See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Ephesians 5:15-16
Recommended Reading: Colossians 4:5
This proverb arose in the fourteenth century: “Time and tide wait for no man.” Tide suggests the rising and falling of the ocean’s tides. But in early English tide referred to seasons or periods of time (think yuletide referring to Christmas). So the proverb might best be understood as “Time and seasons wait for no man.”
The point of the proverb is obvious: Time is an unrelenting reality that cannot be stopped, delayed, reversed, lengthened, or shortened. As you are reading this devotional, the clock of your life is ticking. You are closer to the completion of your time on earth at this moment than you were when you woke up this morning. So when Paul wrote, “[Redeem] the time,” he was conscious of the precious nature of time. We should take advantage of every day, month, and year and treat them as gifts of God. We should use our time wisely, knowing we will never get back time that has passed.
Prayerfully consider how you can best use the coming year. Once passed, it can never be replaced.
If you die wrong the first time, you cannot come back to die better a second time.
Robert Murray M’Cheyne
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