be as Christians, always prepared to give an account for the hope that's within us (1 Peter 3:15), using our time to prepare, share the Gospel and glorify God, but so many Christians today "have watches, but don't have any time" - they're too concerned about the things of this world to actually be of any service to God.

Redeeming the Time

The world that we're living in is getting scarier and more evil at an alarming rate. Murders are happening constantly and the moral compass that would distinguish right from wrong has been turned away to post-modernism and relative reasoning. All this is going on while "professing" Christians do one of two things: say nothing, or conform to the world. Although we've been called to be nothing like the world, to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:1-2), we as Christians often hide our lights (Matt. 5:16).

Ephesians 5 describes a contrast between children of God - being imitators of God (v.1), walking in love (v.2), and children of light (v.8), to that of those that are lost and have never received Jesus as their Savior - sons of disobedience (v.6) and in darkness (v.8). Although sinning seems to make sense in the moment, you have to admit that it doesn't produce any rewards. 

What the greatest issue that faces all of us, whether a believer in God or not, is the fact that each of us has a 100% death rate. We will all die at some point. However, what happens after this life is based on the decisions, or lack there of, that we make in this life. God is real. Hell is real. Heaven is real. One day each of us will stand before God and give an account of our lives, whether we made a commitment to God through His Son Jesus Christ, or if we rejected His gift of salvation. 

Christians, we have little time to spare for idleness. What are you doing to serve as "a minister of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5:18-21) to those that are lost? There's too much at stake for us to remain stagnant about the things of God and sharing the Gospel.

SDG