01.06. Redeeming the Time!
Redeeming the Time!
"Shall the God-given hours be scattered
Like the leaves upon the plain?
Shall the blossoms die unwatered
By the drops of heavenly rain?
"Then, no longer idly dreaming,
Shall I fling my years away,
But, each precious hour redeeming,
Wait for the eternal day."
Horatius Bonar
"Redeeming the time!" says one of our fair readers, glancing at the title of this chapter, "Time is of no value to me — what have I to do with such a subject?" A great deal, dear friend, as we hope to prove to you — for it is one which concerns you more nearly than you seem to imagine. The sunny days of youth and health were not given to you for nothing. Each one is a talent to be traded with. It comes to you hearing this inscription, "The time is short!" It will be required at your hands by the Master, who, when He comes, will surely demand His own with interest. All this you very well know; for we speak now to those who have been awakened to a sense of their high destiny as immortal beings, and are anxious that their conduct should, in all things, be such "as befits the Gospel of Christ." The "life they live in the flesh," they would live henceforth "by the faith of the Son of God," and, remembering that they were not "redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ" — they would pass the time of their sojourning here as strangers and pilgrims, looking for a better and an abiding habitation.
Nevertheless, even to these it frequently happens, by some strange circumstance, either that they altogether overlook the duty of economizing time — or that their whole life is one ceaseless and breathless struggle to make their work and their time agree. In either case, there is something radically wrong! For while, on the one hand, we cannot, without incurring a weight of guilt — waste the precious hours which our Father has given us, in which to complete our allotted task — it is, on the other, equally displeasing to Him, when we allow ourselves to be hurried and fretted in our work, and to lose the calm and restful spirit in which we shall ever best promote His glory. Both extremes are to be avoided — but the first is the one into which we are more liable to fall. Of it, therefore, let us speak. Have you ever considered, dear reader, the real meaning of those three words which stand at the head of this page, and form a part of the Apostle Paul’s solemn counsels to the Ephesian Christians? Did you ever think of them as specially addressed to you — as "written for your admonition?" Yes! doubtless you have, and, when you say that to you, time is of no value, your words must be understood in a comparative sense only. You mean that it is not to you money and life, as it is to many. But you fill it up, in general, very usefully, and are honestly desirous to devote it to the service of your risen Lord. And yet, do not be startled — you still contrive to waste a great deal of it in the course of the day. You spend, idly and uselessly, a great many moments, which, added one to another, amount to a sum-total which would, perhaps, shock you, if you could be persuaded to look it fairly in the face.
We believe that, to go back to the good old custom of calling things by their right names, the charge of idleness might very truthfully be brought against many of our fair sisters. Not systematic idleness — not sitting from morn until eve with folded hands — but the habitual wasting of the fragments of time, "Those parings of precious duration, those leavings of days and remnants of hours, which so many sweep out into the waste of existence."
How often are these spent in mere chit-chat, in wondering what to do next, deciding first on this, and then on that, and, finally, on nothing at all, because "it is not worth while beginning anything just now" — or in doing slowly and dreaming what might be finished in half the time, if it were set about in hearty, wakeful energy.
We feel constrained, in all Christian faithfulness, to lift up our voice against this great evil. It is more than an evil — it is a sin most displeasing in the sight of God. It mars the usefulness, and leaves an unsightly blemish on the character of many an otherwise lovely Christian. It will demand a solemn reckoning in the great day of account. You have no more right, reader, to the time which you thus foolishly and sinfully squander — than you have to your neighbor’s goods. It is not your own, nor was it given you to be employed as you yourself think proper. It is a trust committed to you by God! Oh, see that you do not abuse it! You are wasting what millions, now in the regions of eternal despair, would give worlds to buy back again — what you yourself will regret with tears of bitter repentance, when, on a deathbed, you look back upon a life in which so little has been done. Be warned in time. Break the chains of this ensnaring habit before they are wound so closely about you that you cannot get free from them! Remember that every day these chains of indolence are riveted more firmly. They are light and easy now, but, before long, they will grow into iron fetters! Your only hope of safety is in casting them from you at once, with the determination of a renewed will, and the heaven-imparted strength given to all who truly seek it. But how are you to "redeem the time?" Fully to answer this question would only be to echo what has already been so often said and written. We would, therefore, only repeat, "Gather up the fragments — that nothing be lost!" Be prompt. If a thing is to be done, don’t be satisfied with talking about it — but do it, and "do it with all your might." Be punctual. Never gain the character of being a drag on the wheels — the last to make your appearance at a Dorcas-meeting — the last to join the family circle at dinner, to the ruffling of Papa’s patience and your own temper — the last of an excursion party to reach the appointed place of meeting, keeping the rest in a fever of anxiety, lest you should be too late. "Always the last!" Unenviable distinction! Do not be the slave of circumstances. Mark out for yourself a settled plan of action, and keep to it. This, of course, it will be impossible always to do. In a town, especially, interruptions are ever occurring which you can neither foresee nor avoid. Every "plan" must be defective which does not leave a large space for these. Here, indeed, lies the useful discipline of every-day life, in the constant warring against selfishness which it compels one to maintain. But still, "things cannot go well with us while it is chance, and not our own conscious purpose, which determines the employment of each hour as it arrives. We cannot, indeed, help yielding to circumstances — but, even in doing so, we may act from the deliberate decision of our own mind. We need not allow our duties to be forced upon us in a succession over which we exercise no control. We may look before us, and intelligently determine what we shall do, and when we shall do it." Be persevering. Many begin, and leave unfinished what they begin. There is no better recipe for "killing time" than this. You know it is a bad habit — then conquer it!
We could add much more, but it is not needed. We would only remind you of the lines associated with happy memories of childhood, "Satan finds some mischief still
For idle hands to do."
Ponder them well, and act upon them. A woman’s fingers need never be unoccupied. She may always have on hand some profitable reading to fill up the little moments that might otherwise run to waste. We fear our venerated great-grandmothers would be shocked by the very small space allotted to useful needlework, by their descendants of the present generation. They would tell us that to sew neatly and mend well, is of far more importance than any mere social accomplishment, and much more likely to make the wheels of domestic life run smoothly, without jolt or disturbance. Above all, they would impress upon us, both by precept and example, that idleness is, more than anything else (considered in connection with the consequences to which it often leads) disgraceful to a woman.
Remember, then, for your admonition and encouragement, that "the hand of the diligent makes rich." While you desire to be "fervent in spirit," strive also to be "not slothful in business." Yet let your diligence be free from hustle and bustle. Those who are always in a hurry never accomplish much. They do — and they undo. In their headlong speed, they frequently stumble and fall. Or they stop from very weariness, and so allow the quiet, plodding, patient workers to overtake, and far outstrip them.
But, WHY are you to "redeem the time?" Because "the days are evil" — because iniquity abounds, and there is need that all the workers for God should be awake and active. Because the days are few, for a voice from Heaven is heard, "Surely, I am coming quickly!" Because the reward is great — an "inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fades not away!"
"Tis not for man to trifle! Life is brief,
And sin is here.
Our age is but the falling of a leaf,
A dropping tear.
We have no time to sport away the hours,
All must be earnest in a world like ours.
"Not many lives, but only one, have we,
One, only one!
How sacred should that one life ever be,
That narrow span!
Day after day filled up with blessed toil,
Hour after hour still bringing in new spoil."
Horatius Bonar