Redeeming Your Time – Part 1 - God's Love at Work - Week of May 30
Redeeming Your Time – Part 1
By Margaret D. Mitchell
Week of May 30, 2021
Recently, Holy Spirit brought to mind Paul Anka’s 1975 gold song titled, "Times of Your Life." I hadn’t heard this song in a very long time. I remember it as one that was popular among young people to reminisce about mostly good times forty-plus years ago, especially at proms and weddings.
But, this song heralds yesterday as hard to find and suggests that we reach back anyway to gather moments and collect dreams to pack away in our minds. It goes on to talk about setting suns and passing seasons and tomorrows, where we wake up and find that time slipped away.
But God has something else to say about moments and time in our lives.
His way says it’s not over. In fact, God has some big, new beginnings for us.
He has better for us now and forward than we ever experienced back then. Our latter can be greater, as He redeems our time—past, present, and future.
He’s waiting. It’s our choice.
As we look to God and seek Him, not our past, as we release all that’s former to Him, He will awaken us to more of His true life for us now and forward. He will enable us to see as He sees and embrace His best. He will work all things for our good and for His glory, recompensing what we missed out on earlier. He will make it better than it would have been.
Daily, He will encourage us and reveal Himself to us as merciful and gracious as we prioritize Him as our first and center and follow Him forward (Lam 3:22-23).
Do you believe Him?
Do you trust Him?
Do you know Him in this way?
It’s not too late.
God desires to change the trajectory of our lives to go higher, farther, and deeper in and with Him.
He is not limited, except by our unwillingness.
He will give us better memories and make the dreams He put inside of us still come true.
As we commit to prioritizing the Spirit of Grace above all else in our lives daily, He will refashion, reframe, refocus, refit, and refresh us in ways that will bring Him (and us) greater honor. He will offer us better memories than we ever had and could have made on our own.
He’s that good.
He’s that powerful.
He’s God.
He will take us from survival to feasting on His abundance, as we receive His grace of salvation to work on our behalf: His perfect life-blood will work righteousness and justice into our lives (Romans 3:25; 5:9, 18, 21 TPT). His great Name will open new doors for us. His Word will illuminate our hearts in truth that sets us free from a disappointing past. He can rework our today and our future and bring something good out of it. He is everlasting, and in Him, there is no end to His love, life, and goodness.
It begins with an attitude of humility, seeking Him, and dependence upon Him because we cannot do it ourselves (Romans 5:6).
And God exalts the humble (1 Pet 5:6, Luke 18:14).
If you feel like all hope is gone, and your heart aches for "Christ in you, the hope of glory" to show up on your behalf (Col 1:27), it’s time to be led "to the rock that is higher" (Ps 61:2). It’s time for hope to be restored. If you let Him shine His light in your heart, you can then put this fresh hope fully in Him.
He never disappoints.
Isn’t it time to believe Him at His Word and let Him work on your behalf to do authentic life His way (John 6:63)?
Friends, God will restore His root of love in us—His greater glory, and make us into His brightest lampstands as we walk with Him along His narrow path and remain in Him.
God can and will bring opportunities around again for new life to prove better than it would have been if we had known better and done better earlier. Even if some of our previous moments got cut short, due to an illness or perhaps an untimely passing of a loved one, that time is still redeemable. The goodness of God continues onto the next generation to be appropriated. God’s will for us is to offer us recompense for whatever was lost or stolen when we forgive, repent for any wrongdoing and submit to Him. God will even reveal His recompense to us in advance, so we can set our expectation on Him to fulfill His promise.
How exciting are these mysteries of God revealed?!
Pray with me if you will:
Dear Lord,
Thank You for Your mercy for me. I "cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I" (Ps 61:2 NKJV). I entrust my life to You to get me where You desire I be in my growth in You and in Your Kingdom for Your glory. Restore my hope. Redeem my time. Make something good out of every lost moment and disappointment. Do that which only You can do. And open my eyes to see it and receive it all Your way.
In Jesus’ Mighty Name,
Amen.
Margaret D. Mitchell is the Founder of God's Love at Work, a marketplace outreach purposed to share God's greatest power source - the love of Christ.
