The Object of Discipline (5)

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5.15, 16

Make the best use
Of course, everything we have been discussing in this study regarding the discipline of the body relates to how we use the time of our lives. We only speak with others, listen to their concerns, and lend our hands and bodies to serve them in the framework of time.

Thus it is important that, as Paul says, we learn to make the best use of our time. As followers of Jesus Christ, the phrase “best use” can only refer to advancing the rule of Christ – making disciples, building His Church, and making Him and His Kingdom known to the world. So with respect to the time of our lives, any use we make of that time must be consistent with our calling to follow Jesus and to use our bodies, in time, to serve His purposes and ends.

The importance of this is heightened when we understand time from a Biblical perspective. Each moment of time comes to us as a gift of God, of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who upholds all things and every moment of time. Our duty is to receive this gift and “improve” it, to use Edwards’ term, before it returns to the Lord from Whom it came.

A stewardship of time is thus demanded of us, a stewardship that can only be realized for a tenfold return when we discipline our bodies in the time of our lives.

How can we become better stewards of the time of our lives? Embedded in Paul’s exhortation are three guidelines for using our time with disciplined bodies to follow Jesus.

Three guidelines
First, we must pay careful attention to how we use our time. The New King James Version puts this well: “walk circumspectly.” Keep an eye on the horizons of your time. Don’t do things in a mindless or merely reactive manner.

As followers of Christ we have a purpose in life; we shouldn’t rattle around in the time of our lives like pin balls, bouncing uncontrollably from one situation or circumstance to the next. Rather, we should learn to plan our time wisely, numbering the hours and days of our lives in advance, so that we can prepare to use them wisely (Ps. 90.12). And it wouldn’t hurt to have some method in place for evaluating your time, from time to time, even if that consists of nothing more than an end-of-the-day review of your activities, waiting on the Lord in prayer to show you how you might improve your time usage tomorrow.

Second, Paul insists that we must use our time like wise people, not like fools. The fool says in his heart that there is no God (Ps. 14.3). In the life of an unbelieving person, what this means is that God, if He exists at all, has no interest or place in the time of his life. He is the master of his fate; he is the captain of his soul. What could God possibly add of significance to the time of his life?

But the believer must not live this way; rather, he trusts in the Lord with all his heart; in all our ways we don’t want to depend merely on our best thoughts or what others do or say or approve. We want to trust in the Lord and look to Him for guidance in all our ways, all the time of our lives (Prov. 3.5, 6). This will require that we pay careful attention to the Scriptures as we read them, listening for the Spirit as He speaks into all the nooks and crannies of our lives, allowing God’s Word to shine its light into the activities, relationships, roles, and responsibilities of our everyday lives, so that we might have God’s wisdom in how to discipline and prepare our bodies to make the best use our time.

Finally, Paul suggests that we keep the larger spiritual perspective in view at all times. The days are evil, Paul tells us. Spiritual forces of wickedness in high places are deceiving and misleading many people. They will latch on to anything to advance their pernicious objectives, even things we might mindlessly do or say. Every moment of our time that our bodies waste in non-Kingdom endeavors will be captured by the enemy of our souls and used for his ends.

We must be vigilant daily, consecrating all our bodily members to the work of the Lord, and beseeching His guarding and guiding presence in all the time of our lives. The more aware we are of our time, and purposeful in how we must use it, the greater will be the likelihood that we will serve Christ with our bodies in the time of our lives.

Next steps: Are you confident that all the time of your life is being used as fully as possible for the Kingdom of God? Do you plan well and review frequently? Is your body rightly disciplined to make the most of all the time of your life? Talk with a Christian friend about these questions.

T. M. Moore

This week’s study, The Object of Discipline, is part 1 of a 7-part series on The Disciplined Life, and is available as a free download.

Kingdom discipline begins in Kingdom vision, and that vision is centered on Jesus Christ exalted. T. M. has prepared a series of meditations on the glorious vision of Christ, based on Scripture and insights from Celtic Christians. Order your copy of Be Thou My Vision by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.