Redeeming the Time
"The world and its god and our egos lie to us and tell us we have all the time in the world, and it seems true, especially when we’re young, and it seems our whole life is before us. But God says differently." Today, Brian Miller gives us a glimpse into the life of someone who lived with no thought of "tomorrow." As he concludes, he brings us full circle to what truly makes life meaningful.
“Time is on my side, yes it is.”
Those lyrics, famously sung by The Rolling Stones in 1964, stand juxtaposed to what God said through James, the brother of Jesus, in the fourth chapter of his epistle, verse 14:
“Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”
Our lives are as fleeting as a mist, or, in other translations, a vapor. The psalmist puts it this way in Psalm 102:11:
“My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass.”
A shadow, withering grass, a fading flower, the passing wind, ashes, dust – all of these the Bible declares as analogies for our brief lives.
I was once a young man of 18, graduating near the top of my class, voted “most likely to succeed” by my classmates, proud of my intellect, raring to experience the world I had been sheltered from growing up in what I deemed was an overly restrictive Christian home.
I had a plan of sorts. I figured I was young and deserved at least a couple of years to do my own thing, and that I could “serve the Lord” on my own terms. I didn’t inure myself into any of the “bad” vices, so I was doing all right.
I thought time was on my side.
It was a five-year plan, but for all my supposed intelligence, it wasn’t a well-thought-out one. I was certain I would find a good woman for a wife for myself, settle down and start a family, and fully serve God then…by age 23 at the latest. I mean that was the end of the year 1999, and surely, the Lord wasn’t going to tarry long past Y2K, so what was the harm in having a little fun doing what I wanted to do, for once.
Of course, “no man can serve two masters,” and I soon found I had wandered far from the Good Shepherd, and many of the vices I had been proud of self-righteously avoiding became a part of my life and soon consumed it. I partied like it was 1999, in the tragic words of Prince.
I woke up one morning and another 18 years had gone by in a flash. Wasted years in so many ways with no way to go back and change my choices. I found myself lost, alone, drowning in chaotic circumstances. I’d been tricked by the Enemy of my soul but also by my own vanity and pride. The problem was I knew all about Jesus, but I really didn’t know him or his love. That love poured out on the Cross, the true motivation for living for Jesus, was just an abstract – unfelt, unreal, unknown, except in theory.
The world and its god and our egos lie to us and tell us we have all the time in the world, and it seems true, especially when we’re young, and it seems our whole life is before us. But God says differently.
Like the parable of the rich man who built himself bigger barns, we have no idea when God will say, “Fool! Tonight your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” Luke 12:20
Death comes to us all; we don’t know when, and we don’t know how. Living for ourselves and what we can extract from this life is futile, foolish. It’s why Paul encourages:
2 Corinthians 6:2b, NKJV
“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
But even those who have a relationship with Jesus can stumble and waste what precious time is afforded them, when we ought to be “redeeming the time, for the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:16 [NKJV]
It’s been nearly 30 years now since walking across that stage to receive my diploma. It still seems like yesterday.
Indeed, life is a vapor, a gust of wind, a fading flower…
Ashes to ashes
Dust to dust
We breathe to live
Because we must
Through boundless joy
And numbing pain
We strive for peace
While on this plane
And dare to dream
Of better days
Someone to love
While in this maze
Someday might find
That one to keep
But until then
A prayer for sleep
Dust to dust
We breathe to live
Because we must
Through boundless joy
And numbing pain
We strive for peace
While on this plane
And dare to dream
Of better days
Someone to love
While in this maze
Someday might find
That one to keep
But until then
A prayer for sleep
I wrote those words in my lost years, when I had no true joy or peace and not waking up was something I dreaded, when I thought finding the right woman would complete me and give me the impetus to live my life fully for Jesus. It wasn’t true. Only the Gospel can do that.
The most important thing we can do is examine ourselves, whether we are holding onto anything other than Jesus Christ, and turn from ourselves to him. As Jesus warned in Luke 13:5: “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
If we are “robbing” God, as the people were in Malachi 3, living for ourselves, He promises in verse 7, “Return to me, and I will return to you.”
When you are in Christ, though you’ll never understand everything in this life, it finally makes sense. The fleeting time of this life is a mere shadow of the next one, the real one, the eternal one.
What matters is making the most of whatever time God graciously gives us to live the new life afforded to us by the gospel. Understanding the mercy and amazing love we have been shown by Christ’s willingness to go to the cross and take all our sin upon Himself and suffer God’s wrath for it in our place is the motivation we need to live a life for Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:21
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind. Everything else – reading and loving God’s Word, praying constantly, loving our neighbors, ministering to others, fulfilling the Great Commission by sharing the Gospel and making disciples – flows from that love.
1 John 4:19
“We love because he first loved us.”
There will always be an excuse, a reason, a circumstance that our mortal enemies – the world, the flesh, the devil – conjure up to keep us from following hard after Christ.
Often, it is simply that pernicious lie that time is on our side. It isn’t. But rejoice; there’s hope found in the fact that “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31b
There’s more. Jesus Christ’s mission was and is to reconcile all things to himself. God promised the children of Israel in Joel 2:25a: “I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten.”
We’ve all misused our time, but whether you have wasted days, months, years, or even decades, take heart that God can restore them, use them in a glorious way that reflects his mercy, goodness, faithfulness, and grace.
Love God first and foremost, and time will truly be on your side, for it will be well-spent.
Author Bio:
Brian Miller is a longtime newspaper columnist and freelance writer. He and his wife Bethany, a fellow “preacher’s kid,” are currently residing on South Padre Island, TX. Brian seeks to use lessons learned in his life of God’s unchanging love, grace, mercy, and faithfulness to bring hope to others who may be struggling. You may write to him at bd1976@pm.me.
Brian Miller is a longtime newspaper columnist and freelance writer. He and his wife Bethany, a fellow “preacher’s kid,” are currently residing on South Padre Island, TX. Brian seeks to use lessons learned in his life of God’s unchanging love, grace, mercy, and faithfulness to bring hope to others who may be struggling. You may write to him at bd1976@pm.me.
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