Dear Faith Family, 

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil, (Ephesians 5:15-16). 

A friend of a friend of mine told his friend, my friend, and my friend told me what his friend told him, my friend.  (Might have to read that again, I did!)  Alright already!  What was it that you were told?! 

Well, apparently, he was hunting out in the boonies.  You know, just past the sticks, and right before you reach the boondocks.  He stopped by one of those Dollar General stores to pick up something.  Maybe something to eat?  In any case, circumstances encouraged him to search for toilet paper.  What circumstances? 

Oh yeah.  It was the year 2020.  You remember the covid crisis, right?  And toilet paper was in short supply.  Those circumstances.  So, my friend’s friend was looking.  And what to his wondering eyes did appear?  Toilet paper!  He proceeded joyfully to the cashier with his happy harvest.  With astonished delight he told the cashier that he was surprised that they had toilet paper.  Oblivious, she questioned his purchase.  He enlightened the cashier when he told her about the corona virus. 

Apparently, she was unfamiliar with any such virus.  To put it in her words: “ain’t no rona virus up in here.”  Unbeknownst to her, toilet paper was a precious commodity in 2020. 

Today time is a precious commodity.  Paul informed the church in Ephesus (and us) that there was a virus among us.  He called it evil, the days are evil, (Ephesians 5:16).  In lieu of the current virus we ought to be buying up every minute that we can.  The word that Paul used was to redeem (“to buy out of”) the time.  The ESV reads, making the best use of the time, (Ephesians 5:16). 

Question?  Where can you find time for sale?  When I searched for it on amazon, all I found were clocks, timers, and movies with the word time in the title.  I found no time for sale.  Fact is, the seconds, minutes, and hours in a day are set.  There are no options to purchase additional minutes.  Even our days are numbered, (Job 14:5; Psalm 39:4, 139:16).  So which Dollar General store has some days for sale? 

Paul is telling us to invest each day in the pursuit of our Lord Jesus.  Seeking Him first, pursuing His will, spending our days living for Him in effect buys the day.  To lose your life in His today is to purchase this day.  To ignore the current virus, to underestimate the value of this trip around the sun, to pretend that there is an unlimited number of these days is to waste yet another. 

Can we conclude with a question?  What do you want to do today?  No, that’s not the question.  The question is, what does He want to do today? 

Buying days, 
Pastor Karl