When it comes to making the most of every moment, I try to spend time very purposefully. My calendar is full of to-do lists: from joining a morning prayer call to pursuing my full-time day job to volunteering in the community to leading a church life group to wrapping up a side hustle project — and that’s just a Wednesday.

I often hear, “I don’t know how you do so much,” or, “You’re involved in everything!” It can be a point of pride to be able to fit so much into my day that other people notice. But it also reminds me that from the outside, it’s impossible for someone else to know if my busyness flows from my own striving or from a heart attuned and obedient to God’s purposes. 

So I must ask myself: Am I addicted to activity, riding the high of productivity? Is time really mine to spend … or is it meant for a higher, deeper calling? 

A Pauline Perspective

One of my favorite passages is Ephesians 5:15-16, where Paul exhorts his brothers and sisters to live carefully and wisely, “redeeming the time” (NKJV), “making the best use of time” (ESV), “making the most of every opportunity” (NIV) because the days are evil.

What does “redeeming” mean in this context? Just as Jesus bought us back from the condemnation of the law and the power of sin and death, we are called to buy back time. And yet this time is not our own — as with our money and our physical bodies, we are called to steward the time we have been given on behalf of the one who truly owns all things. 

So what “time” are we stewarding? In this passage, the word for time is not chronos — the measurable seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years, decades through which our lives progress — but kairos — the opportune moment, the timely season.

The economy of the world demands maximum productivity from our chronological days. But in the economy of God, the most valuable form of stewardship is to recognize and redeem the seasons in which he has placed us.

Putting Principle into Practice

Looking at my calendar, I realize God wants me to take a different approach to the question of how to redeem the time. Too often, I reduce him to my time management consultant — “God, just tell me what you want me to start, stop, or keep doing, and I will add, cross off, and circle lines and dates for the next month!”

It’s a start. But there’s so much more God can and wants to show me if, instead, I ask: 

What are you doing in this season of my life?

If I ask what he’s doing inside me: 

Who are you making me into? 

What are you forming in me? 

How are you calling me to heal, to learn, to change, to grow? 

If I ask what he’s doing around me: 

Where are you at work in my family, my school, my workplace, my community, the world?

Where can I join you? 

What do you want to do through me? 

The answers to these questions may not be the same ones I’ve heard in past seasons. They may not stay the same in future seasons. And they are not going to be the same answers that others hear for their own seasons. But if I want to redeem the time God has given me, I can’t covet a past, a future, or even someone else’s season — I need to redeem this season that God has placed me in.

For that endeavor, asking and listening for God’s continued guidance must be an ongoing rhythm of prayer and practice. As for how that plays out day to day, sometimes it will require clearing more space in my calendar. Sometimes my calendar will still overflow with activities. 

But the decision isn’t driven by what makes the best use of chronological time. Instead, I ask God to help me make the most of the opportunities he’s given me in the current season — both to be formed more and more into the image of Christ and to be part of furthering his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.