Redeem the Time
As young homemakers, we need to be very careful in the way we use our times. So often, we are tempted to waste our times in tertiary, meaningless things. Don’t give in to the temptation. This is an article I wrote about a week ago, regarding this topic, and my conviction on it. Hope you enjoy it ladies!
His words resound through my ears over and over and over. “You are a fool. You are a fool. You are a fool.” I was utterly convicted and guilt ridden. But that wasn’t enough. True repentance is not just a feeling of guilt and conviction but an act. We must act on repentance. We must or we will be destroyed. The ultimate Pharisee is the fake Christian who says one thing and does the exact opposite.
I’m always telling myself that I need to redeem the time for the days are evil. I need to make use of every precious second, minute, hour, day, month, year, and years of my life. But I don’t usually seem to want to follow up. “I get distracted.” is my poor excuse. I like to go off on bunny trails and then I just can’t seem to remember what I was doing the second before.
Yesterday, my father, leader, and pastor did a powerful exhortation on using our time wisely, expressly on the computer and even more expressly on the internet. The internet is such a huge waste of time for me. Sometimes, I think to myself that I would be better off with not having any internet at all. But the things is, would I ever learn to use it wisely? Would I learn to make good use of my time on the internet and to desist from using it when I don’t need it? Would I learn self-control and discernment? I need to follow the example of my mother and father who have the self control to use it only when needed and refrain until that time.
My father particularly emphasized spending time watching dumb movies on YouTube, which I have done, mindlessly looking through streams and streams of blogs, checking your email every 20 minutes, and doing other things that you like to do to fill in empty space on the internet, but are not necessarily needful. He emphatically said that if you do these things, you are a fool. I felt like he was looking straight at me, and I knew that I’ve made halfway commitments to use the internet properly and wisely, but I haven’t really lived up to them.
I want to be wise when I use the internet. I want to have self-control, and I pray as I walk the road to repentance and using this dangerous tool for good, that God would help me and instruct me along the way. The internet is so corrupted. Evil men use it to their own evil purposes and ends, and many children are especially drawn in by it. They are drawn into spending 4 hours+ on their Facebook account or spending endless hours chatting their friends while they try to get something done. (Don’t worry. I’m doing somewhat of a description of myself here.) But we must overcome this, or the world will destroy us with its many wiles and temptations.
We must overcome the desire to be apathetic in our fight for God’s kingdom. We can not truly take dominion and conquer our sins and the wiles of the devil when we sit around, comfortably “surfing” the internet on the living room couch. We must put aside our laptops and go out to study God’s Word, encourage people, sharpen others, and destroy our flesh. Will you join me brothers and sisters in this fight for the kingdom? I am in it to the end as the Lord continues to make my hand wield the sword of the Spirit.