[Darris McNeely] We've all been shut down in lockdown during this recent pandemic. Life is beginning to open up. I'm going to get on an airplane in a few days and take a long trip, and perhaps another one in a few more weeks. And so, it has been, though a long time for us to be thinking about time and have that on our minds.

What have you done with your time? How has this shut down changed your routine in your life, being at home, working from home, being out of a job even, your children being there, homeschooling them, and now they're going back to school? How's that impacted you? How have you used the time?

The Apostle Paul made a statement in the book of Colossians 4:5. He said, "To walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time." Redeeming the time. The phrase means to buy back. I guess when you redeem something, you kind of get something back. Abd buy back your time, hold on to it, consider it to be very important. You're gonna buy back time or stock in your own life, ownership in your own life is what you're doing. And that's what Paul is getting across. Paul was writing this letter and that statement from prison. He had a lot of time on his hands. In fact, he'd been in prison for a long period of time. It's almost like God said to him, "Paul, I'm gonna shut you down. I'm going to put you under arrest by the Roman authorities here. You're gonna be taken care of, but you're not gonna have the freedom to go where you want to."

During that time, Paul had a lot of time to think. He had a lot of time to write. He wrote some of his great letters to the churches while he was in prison. It's almost like God said, "You just need to slow down, Paul. You need to back off and use this time in other ways." And because of that, in part, we have his letters to this day. There's a lesson there.

Again, I ask you, what have you done with your time during the shutdown? What have you learned? You haven't stopped to even think about that as we reassess our life and get back into a new normal. Sit down, think about some of the big lessons that you have learned and why all of this has happened and what it can do your life to make it better, to make it a bit more calm, closer to God.

Redeem the time, buy it back, and use it to serve, and to honor God, and glorify Him to a better purpose to His end of His eternal kingdom.

That's BT Daily. Join us next time.