The Pulpit Commentary — Ephesians — Section 236

have a task, a definite_ task! a ~k that taxes his energies, And if he does not have it bf necessity of .PT?Cunng his daily bread, yet should he have it by necessity of steadying bunself. ~ut lt 1s not g?od for the bcw ~ be always bent, and, if we manage well, we shall find time(and find 1tgood for the domg of our task too) to relax ourselves in social enjoyment.. We are also to keep up the ,·-igkt proportiO'II, between our religious and 001· secular ~utteS. . The latter,. as a general ~rra~ge':°ent, ~ust take up a large proportion of our time. Six to one 1s the proportion md1cated m the command. But in every wel)-pl~ned life there will be found ample time for religious duties. Every day is to bcgm_ with an acknowledgment of_ God. It ~a.y seem utopian to expect morning ,~e,ot1ons of one who has to be at his ~ork at s1:x o'clock. And yet it only requires a little t3ken off sleep or off the previous evemng to secure the necessary time for God. And surely that is not too much to expect of any Christian in the interest of a well-ordered life. Morning devotions alone will not make the day good. Only when these ha.e been conscientiously engaged in there will be felt to be an obligation to make the day's work harmonize with them. The evening may be utilized for self-im- provement and ministries t.o others. And the da.y is to end, as it began, with God. It is only by such planning (in the name of him who is not the author of .confusion), that we can expect to be like merchants accumulating a large fortune. 2. Good p7,anning fallowed up "by decisiveness in execution. There is a reason given for redeeming the time: "Because the days are evil." The very earth bas ta.ken a. complexion from the degeneracy of the dwellers on it. And so our days are evil, and not such as they would ha'i'e been under normal conditions. (1) The days are evil because many of them are lost already. \Ve have known the degeneracy of the days in our own experience. We have lost me.ny a good opportunity. This thought should act as a powerful stimulus to us. The apostle gives revenge as the last a.nd crowning fruit of a. godly sorrow. "Yea., what revenge!" be says. We are to take revenge upon ourselves that we have given so much of our valuable strength and time to our adversary. The workman knows what it is to make up lost time. When he falls behind with his ta.le of work, be bas to work longer hours or to apply himself with double energy when he is at it. So, beca.nse our days have been ill spent in the past (before conversion a.nd after conversion u.o) are we to work with redoubled energy in the future. (2) The days are evil, because c,j the many temptatiom they lYring. In our caim moments (sorrowful for the past) we ti:tin.k of i;pending our time in a cert.a.in wa.y that seems good to us. But circumstances are not altogether with us. In a world where evil has obtained such a hold we must lay our account t.o our being solicited from without more or less urgently to depart from c,nr plan. And what makes the solicitation much to be feared is that we are enfeebled from our past. If we had conqnered obstacles a.s we went along, we should have been in a freer, stronger position to-day. Bnt we have to drag our antecedents with us, like an old debt. We have undigested time, lying like a. burden on our present energies. And though, with repentance a.nd forgiveness, there is a. sense of freedom and hope imparted to us, yet there is that which is to be conquered in evil habit. The only way of conquest is to deal rigorously with all interruptions of duty, as they a.rise, as those who would see the time redeemed, a.nd not its losses added to. (3) The days are evil because they are few. We have time to make up (in the face of i;;reat temptations), and little time to make it up in. Had we a thousand years to live, the case would be altered. That would be a comparatively long period in which to make up what we ba.d lost in thirty or fifty or seventy years. But when the days are evil in this sense that we cannot calculate on a single day as ours, there is surely ur;1;ent reason for m~king up our losses without delay. Were all the interests of life crowded into one moment were we told that upon the use we made of that moment depended our future happin~s or misery,-how urgently should we be called upon to use it aright I What is actuaily the arrangement differs little from that. We really live on from moment to momi::nt, not knowing which is to be our last. How wise, then, to seek to make out ,,r every pa.;;sing moment eternal gain ! Inference in which there is a recurrence to the gerlKf"al e~Jwrt,J.ti,,:m, and a transitwn t<> the sewnd partit;ular. " Wherefore be ye not f,,.-,lish, but underatand what the will of the Lord is." The teaching here is tba.t Christ iE u,rd of our time. He has the sovereign appointment of the time of our coming here a~,,i the time c,f vur going hence. All our undertakings arc conditioned by this: "If th,, u,r<l wilL" He has ~ovcreign rights over our time. 'l'o him we owe the firstfruita CH, V, 1-33,] THE EPISTLE TO 'l'HE EPHESIANS. 237