As I was watching the AFC Championship game between the KC Chiefs and the Tennessee Titans a few weeks ago, I was surprised how fast the game was! It seemed like every time I looked at the clock it was flying by. I don’t watch a lot of football, but what I have observed is that in many games it can take a whole hour to get through one quarter (15 minutes) of the game due to stops, time-outs, challenges, etc. When I asked about why the game seemed to be going so quickly, I was told that it was part of the Chiefs’ strategy. Sometimes it’s advantageous to bog a game down, and sometimes it’s much better to get on top and then let the time run down as quickly as possible so your opponent won’t have time to make their plays.
I was reflecting on how often in my own life I will turn around and it seems all my time is just gone in a day! And when I look at the distractions that filled my day, I wonder how much of that is my adversary’s attempt to busy me so much that I didn’t get to do the things I wanted or needed to do. Once the clock runs down and I see I didn’t make any of the key plays that would really have made a difference in my day, I know I defeated myself by not making wiser choices.
In the football game that could be my life, my biggest plays are prayer, time in communion with God, studying His word, spending time loving and being loved by my community of people, taking care of my needs and the needs of my family, etc. If I don’t build my life around these things, then truly nothing else I do in my day is going to matter in the long run.
Ephesians 5:15-17 says, “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”
Did you catch that? This scripture says the days are evil. Any day we live is naturally carnal and predisposed to working against God. We have to swim upstream and make every opportunity count for Christ. We must redeem the time for good, and snatch it back from the enemy to the glory of God. Anything that is not distinctly for God is against Him, and any time not spent loving, serving and building His Kingdom is at least passively resisting Him.
How will you redeem your time for God today?