Don’t waste your time

“Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” — Ephesians 5:16

In my younger days, I never thought much about making the best use of my time. Honestly, ‘wasting time’ would have been a more accurate description of my early days. Then one day, a sister from my church spoke words that pierced my heart: ‘Rama, if you keep wasting your time and don’t focus on your studies, you’ll never make it in life.’ In that moment, I realized that time is a gift — a currency of life that can never be reclaimed once spent. Her words became a turning point, teaching me that to redeem the time is not just a wise idea; it is a spiritual responsibility. From that day on, I began to live with intention, knowing that every moment is entrusted by God and can either be squandered or invested for His glory

 

Human history is punctuated with proverbial wisdom that testifies to the fleeting nature of time. We hear, “Time and tide wait for no man,” or, “Make hay while the sun shines or Procrastination is the thief of time.” These secular maxims echo the same sober reality Paul articulates with divine authority: time is transient, irreversible, and infinitely precious. Indeed, there are two things which cannot be recalled — time once spent, and life once extinguished.

 

The apostle Paul’s phrase, “redeeming the time” (Greek: exagorazomenoi ton kairon), literally means “to buy up the opportunity.” It is an economic metaphor, suggesting that time is a currency entrusted to us by God Himself. To squander it on trivialities is not merely foolish — it is an aberration, a failure to steward the gift of temporality under the lordship of Christ.

 

Time is not neutral. The days, Paul says, are “evil.” That is, time in this fallen world is constantly being encroached upon by sin, distraction, and the spiritual forces of darkness. Therefore, the Christian is called to a posture of vigilant intentionality — to seize moments for eternity, to align earthly activity with heavenly purpose, and to invest every passing hour in that which outlasts the grave.

 

The Folly of wasted time

 

How do we waste time? By surrendering it to pursuits that neither glorify God nor edify the soul. We waste it in endless diversions, fruitless anxieties, idle chatter, and the ceaseless pursuit of temporal vanities. Augustine once lamented, “Men are miserly in guarding their money, yet prodigal in squandering time, the one thing it is right to be stingy with.” To waste time, then, is a form of spiritual negligence — a tacit denial of eternity in exchange for the transient.

 

How then can we redeem the time? Let me suggest a few practical ways:

 

Live for God’s glory - “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

 

Redeeming the time begins with reorienting every aspect of life toward God’s glory. It means living with God-consciousness — an awareness that every breath, every task, every word carries eternal weight. In this view, even the ordinary becomes extraordinary: meals become moments of thanksgiving, conversations become opportunities to edify, work becomes an offering of worship. To redeem time is to refuse to compartmentalize life. There is no “sacred” vs. “secular” for the child of God; all ground is holy ground when lived unto Him.

 

Brother Lawrence, a 17th-century monk, spoke of “practicing the presence of God,” finding God even in the mundane task of washing dishes. Redeeming time means making the common sacred by doing all for His glory.

 

Live by God’s channel of grace - The apostle Paul reminds us that we are what we are by the grace of God (1 Corinthians 15:10). Redeeming time is not achieved by sheer discipline or human resolve but by leaning into the means of grace that God has provided.

 

Prayer, Scripture, worship, fellowship, the sacraments — these are not optional extras but the God-ordained architecture of a redeemed life. They keep us anchored, nourished, and aligned with eternity. To neglect them is to drift into spiritual wastefulness; to embrace them is to channel time into what bears fruit for eternity. Grace is not only the foundation but also the fuel — empowering us to rise above distraction and to live purposefully for Christ.

 

Wesley described the means of grace as “channels through which God conveys His grace.” Just as a river flows through its banks, so God’s grace flows through these appointed practices to refresh and direct our lives. Redeeming time, then, means staying within those channels, allowing grace to shape our days.

 

Live to seize golden gates of opportunities - Paul exhorts us to “redeem the time” (Ephesians 5:16), using the word kairos — not ordinary hours (chronos), but God-appointed moments pregnant with eternal significance.

 

Redeeming time means discerning and seizing these golden gates of opportunity that God places in our path — doors to serve, to speak, to love, to sow the seed of the gospel. Time is not merely passing; it is pregnant with possibility. To the unspiritual eye, it looks like coincidence; to the God-conscious, it is providence. When we walk in step with the Spirit, we begin to notice these moments and step boldly into them before they close.

 

Think of Esther, who was told she had come to the kingdom “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14). That was her kairos moment — her golden gate. Redeeming time means being awake and courageous when God’s decisive moment arrives.

 

Live with eternity in mind - James reminds us, “You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14). Human life is fragile, fleeting, and finite. To redeem time is to live with eschatological urgency — the sobering awareness that every heartbeat carries us closer to eternity.

 

This does not mean living in fear, but in holy seriousness. It means recognizing that the clock is not merely ticking toward death, but toward the judgment seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10), where each life will be weighed for eternal significance. This urgency redefines our priorities: trivial pursuits fade, while eternal investments become paramount. We live, not as those drifting through time, but as pilgrims hastening toward the City of God. Redeeming time, then, is not only about efficiency but eternal accountability.

 

Jonathan Edwards, at just 19 years old, resolved “never to lose one moment of time, but to improve it in the most profitable way I possibly can.” His sense of grave gravity led him to steward his short earthly journey for maximum eternal impact.

 

Time is the most democratic of commodities — allotted in equal measure to pauper and prince, saint and sinner. Yet it is the most squandered of treasures. As the tide waits for no man, and the sun sets on wasted days, may we heed the apostolic admonition: redeem the time. Let us live with vigilance, intentionality, and eternal perspective, so that when our days are numbered, it may be said of us: we spent our time as currency invested in the kingdom of God.

 

Prayer

 

Eternal God,

Lord of time and eternity, Alpha and Omega, we confess that we have squandered the hours You entrusted to us, chasing distractions and forgetting that each moment is a gift. Teach us to number our days with wisdom. Help us recognize divine opportunities, act with courage, and invest in what is eternal. May our work honour You, our words glorify You, and our rest refresh us for Your service. When our time is spent, may it be said we redeemed our days for Your kingdom, and may we hear: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

 

In Jesus Name, Amen