Buying Up The Time
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam
Nineteen hundred years ago Paul wrote to his fellow- believers in the
vicinity of Ephesus: “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools,
but as wise, redeeming [Lit., buying up] the time, because the days are
evil” (Eph. 5:15,16). Those were indeed evil days, when a wicked tyrant
ruled the Roman Empire, when Messiah had been rejected, not only in
incarnation, but in resurrection, and Christianity was fighting a
life-and-death battle to penetrate the prevailing pagan darkness with
the light of God’s grace. Surely Paul never dreamed that the
dispensation of grace would continue for more than nineteen hundred
years. He expected the Lord to come at any time to recall His
ambassadors and bring the day of grace to a close. Hence the urgency of
his appeal to be “buying up the time, because the days are evil.”
But if Paul had reason to suspect that the day of grace would soon be
brought to a close, we today have greater reason to think so. Now that
the light of the gospel has been brought to Europe, America and many
other parts of the world, men are turning their backs on it. Only a
small minority of even Christendom truly believe the Bible and know the
Christ it presents — and how very few know the riches of His grace!
Meanwhile our governments, our educational institutions and our social
systems are becoming ever more godless. The result? The newspapers,
radio and TV — even a trip downtown to any fair-sized city, will tell us
all we need to know. Once again “the days are evil” and the Lord’s
coming for His own seems imminent. There is still much talk about
lasting peace and prosperity, but no thoughtful person believes that we
are headed in that direction. Rather the world appears to be heading
straight toward the prophesied “day of wrath.”
What a comfort it is to the believer, then, to know that “God hath not
appointed us unto wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus
Christ, who died for us…” (I Thes. 5:9,10). “For the Scripture saith,
Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed” and “whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom. 10:11,13).
King James Bible
The Preserved and Living Word of God
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