Redeeming the Time
Jonah 1:6 says, “So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.”
When Jonah tried to escape trouble by running away from God’s clear command to go to Nineveh (v. 2), he was actually plunged into a deeper trouble! The heathen mariners attempted to steer their vessel from the raging storm and “cried every man unto his god” (v. 5).
Then they recognized Jonah as the only believer on board and asked him to “call upon” the true and living God. But he was so caught up in his rebellion against God that he was oblivious to the severe weather condition around him. In times of great dangers, “the backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways” (Prov 14:14) – they are the last ones to see and even understand their own situation!
They are like the people in Noah’s days who “knew not until the flood came, and took them all away” (Mt 24:39). Often, God would employ the unsaved folks to awaken the sleeping saints (Rom 13:11), to a sense of guilt and danger (2 Cor 7:10). Many today are so enamored by worldly pleasures and the pursuit of material possessions (Mt 6:19). Some are apathetic of godly things, by taking their ease; eating, drinking, and being merry (Lk 12:19). The modern churches today are sleeping while the world around us fights for its very life (Titus 2:12). Now is the time to awake and redeem “the time, because the days are evil” (Eph 5:16).
Let’s make the best use of our time by passing the days of our “sojourning here in fear” (1 Pet 1:17), of serving the Lord. We’ve only been given a short window to live in this lost and dying world (Jn 3:19). Our lives are like “a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away” (Jms 4:14). Let’s make the most of every opportunity that we have been given for God’s glory and honor! God bless you!
-Pastor Melito Barrera
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