Because the days are evil

By Ainish Philip

Ephesians 5:16 St. Paul asks us to make the best use of time, because the days are evil. Jesus tells us that the last days will be like the days of Noah and of Lot, in which the people ate, drank, bought, sold, planted, built, and so on (Luke 17:26-30). If you notice, these things are normal in itself. These are activities that are part of man’s life. Then how does it become sinful?

If we look into our lives in the light of the above bible verses, our lives are saturated with a plethora of activities. Satan has cunningly planted the seed of busyness in our lives. There was a time in my life when my dad was working in the Middle East when I was young. The letters we would post him via airmail would take at least 10 days to reach him from India! Today we can happily send messages at the click of a button. Inspite of modern technology and the best gadgets at hand, we all complain about having no time. Our ancestors had to spend so much time doing the daily household chores which today are done for us by gadgets and machines. Yet many of them found much more time for God than most people find today. Why? Because they made the best use of time!

I spoke to a young man last week who said he is very spiritual and spends one hour with the Lord. I was very happy to hear that. He said every morning at our house we wake up hearing gospel songs from 6am to 7am. I realised that, this is also the time when he does his morning chores and hurries to college!  Most of us think listening to gospel music or an anointed talk constitutes our prayer for the day. But satan is a liar (John 8:44). He makes us believe in half-truths marinated with lies. Those things are good for the soul but maybe not the best. If we need to be witnesses for our Lord, we need to develop the habit of sitting at the feet of Jesus just like Mary did. That is why Jesus said, “Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42). Jeremiah the Old Testament prophet is known as the ‘prophet of prayer.’ 2 Maccabees 15:14 speaks of him as “a man who loves the family of Israel and prays much for the people and the holy city.”

Today I see many youth ready to sing, jump and dance for the Lord but very few who are ready to kneel down and spend time in His presence. Again, these things are good but only when combined with prayer. David was a man who danced before the Lord with all his might (2 Samuel 6:14) but he was also a man who praised God seven times in a day! (Psalm 119:164)

Equally important is reading the Word of God. Joshua was told that his life would be a success only if he meditated on God's Word daily (Joshua 1:8). We all want to become saints, but we don’t want the most important part of the saintly life- prayer. Imagine the lives of saints; they were busier people than us. Most of them travelled hundreds of miles on foot from one place to the other to spread the Good News of Jesus. But they were never tired of praying to God, never failed to miss their secret time with Jesus.

This Lent season, let us hold on to what is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21) and make best use of our time knowing that the days are evil and we need to conquer satan and his works with the power of prayer. Let us take time to fast from technology during the active hours of our day and connect with our Lord.