There is a very obvious sense that all time is to be used to God’s glory and so no time can be ‘Christian’ or ‘not-Christian’ time. A Christian is called to honour the Lord all of the time.
Nevertheless, how we use our time speaks volumes about our heart, maturity and spiritual progress. In Redeeming the Time, we explored what it looks like to not pass our time as the world does but instead to redeem it and use it for noble things and purposes.

Time is so important. Next to life itself it is the greatest gift. How we use it reveals who we honour, determine our spiritual health and chart the course of every other area of our life. Here I mean Christian time for ways in which we overtly spend our time engaged in public means of grace: weekly, monthly and yearly (there is of course daily too: personal and family reading of Scripture, prayer and singing).

(*What follows are the main public meetings of the church that we should intentionally build into our lives and is expressed in our church covenant pledge, “to attend all public meetings of the church.” 3.5). 

Monthly: Each month we also have the monthly corporate prayer meeting. While we pray together in other ways, this is an opportunity to gather expressly to pray for the life of the church and revival, etc. This is rooted in Acts and has a long history in our Reformation movement. It is when the church not only worships but prays together that you can see her heart (and her heart is in turn transformed in a common experience). A praying church is always a growing church.
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Yearly: Our quarterly members’ meetings are our opportunity to not only gather in fellowship (and usually teaching and singing) but to discern God’s will for our church. As elders-led congregationalists this is very important. We want to hear from and help our elders. We want to discuss the largest matters facing our church. We want to hear and discuss things together before the Lord, our head. As members of a local body it is vital that all members gather under Christ to discern His will.

These are the appointed main public gatherings of our church, which we should prioritize to attend regularly before we consider other ministries. (We should also have at least one area of the church in which we are serving). When we ‘seek ye first’ (Mt 6:33) God’s kingdom and righteousness in these ways, our week, month and year have a solid foundation from which to do other things.

Other: Once we are engaging in the basics then ask, what other time might I have to devote to other ministries. Maybe a receiving ministry (e.g. a special teaching event)? Maybe a  giving ministry (serving at King’s Kids)? Maybe one that gives and receives (like discipleship at a Life Group. We also need to be free to have enough time to respond opportunities to help others, invest in relationships or speak with those interested in Christ as they arise

Yet when we are redeeming the time and our Christian time is firmly rooted, we won’t have less time but the Lord will anchor and bless us so that we still have time for other things (c.f. Mt 6:33).  
How do you spend your Christian time? Please prioritize our morning and evening worship gatherings, our monthly prayer meeting and quarterly members’ meetings and build upward from there as you are able. 

How do you spend your time? Do you spend it wisely for the Lord and eternity or waste it on trivial and meaningless things? As the next most precious thing to life itself, how we spend our time speaks volumes about us.
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In English we have a phrase ‘redeem the time.’ It comes from Ephesians 5:16 (c.f. Colossians 4:5, “Making the best use of the time”). It is a command of the Lord’s. To redeem means to buy out of the market (i.e. to purchase a slave), or more simply to rescue. Time means not quantitative chronological time but qualitative time like an opportune moment, critical juncture or a strategic period. Because the “days are evil” to walk in wisdom means not to waste our time in sin or meaningless activities.  These are dead ends. To redeem the time means to spend our time in ways that honour the Lord, have eternal significance, help others and enrich our lives. We redeem the time by putting the Lord first in our week (the Lord’s Day), prioritizing His will in our lives (“seek ye first” Mt 6:33), doing all that we do out of a biblically and prayerfully rooted life, being productive (Christian work ethic), planning out our weeks, engaging in wholesome and meaningful activities, etc.

Two giants of church history and the evangelical revival stand out to inform and inspire us.

Jonathan Edwards (1703–58)
Evangelical minister of Northampton, MA. He not only witnesses and was part of revival but through his prolific writings helped to spread revival.

Early in his ministry he crafted his 71 Resolutions, which reveal a Puritan-evangelical piety.  One is to “Never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.”[1]

William Wilberforce (1759–1833)
Evangelical Anglican and Parliamentary abolitionist of slavery.

Saved from a wasteful life Wilberforce went on to say in his best selling book, Real Christianity (1797), "No man has a right to be idle. Where is it that in such a world as this, that health, and leisure, and affluence may not find some ignorance to instruct, some wrong to redress, some want to supply, some misery to alleviate?" He devoted himself to two great aims, “the abolition of slavery and the reformation of manners [the Gospel]” In the 1790s he kept a ledger in which he noted how he spent his time. If he wasted 15 minutes in a day he would lament![2]

God calls us to redeem the time. Will we heed his call?


[1] George Marsden, Jonathan Edwards (2003), 51; Edwards, J., The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 1, Banner of Truth Trust, 1974, lxii.

[2] This may give the impression that rest is wasteful, but this couldn’t be further from the true. Both men remembered the Sabbath day and took restful delight in many other areas of life. It does mean that they were intentional about how they incorporated rest into life, it was meaningful rest vs. pure amusement (amuser in French means to not think).