Make the Most of Your Time

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 7
 
“Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:16
The time we have with our children is now! Our children have been put into our care or stewardship to raise for the Lord, who died for us that we should not live unto ourselves but unto Him (2 Cor. 5:15). How are we using the time we have with our children today? Like Hannah in the Old Testament, we have only a set, relatively short time, to wean them (in our case to wean them from this world), to train them for the Lord, and to guide them. We must be “not of the world” ourselves before we can effectually wean our children from it. “Ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world” (John 15:19).
Our children read our daily lives through observing our priorities and how we respond to God and what He allows in our life. As we enjoy the Lord as the Object of our heart and life, our children will want Him, too.
Before her son was even born, Hannah said, “I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head” (1 Sam. 1:11). She purposed in her heart to raise him in separation for the Lord, acknowledging that he belonged to the Lord. “And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her and brought him unto the house of the Lord  ...  and the child was young” (vs. 24). We should not wait until our child is weaned to begin training. Hannah knew in her heart as she nursed young Samuel that she only had a short time with her son. How she must have made the most of every moment to love, nurture, and train him for the Lord. She gave of herself with purpose, knowing that soon she would physically give her son back to the Lord.