Redeem the Time

"Can I have that?" my six-year-old asked, pointing to a wooden toy clock. I looked down at the stack of toys in my arms that I had gathered to give away. My daughter has many brand-new, unopened toys from birthdays and Christmases past. I was compiling them to give away, something I should have done while she was at school.

"Can I have that?" she repeated, pointing again to the clock.

"No," I said abruptly. “You have enough stuff around here.” I had actually thought twice about giving it away. It was a clock with moving parts, a pretty cool toy for her to learn how to tell time. When I first saw it, I hesitated to put it in the to-go pile, wondering if she had yet learned how to tell time, but then I thought about it a little more and realized that we live in a digital age...not being able to tell time will not keep her out of an Ivy League school, will it? Who cares if she can tell time? Telling time is like riding a bike, or tying a shoe, a once-necessary skill, now not so necessary. Maybe we will get around to learning how to tell time, but if not, so be it, I decided. That is when I stacked the wooden clock on top of the pile to give away, now she wanted it.

"Pleassssse, can I have it?" she begged. Technically, it was her toy, not mine, to give away, and I guess she does need to know how to tell time—we all do.

The blind man sat by the side of the road, begging for help and proclaiming his condition, one that he had suffered since birth. “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” the disciples asked Jesus as they passed by (John 9:1-2). The disciples did not seem fazed by the man's pleas for help. They walked around with the Healer and were more concerned with satisfying their curiosity than helping the man. This would not be the first- or last-time man squandered an opportunity to meet another's need in order to indulge in gossip and speculation. There is nothing new under the sun (Eccl.1:9-10).

“Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work” (John 9:3-5). Jesus knew that neither this man nor his parents were at fault. The tragedies that man endures are never the fault of just one man. We live in a fallen world where the effects of sin are sickness, death, and all of their associates. “Why?” was not a question Jesus was willing to waste time entertaining; Jesus was concerned with doing the works of His Father.

Ephesians 5:15 says, “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Time passes without considering how much we have gotten done or how much more we need. When time is up, it is just up. Our duty as followers of Jesus Christ is to take advantage of our time here on earth and live for Him. We ought to seize every opportunity we are presented with to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ and build up the Kingdom of God. When our time is up, the goal is to hear the Master say, “Well done, My good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many: enter thou into the joy of thy LORD.”

Jesus was not concerned with the origins of the man's blindness because He shared His Heavenly Father's perspective. The affliction was not a problem but an opportunity to do good work, show God’s love, and add to the Body of Christ.

When you see trouble, do you immediately put on your investigative hat and try to figure out why? Or do you consider it an opportunity to accomplish good work for the LORD? What if we started looking at our trials and the hardships of others as a chance to glorify God? Indeed, we are prone to think like the disciples, but if we shift our perspective and begin to think like Jesus, we may start to notice all the opportunities to do good work that surround us.

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Ephesians 2:10). We are here to fulfill the Great Commission, make disciples, be fishers of men, and build up the Kingdom of God. Only what we do for Christ will last, and every good work will be recognized in eternity (Rev. 22:12). “So, teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:10). Now is the time to do the right thing while we have the chance. Work for the LORD, invest in eternity, and redeem the time.