““But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.
Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. (Col 4) Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. (Eph 5:16)
Life is short and every moment in our life counts, every moment could be a reason and lead to blessings and it could lead to problems.
The word “redeeming” in the Greek can mean “to buy up, ransom, or rescue from loss.” We need to rescue from loss the time that remains in our life the time which we did not plan to it. We can only redeem today and plan to redeem tomorrow, for yesterday is gone! We alone are responsible for using what God has given to each one of us.
Are you using your most valuable asset wisely? To the world, the phrase “redeeming the time” could mean the following: Driving 65 mph in a 35 mph zone🚔, Skipping breakfast⚡️, Cosmetic surgery😊, Sleeping 14 hours straight to recover from a lost weekend💤.
To Christian, redeeming the time has a completely different meaning. It is to change the changeable life to eternal life, to prepare and start for eternity. That what St. Moses did he changed his life style 180 degree from a thief and killer to a praying and wise monk, from food lover and gluttony to ascetic life, from pleasures to temptation. St. Moses knew how to redeem the time.
* To understand the christian redeeming meaning we need to know why the time is important:
1- Time is a gift from God: time means life we look to ourselves and count our life with time, when we have a precious gift we should keep it and use it wisely, time is our life our gift. Do not spend your life in thinking of people and who you love and who you hate, who you want to give thanks and who you want to take revenge from…..,. Use your life to enjoy and to be happy and enjoy the life with Him Who created and loved you since the beginning. 2- The Days Are Evil: Paul advised us to redeem the time because the days are evil. “Evil” in the Greek means “hurtful evil in effect ” We are living in the last days, a time when building holy, righteous character is becoming ever more difficult.
We need to be wise when we deal with those who are outside, and to witness Christ in us. Spending time in doing this could be critical and need wisdom. ““But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.” Luke 6:27-28 How hard it is and how much wisdom we need to do this?
3- Watching time is wisdom: Psalms 90: The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath. So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.
HOW TO REDEEM THE TIME? “Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.”” Ephesians 5:14
Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light. Walk in the light
1- Awake: Roman 13:11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. to those who have good life with god be alert do not sleep
2- Arise: to those who feel they are away from Him it is chance now to arise and enjoy the life with Him
3- Walk: to those who awake and arise they should increase in their knowledge
Story: If you forget all what I said please remember this short story: A huge and great ship full of people and families seeking new life and going to a new open place to work and gain money, and it happens a great wind attacked this ship and it was destroyed and all of the people swam to an uninhabited (deserted) island they saved some of the cargoes they carrying, they decide to start a new life there and they start to plant or cultivate some of the planets they got with them. Few weeks later one of them discovered a Gold mine and told the others and all of them left what they were doing and went to The mine to collect as much as gold, day after day week after week till the winter came and their food finished and they discovered that the time of cultivation past, and no food, and they all died. They did not use the time wisely. And the end was sad.
Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. (Eph 5:16).
Glory be to God
Fr. Abraam Farah