How Precious an Hour

How Precious an Hour!

Thanks to Daylight Savings Time, those of us in the United States (except for Arizona I believe) woke up yesterday morning having lost an hour during the night that we will not get back until next Fall. Now, my Saturday night time is normally given over to reviewing my lessons and doing some final studying in preparation for Sunday. This particular time is quite precious to me. So when this past Saturday evening about an hour before bedtime my wife reminded me of the hour change, I was not too happy. I just could not afford to lose an hour of time right then. Why don’t they make the hour change at 2 a.m. on Saturday morning instead of Sunday morning? Don’t they (whoever “they” is) realize that that would be a much more convenient time to lose an hour?

How precious a single hour of time can be! Is it ever convenient to lose an hour of your time? And yet how many people waste many hours every week sitting in front of a television (or perhaps a computer)? Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not opposed to a little healthy entertainment now and then (assuming it is healthy entertainment). Nor am I opposed to just veggin’ in order to wind down at the end of a long day. There is much to be said for rest and relaxation. But I think that for far too many people, Christians included, “veggin’” has become a regular pastime. We ‘veg’ a lot of hours away that we can never get back. “Therefore”, as it says in Eph 5:15-16, “be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.” The Greek word for “making most of” is literally “to purchase from” or “to purchase back”. Some versions translate it, “redeeming”. The idea is to rescue something from loss. Now, the truth is that if we lose an hour (e.g. by wasting it), we can never get it back. However, if we rescue the hour before we lose it (e.g. by “making the most” of it), then we rescue it from potential loss

Time is precious indeed, too precious to waste. The best way to rescue time from loss is to use it in service to God and to others. Spend it with your kids rather than in front of the TV. Spend it in reading or studying the Bible. Go out and get some exercise. Build relationships. Reach out to the needy. Help someone else come to know God. Gal 6.10 says, “So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith”. Like time, opportunities are limited.

Our lives are but a vapor, here today and gone tomorrow (Jas 4.14).When you are young it seems like you have all eternity ahead of you. But as you get older the time flies by so fast you wish you could slow it down. For some however, time will be suddenly cut short without notice, perhaps in a car wreck or due to disease or heart attack. It won’t come at a convenient time. And so as Paul said, we need to make the most of our time because “the days are evil”. There are all kinds of things conspiring to rob us of our time and of opportunity. Let us walk wisely, realizing the precious value of a single hour and the opportunities it presents.