See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:15-16 (NKJV)
How do you spend your extra hour each year? As I write this devotion, it is the night before we set back our clocks to standard time in the United States. Most of you must follow this same ritual, springing clocks forward an hour each spring and falling back an hour again in the fall.
It’s a challenge to reset every clock in the house, car and even my Sunday school room. We amazingly have a VCR with a clock that still works. It was cleverly programmed at the factory to reset itself each fall and spring. However, that was before a new law was passed, extending daylight savings time a few weeks at both ends of the season. So, our VCR clock is always off for a few weeks this time of year.
What do you do with that extra hour you have every fall? Do you sleep in? Do you finally make it to church on time? Do you spend time with your kids or husband? Do you have an extra-long CUPP of TEA with Jesus? Do you treat yourself to time on a favorite hobby? There are certainly numerous ways we could spend that hour, as well as every hour of every day. My prayer is that we use ALL our time for His glory and in His will, whether it is an extra hour or a regular hour in a 24-hour day.
God’s Word helps us pray to number our days aright, that we may gain hearts of wisdom. I believe this also applies to every hour of the day. May they all be used in ways that honor Him!
So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12 (NKJV)
Of course, we’ve all wasted time, whether it was a day, a week, a month, or even years. Wrong choices can fill us with regrets, wishing for a chance to redeem that lost time. My friend, I have Good News! God, the GREAT REDEEMER, can redeem the lost time for you. In the book of Joel He promised His people He would restore the years that the locusts had eaten.
So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten,
The crawling locust,
The consuming locust,
And the chewing locust,
My great army which I sent among you. Joel 2:25 (NKJV)
My friend, you are not alone. We all have years we want to trade in on new ones. Jesus can redeem the time. He will give you the years the locusts have eaten plus eternity in heaven. Jesus took on Himself, all our sins, all our regrets, all our hurts, and all our pains, when He died on the cross. When we confess our sins to Jesus, He forgives us, already having paid the price for those sins so long ago. After Jesus died, He rose again, conquering sin and death, and giving all who believe the promise of New Life. Isn’t that Good News?!! Believe our Great Redeemer!
Today’s TEA CUPP: For I know that my Redeemer lives,
And He shall stand at last on the earth;
And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,
That in my flesh I shall see God,
Whom I shall see for myself,
And my eyes shall behold, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me! Job 19:25-27 (NKJV)
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy. Psalm 107:2 (NKJV)
O Lord, You have pleaded the case for my soul;
You have redeemed my life. Lamentations 3:58 (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson