Thinking about Time

Ephesians 5:16

Introduction

I read a book this earlier this year after a few trusted recommendations of it.

It was fascinating on several points of personal interest but more so from a spiritual perspective.

It talked about how various peoples behaved in so many areas of life and repeatedly pointed out how faith affected life.

One of the ways of living it explored is how these different cultures viewed time.

For the most part, as we will see, they drew their thoughts in some way from scripture and I think they leave us with helpful reminders about time.

But they also leave us with warnings about how we view time as well.

Improving the Time

This is how Puritans in New England talked about time.

It was about getting the most out of a day.

It led them to invent more precise ways of keeping up with time including the alarm clock.

They were the original productivity gurus (Benjamin Franklin) came out of this ethic.

This was closely tied to money: “Time is money” is a phrase coined by Benjamin Franklin.

The Bible certainly praises productivity with our time (Prov. 31:10-31; Matt. 25:14).

We are to have a keen sense of the limited nature of it (Rom. 13:11).

But there is a danger of losing sight of true priorities (Eph. 4:28; Lk. 10:38-42).

There is also a danger of the pride of James 4:13-15.

Redeeming the Time

This is how Maryland/Pennsylvania Quakers talked about time.

There is some overlap with improving the time but more emphasis on spiritual activity.

They even removed names of months and days that were pagan in origin.

They condemned the idolatry of time and did not feel the pinch of “getting it all done” so much as making sure the most important things got done.

You can see the moral element of this phrase in scripture (Eph. 5:16).

We are redeeming the time from the prince of this world (Eph. 2:2).

Everything in this context is about watchful vigilance.

If you go through life on default, you will be surrendering time to the one who rules over everything in this world.

Good things have to be taken by force.

We must recognize the limited value of even good things (1 Tim. 4:8).

Passing the Time

This is the way backcountry people talked about time.

Some looked at this as laziness (and sometimes it was).

It was more rooted in the idea that there was a time for all things (Ecc. 3:2-8).

It was believed you couldn’t anything happen any quicker than it was supposed to happen.

In fact, there is the simplicity advised by Ecclesiastes in this view (Ecc. 2:24).

It encouraged a contentment about what is outside of our control (Matt. 6:25-34).

The danger here is in believing you have no control over outcomes (Jer. 18:12).

Killing the Time

This is the way Virginia Cavaliers talked about time.

This is the most dangerous of the thought processes about time.

The usage came from the idea that one could afford to kill time.

If you could afford to kill time, it meant that you were master of your own time; only the upper classes could do so.

Everyone else owed their time to someone else.

The fiercest ideas of independence came from Virginia folkways and it included even time.

This is even worse than the person who thinks he is in total control of his time.

More than the passive wasting of time, this person pursues waste with vigor.

He devises new and creative ways to kill time with no concern for the cost.

He is above the cost.

Our society falls into the worst abuses of killing and improving time.

Conclusion

In the first place, we need to be thoughtful about time as the scarcest of resources.

But it isn’t enough to go off into one extreme or another. Our goal is not just to use it all up.

Our goal is recognize its reality, its end, and then to act accordingly.

The only great fear about time should be that we should run out without having prepared for that moment.