Righteousness - Lesson 24

'How To' Instructions in Righteousness

Lesson 24:
Walk circumspectly. Redeem the time.
Be not unwise. With understanding, know the will of God

Walk circumspectly
	Carefully, anxiously, solicitous lest you fall into sin. The word rendered "circumspectly"-akriboos (NT:199)-means "diligently," and the idea here is, that they were to take special pains to guard against the temptations around them, and to live as they ought to. ~ Barnes Our word circumspect, from the Latin circumspicio, signifies to look round about on all hands; to be every way watchful, wary, and cautious, in order to avoid danger, discern enemies before they come too nigh, and secure a man's interest by every possible and lawful means. But the original word akriboos (NT:199) signifies correctly, accurately, consistently, or perfectly. Be ye, who have received the truth, careful of your conduct; walk by the rule which God has given you; do this as well in little as in great matters; exemplify your principles, which are holy and good, by a corresponding conduct; do not only profess, but live the Gospel. As you embrace all its promises, be careful also to embrace all its precepts; and behave yourselves so, that your enemies may never be able to say that ye are holy in your doctrines and profession, but irregular in your lives. ~ Clarke Diligently, carefully. ~ Wycliffe Note: Walk with diligence. Guard against temptation. Live the gospel. These things can only be done by a firstfruit immersed in the Word of God. Each of these four admonitions have the same foundation of immersing ourselves into the very mind of God and Christ.
Redeem the time
	The word rendered here as "redeeming," means "to purchase; to buy up" from the possession or power of anyone; and then to redeem, to set free-as from service or bondage. Here it means, to rescue or recover our time from waste; to improve it for great and important purposes. They redeem their time who employ it: (1) in gaining useful knowledge; (2) in doing good to others; (3) in employing it for the purpose of an honest livelihood for themselves and families; (4) in prayer and self-examination to make the heart better; (5) in seeking salvation, and in endeavoring to do the will of God. They are to redeem time from all that would waste and destroy it-like recovering marshes and fens to make them rich meadows and vineyards. There is time enough wasted by each sinner to secure the salvation of the soul; time enough wasted to do all that is needful to be done to spread religion around the world, and to save the race. We should still endeavor to redeem our time for the same reasons which are suggested by the apostle-because the days are evil. There are evil influences abroad; allurements and vices that would waste time, and from which we should endeavor to rescue it. There are evil influences tending to waste time: (1) in the allurements to pleasure and amusement in every place, and especially in cities; (2) in the temptations to novel-reading [or watching TV], consuming the precious hours of probation to no valuable purpose; (3) in the temptations of ambition, most of the time spent for which is wholly thrown away, for few gain the prize, and when gained, it is all a bauble, not worth the effort; (4) in dissipation-for who can estimate the amount of valuable time that is worse than thrown away in the places of revelry and dissipation; (5) in wild and visionary plans-temptations to which abound in all lands, and pre-eminently in our own; (6) and in luxurious indulgence-in dressing, and eating, and drinking. ~ Barnes Buying up those moments which others seem to throw away; steadily improving every present moment, that ye may, in some measure, regain the time ye have lost. Let time be your chief commodity; deal in that alone; buy it all up, and use every portion of it yourselves. Time is that on which eternity depends; in time ye are to get a preparation for the kingdom of God; if you get not this in time your ruin is inevitable; therefore, buy up the time. ~ Clarke Note: In Ecclesiastes we read "...time and chance happeneth to them all. For man also knoweth not his time (Eccl 9, last part of verse 11 and first part of verse 12)." The word "chance" means "opportunity"...time and opportunity happens to all humans. The word "time" actually means "death." Therefore it should read, "death and opportunity happens to us all." We do not know how much time we have. We do know that time is the ONLY real commodity we have. Time is what gives us opportunity. Like a financial budget, we can allot our money for wise purchases or for foolish purchases. After writing out the budget, our job and duty is to go over it and identify the foolish items in the budget. When we have identified them, we can allot that "rescued" money and put it to something wise. In doing so, we have redeemed some money. It is the same with our time. Our time is much more precious than our money. There may be no limits on how much money one could earn, but each individual has only so much time and even lesser time from his or her calling into the Salvation Process until death or the return of Jesus Christ. The Barnes commentary above gives us a sample list of the wise and foolish purchases with our time. God wants us to address, at every opportunity, the elements of the Salvation Process: Bible study, prayer, meditation, overcoming sin, and invoking the Holy Spirit in the form of Godly principles--living the gospel. He wants us fully immersed into His Word. This takes time. We redeem the time by taking minutes and hours from the foolish side of the ledger and applying them to the wise side of the ledger, actively and diligently working the Salvation Process.
Be not unwise
	Not as the people of this world live, indulging in foolish pleasures and desires, but as those who have been taught to understand heavenly wisdom, and who have been made truly wise. ~ Barnes Again the command to stop that which is already in progress - stop becoming foolish. But. Strong adversative in Greek (alla). ~ Wycliffe Note: The people of this world do not have the understanding of time or how to redeem it for spiritual purposes. They have not been called to the Salvation Process as yet. You have. The Word of God, in teaching the ways of Salvation, show us how to forsake the foolish pleasures and desires and focus on the elements of the process. The more we are immersed into the Word of God the more wisdom we gain and the more time we redeem. We also gain greater and greater knowledge into God's will.
With understanding, know the will of God
	Be not fools in the employment of your time, and in your manner of life. Show true wisdom by endeavoring to understand what the will of the Lord is, and then doing it. ~ Barnes It is the will of God that ye should be sober, chaste, holy, and pure. Get a thorough understanding of this; acquaint yourselves with God's will, that ye may know how to glorify him. ~ Clarke Not merely knowing as a fact (Luke 12:47) but knowing with thoughtful understanding. ~ Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Study, consider, and further acquaint yourselves with the will of God, as determining your duty." Observe, Ignorance of our duty, and neglect of our souls, are evidences of the greatest folly; while an acquaintance with the will of God, and a care to comply with it, bespeak the best and truest wisdom.~ Matthew Henry Note: All four commentaries say the same thing. Immerse yourself into the Word of God. In addition, meditation is strongly indicated here. Immersing ourselves into God's Word is the eating. Meditation is the digesting of what we have eaten. In meditation comes clarity. In the process of meditation, God imparts knowledge and wisdom and this is how we know God's will (1 John 2:20).