This article discusses the words of Ephesians 5:16, “making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”

Source: De Wekker. 2 pages. Translated by Harry Janssen.

Ephesians 5:16 - Use of Time

We often wrestle with time. Many of us feel we do not have enough time. You do not get around to what you would like. You would like to visit family and friends more often. You would like to have more time to be with your children and grandchildren. You would like to spend more time on your studies or your hobby. You would like to make more time for Bible study and prayer. But there is not enough time.

Now is it not my intention to use this article to give you a start on how you can better organize your agenda and plan things. It is good, however, that we also use our holidays to reflect on the time we get from God.

Making the Best Use of the Time🔗

In Ephesians 5:16 we read the expression: “making the best of the time, because the days are evil.” To refer to “time,” Paul uses the word that indicates: the occasion, the right time. The words: “making the best of the time” also mean: use for your own benefit. Paul indicates with these words that a Christian has to consider the time he has at his disposal as an opportunity to serve God. 

In this chapter Paul writes about walking as children of the light. The believers in Ephesus are, by the grace of God, no longer children of the disobedience who live in darkness. God’s grace has shown its power in their life. They are made alive with Christ through the Holy Spirit. God’s glorious and powerful grace has been manifested in their life. Now they are also called by God to walk as children of the light. It is about trying to do what pleases God and understanding the will of God. 

The Days are Evil🔗

Paul characterizes the time in which he writes this letter as evil days. Now is the time that the believers in Ephesus have the opportunity to show they are different. After al, the contrast between light and darkness cannot go unnoticed. It is a clear contrast. The time in which Paul writes this letter is a time of iniquity and sin. The kingdom of darkness is fully visible in the world. We live no less in a time in which sin and iniquity is visible. Paul touches on things that are extremely actual: impurity, greed, idolatry. 

Calling🔗

Making the best use of the time does not first of all mean to see how much time you spend in serving God. It is first of all to know another attitude to life than those who do not fear God. It is the renewal of the heart. He who is renewed by God’s Spirit sees time and life in a different way. You are going to understand your calling to live according to God’s will. The Holy Spirit shows your life in the perspective of the kingdom of God. It is the calling of God’s children to shine their light on the people. After all, they are the light of the world, because they know Christ as the Light and live out of him. Making the best use of the time is not so much to count minutes and hours, but to weigh time. Seeing the time as God-given to serve him and spreading the light of Christ in the darkness.

Filling in the Time🔗

A part of our time is filled in. We have our work and our tasks in the family and society. But that is also time, opportunity that God gives. Letting your light shine means you do your work in the family and society as a Christian. Making the best use of the time means you are going to realize that your conduct in daily life has to be permeated with the mind of Christ. Also in our work and in our family the Lord asks us to do his will. A Christian longs to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus. He spent his life completely in the service of God. To the depth of his heart he was filled with the desire to do the will of his Father. 

Priority🔗

Paul incites the Ephesians to use the right opportunity for the advancement of God’s kingdom. Now is the time to walk carefully as children of the light. It was true then and it is true today that people see in Christians what the gospel means. That gives us a tremendous responsibility for how we live in our time. He who understands his calling also gives priority to the secret communion with God. The inner communion with God is the secret of a holy dealing with time. You learn to evaluate the time you receive from God in the right way. 

The words of Paul are also an appeal to those who still live in darkness. It is now a time of grace: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Now is the day of salvation: precious time of grace in which the Lord lets himself be found. 

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