In his writings, the apostle Paul always seems to have the best perspective about time. His thoughts about the past were well-balanced, and they always helped him in the present day, they never hindered him. In the Philippian letter, concerning the resurrection of the dead, Paul wrote, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12-14)
In the passage above, Paul is not referring to any of the bad mistakes of the past, he’s considering the things that most would consider to be good. The point is, even though it might feel good to reminisce about past accomplishments, he is not yet completed; he’s yet to lay hold of the prize of a resurrected life. So Paul pressed on. He wouldn’t waste anytime in the past. He would wisely use whatever time he had left to reach his goal of heaven.
With Paul, it didn’t really matter whether you were talking about the good or the bad of the past. He put it all behind him so he could follow the LORD. He wouldn’t sacrifice his service to Christ because of the sins that had confidently been forgiven. And he wouldn’t “rest on his laurels”, getting hung up on the good he had once achieved. Because of Christ, Paul was able to conquer his past and press forward in true hope of a glorious future. Do we share in Paul’s perspective? Much of this is determined by our attitude and how we use the ability that God has given us to conceptualize time.
In Ephesians 5:15-16, Paul wrote: “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” …In Colossians 4:5, – “Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.” Of the Greek word that is used here for “redeeming,” Henry Thayer says that it means “to make wise and sacred use of every opportunity for doing good, so that zeal and well doing are as it were the purchase money by which we make the time our own.”
As valuable and precious as our time is, we are never given any guarantee of the time that we have left alive in this body. When opportunity knocks, if the door is unopened, it passes on. It never travels backwards. If we will heed the Scriptures, we will do our best to anticipate and prepare for the opportunities to do good and to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Have you been “redeeming the time?” It may not be possible to gain back any of the time that you have misused, but with what time you have left, God has given you the ability to make the most of every opportunity to be a faithful servant. At this moment, it is not too late to redeem the time.