Well if not...he totally did.
People (and preachers) usually like to say that, "We have so little time on this earth, so we should make every moment count!" I gotta be honest with y'all. When we really think about it, this is kinda wrong. Sure, we have a ridiculously small time on earth...when you compare it to eternity! But when we consider just plain averages, we see that we're doing pretty good. The life expectancy for people in America is something like 150 years [citation needed]. We have quite a bit of time to do whatever we want with it. If that weren't true, then why do you think we have 300 tv channels with 24 hours of crap programming just to fill our boring lives, especially when you consider that half of these shows are made up of watching other people's boring lives?
We have an insane amount of time. Not that we're promised all of it, mind you, but if all of us just live to the average life expectancy, we can expect to lead long and (questionably) fulfilling lives. The problem seems to be, however, that we have so much time and little to do! (See, told you he was right) So some people go to work. I guess they've gotten used to eating. And so have their kids. Some people go to school so they can learn and then one day go to work. At this point, most of them aren't all that used to eating quite yet. Some people meditate. Others just watch wrestling and women's football (yes, it's a thing). So many options!
Now let me ask you a question. When you were a kid and you wanted to go stay over at your friend's house for the night, how did you ask your parents? Let me take a guess, here. I'll bet 9/10 (conservative estimate) of you would have said, "Mom? Dad? Can I go spend the night at Jenny's?" If you were a little boy, this question probably got a no. If you were 15, it probably got you grounded. And what did you do this weekend? "I spent this weekend watching football?" If you had one day left to live, what would you do? "I'd spend time with the people I love...and write an angry letter to CBS for cancelling 'The Unit' in the fourth season."
We have this concept that "spending time" is how we're supposed to look at our lives. I had a Sunday School teacher once ask us how we would spend $86,400 in a single day if we had to, and there was no saving allowed. The general conceit of the question was that there are 86,400 seconds in a day and that we should plan to spend them all wisely. It was a great question and provided some real thought, but there's that nagging concept again. That we should spend our time like a thing we're given and just have to throw away on junk food and bad movies (which is exactly how I like to spend my Saturday nights, oddly enough).
In Ephesians 5, the same chapter responsible for bringing us the question, "What's the wise thing to do?" we see someone offer a slightly different concept of time. Of our time.
Ephesians 5:15-16 (NKJV)
See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, for the days are evil.
What's this? We have to...redeem...the time? We can't just spend it? There's this natural conflict at work between redeeming and spending. If I give you $500, you can just go off and do whatever you want with it. Sounds nice, right? But what if I give you a ticket good for $500 no questions asked? You could just walk up to any bank and hand it to them. What's the difference here? Is the end result any different? Just what's the big idea?
If I give you $500 (and don't hold your breath), you've got all this money right there in your hand. Piece of cake. Just run off and spend it however you wish because it's good for anything. But if I give you a ticket worth $500 at a cash register, how much good does that do you? Can you give that ticket to your grocer and ask for change? No. You've gotta go and redeem that ticket first. What you've been given is inherently worthless. It means absolutely nothing until you get it redeemed. Until you take that meaningless paper and turn it into something of value.
That is the difference between how we view time and how scripture viewed time. How God views time. Some translations, the NLT for instance, translate this particular phrase "redeem the time" as "Make the most of every opportunity.." because that is what it truly means to redeem the time. It's like we've been given something that is inherently of no good to anyone. However, with that gift of time, we have the immense opportunity to make something beautiful. Something valuable. We can take what is given us and give it back to God, or the people around us, and even ourselves, as something that will actually be worthwhile. If you really want to know what a man is all about, give him 24 hours. Give him a day off to use however he sees fit. What he does with that time is perhaps the most telling indicator of what kind of man he is. You can tell what kinds of things are important to him and what people he sees worth being around. You can tell what kind of civic or social responsibility he feels. Does this man understand the value of time?
We have been given the chance to use our vast allotment of time in whatever manner we choose. Shall we spend it? Or shall we redeem it? We must take control of the hours and redeem them for noble and worthy purposes. We cannot squander the time we are given when there is still so much to be done and so many ways we can redeem our time that will improve this world and will glorify the Kingdom of God.
Now today is Labor Day, so feel free to spend it relaxing and preparing for a week of hard work. Watch some movies on TBS/Peachtree TV, they put good stuff on today. Grill out and eat some burgers. But as you rest up for the days to come, don't forget to redeem the time with family and loved ones around you. Consider how you might redeem the week ahead. Think of ways to redeem your time otherwise spent wasting away in languid boredom.
There is not a single day that comes with the promise of being worthwhile. We are given so much time on this Earth that every second we spend wondering what to do or not caring about what we do is another minute we could have redeemed making this world a better place, help the people around us, or just help ourselves to live better, more meaningful and useful lives. And when we really think about it, we're kind of fools to spend our time wasting such a magnificent gift that we've been blessed with.
And with every hour we've already spent on this earth, maybe it's time to redeem some.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Adam Wynn likes to spend his time making people think about words they probably don't fully comprehend, like "redeem." When he's not doing this, he works as an intern at the Baptist Collegiate Ministries at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. And other times he spends less time by typing abbreviations. He is the author of the wildly popular, as of yet unpublished novel, Will Baker is Dead. In case you weren't sure, it's about someone dying. He also has to keep his emotional complexes in check by reading nice comments from the blogosphere and shunning individuals who deign to question his literary and meta-literary (?) genius. You can follow him on Twitter (but not in real life) at @42Cobras or find him on Facebook (but not at work/home) as Adam Wynn, in case you happened to miss the obvious conclusion of such circumstances. His Alma Mater is the University of Georgia (Go Dawgs) in Athens, he is from Dacula, Georgia, and currently lives in Atlanta. He's also grown rather fond of Rome, GA and a lovely young lady who lives there (Ivey shout-out). If you want to buy his book, write your congressman and tell them to write their lawyers to write their literary agent friends they made fun of in law school and get them to represent it.
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