Redeeming Time

Ephesians 5:16 implores us to "look carefully how you walk, making the best use of time for the days are evil." One practical way that I have attempted to redeem the time for God is to use car trips that I make alone as times of prayer and Scripture memory. There are times when this is difficult to do. At the end of a day, all I want to do is listen to music or talk radio. But there are other times when my mind is alert and active. This is a prime opportunity to pray for others, rehearse/memorize passages of Scripture and meditate on the Lord.

The memorization of Scripture has many benefits that are sometimes not obvious at first. One example: I have memorized the 12th chapter of Hebrews. The first verse in that chapter says, "Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily entangles us and let us run the race with perseverance." As I was memorizing this chapter for the first time, I was also reading a book by Randy Alcorn called Heaven.

In that book, Alcorn proposes the theory that believers are surrounded daily not only by the presence of God and angels but also by believers who have died in Christ and are now with Him in the intermediate Heaven praying for us and rooting us on to run the race with perseverance. There are passages of Scripture that support Alcorn's theory which I won't go into here- Revelation mainly.

Even though God's presence should be motivation enough, there is something about the thought of a godly grandparent, Christian leader or friend watching us from Heaven that provides extra incentive to avoid sin. At times of temptation, I am often reminded by this verse that I memorized, "Therefore since you are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." Hebrews 12:1.

As believers in Christ, we are called to holiness and we are also called to redeem the time. Use your alone time as an opportunity to live out that calling.

For the glory of God,

Ashley Hodge