Redeeming the Time
“So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12
A while back I read Gordon MacDonald’s, “Ordering Your Private World,” an insightful read on getting order and balance between the private and public spheres of our life. The basic premise is that if the inner spiritual world of a person is in order, the outer and much more public world of activity will also fall into place exactly as it should. Sounds obvious and simple to some, but it’s not that easy.
I decided to re-read some key sections, particularly on ”time management.” John Maxwell insists that time cannot be managed, because God, as the Ancient of Days, owns and transcends the time. See Daniel 7:9, 13, 22. Time can only be prioritized. So, we don’t own it, do we? It’s God’s time — not mine … or yours for that matter.
MacDonald uses the term “recapturing time,” and I believe this concept is some of the best practical guidance on “redeeming the time” I have seen. “Redeem” from the Greek root word means to take back … to ransom from. From whom?
I’m a lot like someone MacDonald describes — more intuitive actually than analytical, not disturbed by ambiguities or what can’t be seen beyond the natural. But this different kind of vision also comes with some challenges, viz., prioritizing the time — and not letting anyone or anything steal it or waste it.
More inner order is in order ….
Is it about “inner peace” …? I have that in my spirit. It’s the chaos around competing for time and energy …. Also, some people have more inner intensity … feel deeper, have spiritual battles with “principalities and powers,” are called to intercede for others, and revelations and visions sometimes have disturbing components — absolute truth is sometimes ugly. We don’t always know what a person goes through. What works for one person won’t for another.
I can’t answer why it is that those people that let life happen to them sometimes are okay but most are not. We’re not supposed to be subject to fate or circumstance but also have to walk by faith not by sight. As believers we live in a new realm. Does letting life happen really work in a crisis? I don’t think so.
Let’s go to the breakthrough service and have the Holy Spirit break through it all!
With blessings
Mike