"A very hospitable friend of mine has a sign in his front yard that reads, “All our visitors make us happy, some by coming, others by leaving.”
Christian hospitality in the home is a great thing. We are given instructions in Scripture to invite the poor, the wise, and other Godly people to our homes for fellowship around the things of God.
In the workplace however, overlong visits can become a problem and even harm our testimony with our employer or our coworkers.
That's why you might want to make it a practice to go to the other person's office or workplace whenever you need a meeting. It's easier to excuse yourself from someone else’s office than it is to get them out of yours. Being a guest and not a host in the workplace lets you stay focused on what you’re being paid to do which is a big part of redeeming the time.
"
"Someone compared life to riding a 10 speed bike. We have lots of gears available to us that we never use.
That’s a good metaphor for picturing why many people miss God’s best when it comes to properly using their time. On the one side you have those who only know first gear. When God asks them to do a special project at church or work overtime to meet a deadline, they just can’t imagine how they could accomplish such a thing. They cannot picture themselves operating in a higher gear for even a short while.
On the other end are those stuck in 10th gear. They’re used to cruising through life at top speed and slowing down for no one. When God asks them to spend the day helping their elderly parents, they resist and rationalize they should be doing something “more productive.”
Knowing when to change gears can help a cyclist win a race. For the Christian, learning to use all the gears helps redeem the time.
"
"Billy Sunday was the most famous and successful evangelist of the early 1900’s. He was a flamboyant professional baseball player who met Christ at Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago. Within a few years he had formed a very successful crusade team which captured media attention all over the country. He is remembered as a colorful preacher who not only led multitudes to Christ, but also led the fight against ending prohibition.
Billy Sunday would be considered a success by almost any standard. Yet he lamented, “The great tragedy of my life is that though I have led thousands to Christ, my own sons are not saved.” Indeed his sons mocked their father’s ministry and were drunks with horrible family lives, one of whom ended his life by suicide.
It was the practice of the Sundays to leave their children in the care of a nanny while they pursued their ministry. Maybe we should note that fact as we discern what truly is redeeming the time.
"
"A man spoke frantically into the phone: ""My wife is pregnant and her contractions are only two minutes apart!"" ""Is this her first child?"" the doctor asked. ""No!"" the man shouted. ""This is her husband!""
Any woman who has had a baby, or any husband who has been with his wife while delivering a baby, remembers how stressful those contractions can be. Perhaps that’s why Jesus compared the end times to a woman in travail of birth.
It’s easy to get discouraged when we see how sinful our world has become and how far from God our society has fallen. But Jesus told us that like increasing birth contractions, so evil would increase in frequency and intensity just prior to his return.
The Apostle Paul told us what to do as we see the evil increasing. He told us in Ephesians 5:16 that because the days are evil we have an even greater need to redeem the time.
"