REDEEMING THE TIME
REDEEMING THE TIME
“Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” (Colossians 4:5-6)
The Greek word translated as “redeem” in this verse is “exagorazo”. It means to “ransom” or to “buy”. It is used four times in the New Testament Scriptures.
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“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.” (Galatians 3:13)
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“But when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5)
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“See then that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15-16)
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“Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” (Colossians 4:5-6)
In the Old Testament Scriptures the Hebrew word for redeemer is "gaal”. It is found 105 times in the Bible and the first time it is used of God in Job 19:25-27: “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another.mHow my heart yearns within me!”
This word is also used of a kinsman-redeemer like Boaz. This use is vividly illustrated in the Book of Ruth, where Boaz acts as a kinsman-redeemer for Ruth (Ruth 4:1-10). The role of the kinsman-redeemer was to redeem or purchase a relative from slavery, repurchase land that had been sold, or marry a widow to preserve the family line. This legal and familial duty underscores the themes of redemption and restoration in the Bible.
The Scriptures teach that it is possible for us to “redeem time.” Just as Christ redeems us from the curse of the law, and just as God redeemed Job from the grave, and just as Boaz redeemed Ruth, it is also possible for us to “redeem time.”
IT IS WRONG TO BE WASTEFUL
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The prodigal son wasted his money in riotous living (Luke 15:13) That’s why he was so hungry that he was forced to eat pig’s food. In fact, the word “prodigal” means to be “reckless, wasteful, and extravagant.”
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When Jesus fed 5,000 men plus women and children with 5 barley loaves and 2 small fish He commanded His disciples to gather the fragments that were left over so that nothing would be wasted. And they gathered 12 baskets full of the food that was left over (John 6:8-13). •
Just as it is wrong to waste food and money, it is also wrong to waste time! We need to “redeem” time, not “waste” time!
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Remember the man who did nothing with his talent was condemned for being lazy and worthless (Matthew 25:24-30). This lazy man “wasted” his time!
EVERYONE HAS THE SAME AMOUT OF TIME
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As of 2025 world population is estimated to be 8.3 billion people.
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No matter how rich or poor you are, everyone has the same 24 hours every day.
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What you do with this time determines whether you will succeed or fail!
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Most will spend 8 hours sleeping, and 2 hours eating. That leaves 14 hours for something else. •
If you are an adult, you may spend as much as much as 10 hours working every day, six days a week. This leaves you only 4 hours left to waste or to spend on something else.
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As you know, the Lord rested on the seventh day. This is a good example worthy of our consideration! When God “rested” He was not “wasting time!”
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Let us consider how to “redeem” our spare time so that it will not be wasted!
FIRST, WE NEED TO BE DILIGENT
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As we have already pointed out we must “walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15-16)
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The Greek word translated as “circumspectly” in this verse is “akribos” from which we get our word “acrobat”.
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The Greek word “akribos” comes from “akros” which means “highest”, and “bainein” which means “to go”. An acrobat is someone who goes high.
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Charles Blondin was a 19th-century tightrope walker who achieved international fame by crossing Niagara Falls on a tightrope in 1859. Obviously he had to be diligent to do this! •
We too have to be diligent to redeem time that would otherwise be wasted.
THE SHEMA
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The Shema is a prayer that the devout Jew recites twice a day. It is found in the book of Deuteronomy. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)
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One way to “redeem the time” is by doing two things at the same time. You can, for example, teach your children while you are sitting, eating, or traveling. You can also make Scriptures available for in prominent places so others can read them.
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Johannes Gutenberg invented the moveable-type printing press around A. D. 1450. The first major work to be printed was the Bible! More Bibles are in print than any other book in the world!
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Please spend time with your children! The worst thing in the world is to die and go to hell, and then realizing too late, that you brought your children with you!
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It is our responsibility as parents to “Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it.” (Proverbs 22:6) Training our children is not wasting time! •
We can also “redeem the time” by witnessing to others while working or traveling. As we have already mentioned we are to: Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” (Colossians 4:5-6)
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Just as seasoning can make a meal delicious, our witness for Christ to the unsaved can also be made interesting and desirable if it is properly prepared.
SONGS OF ASCENT
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The Jews were required to attend three feasts in Jerusalem every year: “Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me. “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv, for in that month you came out of Egypt. “No one is to appear before me empty-handed. “Celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the first fruits of the crops you sow in your field. “Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field. “Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord.” (Exodus 23:14-17)
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Many of these religious pilgrims would travel through Jericho on their way to Jerusalem. •
Jericho is a lowest city on the face of the earth. It is 846 feet below sea level. Jerusalem is 18 miles away and is approximately 2,500 feet above sea level. This means that Jewish pilgrims climbed over 3,300 feet while ascending to Jerusalem from Jericho.
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If they averaged 2 miles per hour the journey would take 9 hours.
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Jerusalem is surrounded by the Kidron valley, the Hinnon valley, and the Tyropeon valley. Virtually everyone had to go up to Jerusalem in order to worship!
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The Shema teaches us to talk about the commandments of God while we “walk along the road”. This is precisely what the devout Jew did when he travelled to Jerusalem to worship. •
Psalms 120 – 134 are called “Songs of Ascent”. The time spent ascending up to Jerusalem was not “wasted” but was “redeemed” by singing these psalms.
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It is interesting that just after commanding the Ephesians to “redeem the time” the Scriptures commanded them to be “speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 5:19-20) •
Yes! The Ephesians spoke to one another in “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” and the devout Jews did the same thing! Fortunately, we can “redeem the time” by doing the same thing!
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Paul and Silas also “redeemed the time” by singing even while they were in prison (Acts 16:25). As they were singing hymns and praying they not only witnessed to the unsaved people around them, but prompted God to destroy prison with a violent earthquake!
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As you know, that very night the jailer and his entire household were converted to Christ baptized the same hour of the night (Acts 16:27-34).
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With the help of God we can “redeem the time” by singing and talking about His word at the same time we are doing something else!
TEACHING RELIABLE PEOPLE
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The apostle Paul was in prison when he wrote his last inspired letter to Timothy. He was about to be executed and wrote to Timothy explaining: “I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure.” (2 Timothy 3:6)
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With so little time left Paul urged Timothy not to waste time teaching unreliable people. To do so would be like giving sacred things to dogs or casting pearls before swine (Matthew 7:6) •
Instead, Paul wrote: “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.” (2 Timothy 2:2)
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The Greek word translated as “people” in this verse is “anthropois” from which we get our word “anthropology”. Anthropology refers to the study of societies and cultures involving both men and women.
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The Greek word for male as opposed to female is “aner”.
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The point is that Timothy was to teach “both reliable men and reliable women”.
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The fact that a woman is to be submissive to her husband doesn’t mean that her ministry is not important to God!
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Yes! Just as Jesus was submissive to God, a woman is also to be submissive to her husband. Paul wrote” “But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.” (1 Corinthians 11:3)
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Reliable women still have an important role in teaching and Timothy was to teach them how to do it!
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Older women are specifically commanded to teach the younger women (Titus 2:3-5). •
Philip the evangelist had four virgin daughters who prophesied (Acts 21:8-9)
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Both Priscilla and her husband Aquila taught Apollos the way of the Lord more perfectly (Acts 18:24-26).
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Paul told the brethren in Rome to receive Phoebe in a way worthy or saints and to give her any help she needed (Romans 16:1-2).
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Etc.
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The world can easily be evangelized in a very short time if “reliable people” teach other “reliable people”.
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Let us suppose, for example, that you are the only Christian in the whole world, and after an entire year of evangelizing you only make one convert to Christ. If your convert is reliable and this pattern repeats itself, in only ten years you have 1,024 Christians. (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1,024)
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To make our calculations easier, let us round out the number of Christians to 1,000. The population of the world is over 8 billion and after ten years there are only 1,000 believers. Furthermore, you are the world’s champion soul winner and yet you have only won 10 people to Christ.
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If everyone of these thousand believers is reliable, however, and each one wins one new convert each year, in the next 10 years the church will grow to over a million! (1,000, 2,000, 4,000, 8,000, 16,000, 32,000, 64,000, 128,000, 256,000, 512,000, 1,240,000)
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Now there are a million believers and you are still the most successful evangelist with only 20 converts!
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Again, to keep our math simple, let us round the size of our church to only 1,000,000. If each believer is reliable and continues to win one other person to Christ each year, the next 10 years the number of believers will grow to over a billion: (1,000,000, 2,000,000, 4,000,000, 8,000,000, 16,000,000, 32,000,000, 64,000,000, 128,000,000, 256,000,000, 512,000,000, 1,240,000,000)
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In only thirty years the church has grown from 1 to over 1 billion and you are still the world’s champion soul winner with only 30 converts.
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If a billion reliable Christians continue to win one person each per year on year 31 there will be 2 billion Christians. On year 32 there will be 4 billion Christians. On year 33 there will be 8 billion believers. In other words, if all believers were reliable the world could easily be evangelized in only 33 years.
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Jesus, as you know, was crucified when he was 33 years old!
TO REDEEM THE TIME WE NEED TO SEEK GUIDANCE FROM GOD
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Wise King Solomon wrote: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6) To trust in yourself is to waste time!
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Peter and his companions fished all night long and caught nothing. Their long hours of labor were wasted! When they allowed Jesus to guide them, however, they caught so many fish that their boats began to sink (Luke 5:1-11).
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“Then Jesus said to Peter, from now on you will catch men.” (Luke 5:10) The promise of Jesus was clear! Jesus was going to guide Peter to catch men in the same way He guided him to catch fish! When we do what Jesus leads us to do we are never wasting time!
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On the day of Pentecost Peter preached one sermon and 3,000 people were baptized (Acts 2:41). Without the guidance of God it is possible to preach 3,000 sermons and lead only one person to Christ.
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When Peter and John healed a crippled man, Peter preached another sermon and the number of converts grew to about 5,000 men (Acts 3:1 – 4:4).
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In spite of persecution: “more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.” (Acts 5:14-16)
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God guided Peter to Samaria (Acts 8:14-25), and then to Lydda where he healed a paralyzed man named Aeneas. Remarkably, all those who lived in Lydda and Sharon turned to the Lord (Acts 9:32-35). Then God guided Peter to Joppa where he raised a widow named Tabitha from the dead (Acts 9:36-43).
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Just as Peter was the first man to preach the Gospel to the Jews, he was also the first man to preach the Gospel to the gentiles. The amazing way God guided him to do this is recorded in Acts 10:1-48).
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Jesus said to his disciples: “I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” (John 4:38) •
God also wants to guide you and has promised: “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But
when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.” (James 1:5-8)
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RECEIVING GUIDANCE FROM GOD CAN HELP YOU REDEEM THE TIME IN MORE WAYS THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE!
COME BEFORE WINTER
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As we have said, Paul was about to be executed. He wrote: “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:6-8) •
As Paul was about to die he wrote to Timothy:
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“Do your best to come to me quickly” (2 Timothy 4:9)
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“Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry” (2 Timothy 4:11)
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“When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments.” (2 Timothy 4:13)
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“At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (2 Timothy 4:16-18)
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“DO YOUR BEST TO GET HERE BEFORE WINTER”! (2 TIMOTHY 4:21) •
In that day ships did not sail in the winter because it was too dangerous. When Paul was being taken to Rome as a prisoner, for example, they made a mistake of trying to sail after the “Day of Atonement”. Luke wrote: “Much time had been lost, and sailing had already become dangerous because by now it was after the Day of Atonement. So Paul warned them, “Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and bring great loss to ship and cargo, and to our own lives also.” (Acts 27:9-10)
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Unfortunately, they didn’t listen to Paul and were buffeted by a terrible storm for 14 days. Ultimately, their ship was wrecked on the Island of Malta. Thankfully, though the ship and all it’s cargo were lost, all 276 people on board were saved. (Acts 27:27-44)
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The “Day of Atonement” came on the tenth day of the seventh month in the Jewish calendar (Leviticus 23:27). The seventh month in the Jewish calendar is “Tishrei” which typically falls in September or October in our calendar.
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THE POINT IS, IF TIMOTHY DID NOT COME BEFORE WINTER IT WOULD BE TOO LATE TO COME AT ALL!
NOW IS THE DAY OF SALVATION!
“As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says,“In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:1-2)
Some of you who read this article have been in the military. You know that when your commanding officer shouts a command you are required to immediately obey. The idea that the commands of an army officer must be obeyed immediately but the commands of God are optional and can wait until it is convenient is absurd! When God commands you to do something you must do it “NOW!”
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The first time the word “worship” is found in the Bible is in Genesis 22:5 and refers to Abraham offering Isaac on one of the mountains of Moriah. You know the story! It is recorded in Genesis 22:1-19. It was a three day journey and Abraham left “early the next morning”. Three days later, just as Isaac was about to die “Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns,” and Isaac’s life was spared! If Abraham had not left “early in the morning” three days before, the ram might easily have been eaten by a predator. •
When Jesus observed His last Passover with His disciples, “he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there. The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.”(Mark 14:13-16) If these two disciples did not immediately obey Jesus they would have missed seeing the man carrying the jar of water!
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When Philip the evangelist was preaching in Samaria “an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Go south to the road - the desert road – that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’” Philip left immediately and many miles later he arrived at the road just in time to see a chariot passing by. Then “The Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go to that chariot and stay near it.’” Because Philip immediately obeyed he met the Ethiopian eunuch and baptized him into Christ (Acts 8:26-40). It is important to remember that the Gospel came to the black people of Africa many years before it came to the white people of Europe!
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The point is to “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near.” (Isaiah 55:6) Blind Bartimaeus had only one chance for Jesus to heal him (See Mark 10:46- 52). Jesus was passing by on His way to Jerusalem to be crucified. When Bartimaeus realized this he began to shout for mercy. Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more! Jesus heard his cries and healed him! Thank God he did not foolishly wait for a more convenient season! Jesus died in Jerusalem and never passed by that way again!
THE PARABLE OF THE TEN VIRGINS
“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and
you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’ “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’ “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.” (Matthew 25: 1-13)
The difference is obvious:
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The foolish virgins wasted their time.
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The wise virgins redeemed the time!
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PLEASE BE WISE AND REDEEM THE TIME BECAUSE THE DAYS ARE EVIL!