Redeem the Menial
We don’t make the best use of our time. If you have a computer or a phone, it’s a guarantee that you often use it for the sake of distraction. None of us are in the habit of making perfect use of our time. However, the problem does not concern distraction by social media, procrastination in completing our chores or assignments, or even our perennial lack of Bible reading and prayer. How we use our time is a direct expression of our interior, spiritual life. In a time before social media, the Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:15–17 (ESV):
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of your time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
I’m fond of the old rendering in the King James, “redeeming the time.” John Calvin helps break down the phrase: if time is in need of redeeming, then something has stolen it from its proper place.[1] To be foolish is to know where something ought to go, and then not put it there. If we are to redeem the time that we believe is wasted, then it is because that time is not so much wasted as it is deliberately and intentionally deprived from going where it ought to go—to bring glory to God and good unto His creation. Time, like any other human commodity, is bought and sold. By not serving God with our time, we are servicing Satan. This is our perpetual problem--we often serve distractions, rather than let our mind wander upon the things of Christ.
Jonathan Edwards, in his famous seventy resolutions (journaled 1722-23), resolved to redeem his time. He wrote in resolutions four, five, and six:
Resolved, never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God; nor be, nor suffer it, if I can avoid it.
Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.
Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.[2]
These resolutions blend together the idea that I should be in constant awareness of how my actions, thoughts, and words glorify God. Often when we think of “living with all our might,” we are quick to jump to the idea of martyrdom. We think of that phrase with respect to giving a clear testimony of the Gospel, or of making huge life-altering decisions. Edwards was not primarily concerned with fanciful daydreams or appeals to heroism. He was more concerned with redeeming all the busyness of life, more concerned about living with Spirit-invigorated might throughout every moment that makes up each day. Edwards considered God’s glory while making his oatmeal and buttoning his shirt.
Biographer Iain Murray notes the disappointment so many historians experience when observing Edwards’ vast amount of writing. Edwards barely acknowledges the social life or daily hustle and bustle during his time in New York City. He records scant details of regular church life, and there’s no miscellaneous fodder for sociological or anthropological study that so many other diaries and letters from the time period typically contain. Something is odd about Edwards that should be odd about us as well. Murray recounts of the desired historical details, “For importance, these things no longer compared with the realities of the kingdom of God. New standards and new affections had broken into his experience...there is the key to the understanding of his whole life and future ministry.”[3] Edwards, it appears, took very seriously his resolutions. He became, or sought to become, evermore enamored with the reality of the Christian spiritual life. Distractions ought to decline as we redeem our time. Distraction is nothing more than an opportunity squandered; an opportunity to wonder at how Christ can be glorified even through the minutiae of our lives.
This is where Jonathan Edwards burns brightly as an example in history. This is why his name is remembered; he grew in his stewardship over time. Time management is not an attractive topic; it doesn’t dazzle audiences and readers. However, time management is an essential discipline for the Christian life. We ought to take seriously these words in Scripture and grow in maturity of wielding this weapon against the schemes of Satan.
We often fail because we look at menial, mundane tasks with a worldly perspective. How could this possibly become a means to glorify God? How do we redeem loading the dishwasher, how do we redeem changing diapers, how do we redeem pumping gas? The first step is the easy one; thinking through such questions prayerfully, shifting our attention from unthoughtful muscle-motion into self-inquiry. The pressure for redeeming time isn’t laid on us, but on the Holy Spirit through God’s people.
I think of my early morning routine. I doubt I’m any different from most people in that I would prefer to stay wrapped up in my bedsheets. My body resists the fact that I must crawl out of bed and start the day. This disposition is precisely the same as our hearts. Our hearts are not naturally inclined to pray or read the Bible. If we reserved time in prayer and Bible reading to the moments when we truly feel compelled to do so, how often would we practice these spiritual disciplines? These practices would be far more attractive if our mindset was to redeem our time. If we cultivate a regular practice of self-examination, especially over menial tasks, we will grow exponentially in our spiritual walk. We are making use of the Spirit’s work in us; our union with Christ.
Redeeming time isn’t about the things or objects keeping us busy, it isn’t necessarily the neglect of starting and finishing some project. What drains us of our time, from an eternal perspective, and what drains us of our energy, from a spiritual perspective, is the wastefulness of considering our motivations. What Edwards reveals through his resolutions is that Christians should be concerned with the tendency to reduce moments into simple actions for personal amusement, for constant titillation. Is there a correlation between how you approach distraction and how you approach the holiness of God? The mere act of tying shoes can become an exercise in repentance or any other means of experiencing grace. Jerome wrote about this kind of sanctification in Letter 125:
Let your mind and body both strain towards the Lord...Do not let your mind offer a lodging to disturbing thoughts, for if they once find a home in your breast they will become your masters and lead you on into fatal sin. Engage in some occupation, so that the devil may always find you busy.[4]
In spite of the busyness that invades our lives, we are not to give the Devil a foothold in those seemingly unimportant moments that fill the day. We aren’t automatically spiritual failures because we don’t have the ability to sit and read the Bible all day, but there’s much more to be said about a person who, though performing menial labor, is able to contemplate a few verses from Jude for hours on end.
What verses or doctrines can you ruminate on today in order to redeem your time, to show God your stewardship over the small, menial moments of the day? How many routines and thoughtless actions could you redeem by intentionally meditating on them for biblical nourishment and spiritual maturity? The work of the Holy Spirit enables us to redeem all of our labors, especially the menial. If such labor is going to be a part of the day, then make it useful, make it glorifying to God, and make it have lasting impact.
God knows how you can make best use of your time; therefore, keep a close watch, not just on the big chunks of your day, but on those little bits too (1 Tim 4:15–16). As Bernard of Clairvaux wrote in On Loving God (c. 1128), “He himself provides the occasion. He himself creates the longing. He himself fulfills the desire.”[5] All of us have a longing for something greater out of life, part of that desire often steers us away from the mundane or at least wraps the menial up as though it is void of true importance, but that’s not the Bible talking. It is only a lie to keep us lacking in our stewardship of time. Redeem your time! Claim your time as time well spent to the glory of Christ’s Kingdom and your desires will be satisfied even through the menial and the mundane.
Reflecting on this article, a verse came to me in my morning prayer. I conclude with that conviction:
The mundane comes and chains my heart
There Satan plagues my daze
But Christ, Your will I’ll not depart
Each second warrants praise!
Each second warrants praise, my Lord
The bell won’t hold its chime
So grant my heart to wield Your sword
That conquers wasted time
[1]John Calvin, Sermons on the Epistle to the Ephesians, trans. Arthur Golding (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2017), 538.
[2]Jonathan Edwards, A Jonathan Edwards Reader, ed. John E. Smith, Harry S. Stout, and Kenneth P. Minkema (New Haven, CT: Yale Nota Bene, 2003), 275.
[3]Iain H. Murray, Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1987; 2008), 44.
[4]Jerome, Select Letters, trans. F. A. Wright, Loeb Classical Library 262 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1933), 416-17.
[5]Bernard of Clairvaux, Selected Writings, ed. Gillian R. Evans (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist, 1987), 191.