Let Us Use Our Time Wisely!

Ephesians 5:15-20 As most of you know, this month I celebrated a birthday--and not just any birthday—but my 50^th birthday.  I look back on 50 years of life and give thanks to Almighty God for his blessings and tender mercies—most especially for the blood-bought gift of forgiveness that I have in Jesus—because I really need that gift!

I confess that I have made some serious, sinful mistakes in my life.  As I reflect on my life, I feel like there were some wasted years and some missed opportunities.  I made some foolish decisions. 

Having lived half a century, I know that I have almost certainly lived the majority of my life so that the time I have left, is less that what I have already lived.  And that inspires me to make the most of these years I have left—whatever they are.

Fifty years marks a milestone in any life, but we don’t have to wait on a milestone to:  take stock of our lives, confess our sinful foolish failures, and resolve to do better in the future. 

Each of us has that God-given, grace-filled opportunity today as we hear our heavenly Father call us to use our time wisely.  The Bible says:  Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise…

It’s about this time every year when Harriett and I say to one another:  “Good grief!  Where did the year go?  It seems like it was just yesterday that we were beginning a new year and here it is already time to start thinking about the holiday season!” 

So much of our lives seem to just slip away and we don’t even know were it went.  I would hate to add up all the hours I have wasted watching Gilligan’s Island, Laverne and Shirley, and I Love Lucy!

That is why we need this reminder from God to think carefully how we walk—in other words, to be thoughtful about our lives.  Time is short and eternity is long and even Christians are not immune to letting life pass them by without having really being thoughtful about the direction of their lives.

The Bible uses the word “walk” to describe our life of faith and that’s a good word picture.  When we go for a walk, we’re not going to get very far if we are walking in the dark.  We want to make sure that we don’t trip or fall down a hole.  We don’t want to wander “off-track” and get lost before we even reach our destination. 

That’s the way it is in our life of faith.  We want our journey guided by the light of Christ.  We don’t want sin to trip us up.  We don’t want to wander off the narrow way and miss our destination of heaven.  And so we have to think carefully about our life of faith and journey to heaven and make sure that we are using our time wisely.  The Bible says:  make the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

            Paul looked around the world of his day and said that the days are evil.  Can you imagine what he would say about our time?!  Yes, the days are evil but God has graciously and providentially ordered our lives so that these are the days we live in and we are not to simply go along with the flow.

I remember taking the rowing merit badge when I was a boy scout.  I learned to row on the Brazos River which would not have normally proved to be a problem except that summer had been wet and the current was strong.  And so when we pushed off from the bank in our row boats we were immediately swept down river.  It took a lot of work to make that boat go in the right direction.

So it is in our Christian lives.  It is much easier to go with the flow of time and get swept along with the evil of the days.  It’s a struggle to do the right thing.  But we are called to go against the current and make the BEST use of time. 

The King James Bible says it better:  that we are to REDEEM the time and use it for something good.  We are to lay hold of our days and claim them for Jesus Christ and live our life for him.  The Bible says, Whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.  

I have no idea whether I will live to be 51 or 101 but what I do know is that I have this day to live for Jesus:  to be strengthened by his grace—to bear witness to him with my life—to prepare for that day that will not end.  And so do you!

Yes, the days are evil—but that doesn’t have to mean that MY days are evil and in fact they must not be!  Instead, we claim each and every day of our lives for the Lord Jesus Christ and make them his own by doing his will.  The Bible says:  Do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

            The days are evil and life is short and I know that I have made some foolish choices.  Perhaps you have too.  I cannot count on the world to lead me in the right direction.  I cannot count on myself to use my time wisely.  And so, where can we turn so that our life is marked by wisdom rather than foolishness?  To the Bible!  We learn the will of the Lord from the Word of the Lord.

            God’s will for you first and foremost is that you believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior.  The Bible says:  These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing have life in his name.  This is God’s will for you:  that you would live with him as his child here on earth and forever in heaven. 

God cares for you.  You are his child.  He has done everything in his power to bring you to himself and keep you close to him all the days of your life.  Don’t you think that your heavenly Father then also cares about your work life and your emotions and your marriage and family?  Of course he does! 

That is why he has revealed his perfect will for every part of your lives.  We have the wisdom of Almighty God at our fingertips in the Bible but to our great shame we rarely seek it out. 

When I think of some of the sinful, foolish mistakes I have made over the last fifty years I cringe—and even more so because I know that God has something to say about those things if I had only listened.

We cannot get the guidance we need from the world or from our friends or even from our own intellectual resources—it is found only in the Word of God and so we need to renew our commitment to be students of the Word of God so that in every situation and decision we can say:  this is the will of God!  And that applies even to what we count as the joys and blessings of earthly life.  The Bible says:

Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart,

The Bible does not forbid the consumption of alcohol.  A good meal with a glass of wine is one of the earthly blessings that God bestows upon his people.  But again and again the Bible condemns drunkenness, listing it among those sins that will keep people out of heaven. 

And so the rule for he Christian is that if alcohol cannot be consumed in moderation (and many people cannot) we must abstain completely.

To abstain from anything that our flesh wants seems like a terrible imposition—as if God is robbing us of the joys of life.  Nothing could be farther from the truth!  Instead, God wants us to be filled with the Spirit rather than spirits.  He has created us and redeemed us by his Son and given us the Holy Spirit to enrich our lives and make them infinitely better than they would be without him. 

That’s what the gift of music does for us—it makes our life richer and more beautiful and deepens our faith—which is why our music in church must not only be beautiful but also truthful and faithful to the Word of God. 

For thousands of year believers have been using the language of the psalms as their hymnbook and there are a number of our hymns that are simply the psalms given a metre and set to music. 

But whether our hymns and songs are ancient or modern they are ultimately sung to the Lord, the praise of our hearts for who God is and what he has done for us.  The Bible says that we are to:  give thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

            When I look back at my life over these last fifty years I confess that there are a number of failures—there are times what I acted foolishly—times when I did not use my time on earth in Godly wisdom.  Perhaps the same is true for you.

But what stands out even more vividly than my failures is the goodness and graciousness of God.  He has made me his child and kept my in faith and provided for all my needs of body and soul.  The same is true for you.  In gratitude for the life that comes to us through Jesus Christ we are called use our time wisely:  grounded in the Word—filled with the Spirit—and thankful to God.