events belong.

And so here 'redeeming the _time_' does not merely mean making the most
of moments, but means laying hold of, and understanding the special
significance of, life as a whole, and of each succeeding instant of it
as the season for some specific duty. It is not merely 'time,' it is
'_the_ time'; not merely the empty succession of beats of the pendulum,
but these moralised, as it were, heightened, and having significance,
because each is apprehended as having a special mission, and affording
an opportunity for a special work.

Now, there are two aspects of that general thought, on each of which I
would touch. The Apostle here uses the singular number, and speaks not
of the times, but of 'the time'; as if the whole of life were an
opportunity, a season for some one clear duty which manifestly belongs
to it, and is meant to be done in it.

What is that? There are a great many ways of answering that question,
but even more important perhaps than the way of answering is the mood of
mind which asks it. If we could only get into this, as our habitual
temper and disposition, asking ourselves what life is for, then we
should have conquered nine-tenths of our temptations, and all but
secured that we shall aim at the purpose which thus clearly and
constantly shines before us. Oh! if I could get some of my friends here
this morning, who have never really looked this solemn question in the
face, to rise above the mere accidents of their daily occupations, and
to take their orders, not from circumstances, or from the people whom
they admire and imitate, but at first hand from considering what they
really are here for, and why their days in their whole sweep are given
them, I should not have spoken in vain. The sensualist answers the
question in one way, the busy Manchester man in another, the careful,
burdened mother in another, the student in another, the moralist in
another. But all that is good in each answer is included in the wider
one, that the end of life, the purpose for which 'the season' is granted
us, is that 'we should glorify God and enjoy Him for ever.'

I do not care whether you say that the end for which we live is the
salvation of our souls, or whether you put it in other words, and say
that it is the cultivation and perfecting of a Christ-like and
God-pleasing character, or whether you admit still another aspect, and
say that it is the intention of time to prepare us for that which lies
beyond time.