We saw in the last devotional that we have a biblical mandate to redeem the time. This is a comprehensive command that pursues walking in the light, and is contrasted with living as the world lives. Despite being comprehensive, there are many ways that this command is practical. It literally refers to going over every area of our lives and heart, actively testing them with Scripture, and then seeking to conform them to what we learn is pleasing to God.
Before beginning on some things that we can do towards obeying this command, it is first important that we recognize that we are without excuse to neglect this command. Please don’t skip this part, but seek to come to terms with our mandate.
In short, to redeem the time is to seek to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. Are we people who can say truly that we seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness, or that we love Him with all that we are? Many seem to think that this idea is simply impossible, or “Of course we do not,” as if the most supreme commands of the Bible can be written off or excused. We, as Christians, often do excuse much of what we do, assuming that much of our priorities in life—even when they lead to the neglect of the mandates and commands of God—are somehow acceptable to God; as if tagging Him onto our busied activities or our excuses for them—which reflect other, contrary priorities—are acceptable to God. Yet, where in the Bible can we find any teaching that it is okay to keep God in fourth place in anything? Third place? Second place? No, either He is first, or He is not being honoured as God in our lives.
How much have we garnered a strong sense of “Well, what I am doing is just life,” or “How can God expect more of my life?” We look at things that we busy ourselves with, whether work, children’s activities or sports, or games, parties, reading fiction, or anything that fills an inordinate amount of time that displaces God’s priorities for our lives. “What is wrong,” we ask, “with going to my child’s every soccer practice or driving them to every game?” Nothing is innately wrong with such a thing. However, if we are doing that with our children instead of raising them up explicitly in the teaching and admonition of the Lord, then their soccer activities become something inordinate—that is, it becomes something held as higher in the life of that family than the things of God. There should never be any doubt in your home about what comes first, and everything else must fall to the wayside of what is to be first: God.
Our starting point for how we live our lives must be seeking to obey God’s biblical mandates and commands, according to the grace that He provides for us. Everything must always be made to serve and operate within those mandates. No one is ever too busy to serve God or obey His mandates. It does not matter who they are or what they do. You can be a mother of small children, a pastor of a needy congregation, or an entrepreneur of a burgeoning company: all people, everywhere, and regardless of their station in life, have enough time and the place for obeying God’s mandates and commands. With regard to the Christian use of time, the only difference between one who does follow God and one who does not is where their priorities lie. All of our time needs to begin and end with God’s priorities. If professing Christians would like to push against this, then they would have to claim that obeying God is only for those who are in a particular place and station in life. Yet, what does this do to God and to His mandates? It makes out God to be unjust for requiring many people to keep Him first in their lives, who are allegedly just too busy to obey God as He desires. “Doesn’t God know that I am too busy for that? Surely, He will understand.” It makes out God to be unrealistic, expecting young mothers or hard-working businessmen to actually have time for what God desires. When did God get out of touch with reality? Didn’t He make all reality? Finally, it makes out God to be a liar, since God Himself expects that His followers will keep Him first, and He promises to make it so that all genuine believers will do so. Is God mistaken, or are we? Can we keep God first, or is that only for a certain class of people? Is it not funny how we think that we can get into the wedding banquet without putting off our filthy clothes and putting on the pure and white clothing given to us by Christ? Or be unprepared for Christ as the ten virgins? Perhaps we do not consider that God has a place over these things we busy ourselves with, or that those things are to come into subjection to Him? All things, without exception, are to be run through the priorities and mandates of God. What runs your life? What is at your center? What does your use of time say about your priorities? Centers can be replaced. In the Christian Faith, this is not optional. Either God is central to all that you think and do, or something else is. So, I ask again, what is at the center of your life? We need to be honest about this, since it acts as a litmus test for our faithfulness.
Hopefully by now, you see the futility and foolishness of claiming to be a Christian, and yet being satisfied with having even a part of our lives unredeemed. For the remainder of this devotional, I will focus on prayer as a good place to start.
Our focus on redeeming the time begins with jealously guarding the time we set aside for God for prayer and Scripture (Scripture is the subject of our next devotional). Both of these take priority over everything else, and so we will need to start by carving out time daily for these spiritual disciplines. Once we have carved out the time, then we jealously guard it, refusing to allow anything to interfere with that time (emergencies can be a possible exception, but, even in that case, we still carve out our set-apart time). We can begin with a few minutes a day, and then extend it to more time later. Quantity is not necessarily quality, but we do need to be in prayer and the Word for the rest of our lives to be grounded properly. Without time set aside for this, our lives have no anchor, and will inevitably drift into worldliness.
With regard to prayer, we need to make sure that what we are seeking lines up with what the Bible teaches God desires of us from Scripture. This is why the Bible often stresses in prayer praying that “your [God’s] will be done.” Prayer is not for my will of itself, but is to reflect my will being conformed to God’s will, which we learn of from the Bible. So, you ought to see an inherent connection between a healthy prayer life and a vibrant life diving into God’s Word. Both are mutual, and one can hardly be without the other. So, our prayer becomes more and more informed as we learn what God desires from His Word, and this, in turn, helps to both direct our hearts towards pursuing what God desires, and petitions God to bring about what He already desires for us. Prayer, in the Bible, is made up fundamentally of four parts: (1) adoration and praising God, (2) thanking God for every good thing, (3) forgiving others and asking for forgiveness, and (4) petitioning God for what aligns with what He desires of us according to His Word. By praying, we make use of what is called a “means of grace,” meaning that it is a grace given to us to bring about what God desires of us, in and through us. Every good thing begins and ends with prayer, so this is a necessary place to start.
I will add at this point that prayer is not something to be done flippantly or as some vain or base thing, especially during our sacred time set apart for prayer. For instance, when we pray, we ought to view intrusive thoughts as enemies to our communing with God. We ought to attack those thoughts, such as what we will eat for breakfast, or the grocery list for the day. While these things may be good in their own place, they are not good during our time set-aside for God. Imagine going up to petition a king, and then you start talking to yourself about your grocery list! Will not the king be insulted for how lightly you are treating Him, for wasting his time, and for your insolence? In a way, allowing and entertaining these common thoughts during our time set aside for God is profaning God’s Name: treating what is holy as if it were base or common. Rather, when we enter into prayer with God, God desires our utmost reverence, submission, and heart-devotion. Those other things reveal a heart that is divided between the things of the world and God, and therefore are viewed by Him as sin. Rather, the time that we set aside for God is only for Him. This is very important. Our motives in prayer must be focused on pursuing what God desires of us, and is thus to be dedicated to that purpose. This is a form of guarding our heart for the purposes of God, and ensuring that they have priority above everything else.
Please note that it is good to pray to God throughout the day, with the aim of keeping us aligned with what God desires. In this, we intentionally bring God into every area of our lives. So, while we are doing dishes, or out on a drive, or about to face something hard, or anything else, it is good to pray. God desires that we come to Him for everything, that we trust in Him for strength to do what He desires, and for us to do our best to do it. In this, our lives become bathed in prayer, and we regularly pursue His desires throughout the day. The important thing is that our hearts are orientated towards God. We cannot, in some respects, help but be going about things throughout the day. However, whenever we enter into our time set aside for prayer, we set aside that time as holy and dedicated unto the Lord. It is to be a time where we have no distractions, and can dedicate ourselves to pursuing what God desires for us from Scripture. This time will help to orientate our lives towards God, and even be the basis for the rest of our more spontaneous prayers throughout the day. We cannot neglect redeeming this time, since it sets the precedent for all the rest.
Next time we will be looking at what we can do with the Bible to help us redeem the time.