Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. - Ephesians 5.16
Congresswoman Maxine Waters wasn't playing.
On Thursday, July 27, the House Financial Services Committee, on which she sits, heard testimony from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. When her turn came to grill the guest, the gentlewoman from California's 43rd district asked a simple question: Why had Treasury not responded to a letter she sent them. Secretary Mnuchin, knowing that each committee member received only a five-minute slot, opted to run out the clock. Instead of answering, he launched into an elaborate encomium of Waters' public service. "I don't want to waste any time on me," Waters replied.
When Mnuchin squirted more verbal ink and attempted to vanish behind it, Waters pulled a procedural power-play. The Floor Procedure in the U. S. House of Representatives, Section XI/paragraph B states, "The gentleman who has yielded may at any time 'reclaim' his time and then the other Member must stop speaking and allow him to continue."
"What (the chair) failed to tell you," Waters explained, "was you're on my time. I can reclaim it.He left that out, so I'm reclaiming my time." At each subsequent interruption or evasion, she whacked the witness with the same wooden ruler: "Reclaiming my time."
That's a very accurate depiction of Paul's admonition to the Ephesians. Various translations render the phrase, "making the most" or even "buy up." But the King James' redeeming and the Congresswoman's reclaiming are pretty good: The word means to go into the marketplace and exchange one form of wealth for another. The fellow who found the buried treasure "redeemed" the field in trade for all he possessed (Mt 13.44). Pau's word for time, by the way, doesn't mean the kind you dole out in five-minute slots; it refers to opportunity and might better be translated, "chance." Waters exchanged the fool's gold of flattering platitudes for her one shot at hearing the truth.
When the Devil dangles distractions before you today, refuse to be re-routed. Don't waste any time on you. Remind the enemy that ever since the coming of Christ, he's on your time, and you mean to use it to proclaim the truth of the Gospel.
What truth do you have the chance to tell today? What word does the moment require from you? Don't play! Reclaim your time!
"What (the chair) failed to tell you," Waters explained, "was you're on my time. I can reclaim it.He left that out, so I'm reclaiming my time." At each subsequent interruption or evasion, she whacked the witness with the same wooden ruler: "Reclaiming my time."
That's a very accurate depiction of Paul's admonition to the Ephesians. Various translations render the phrase, "making the most" or even "buy up." But the King James' redeeming and the Congresswoman's reclaiming are pretty good: The word means to go into the marketplace and exchange one form of wealth for another. The fellow who found the buried treasure "redeemed" the field in trade for all he possessed (Mt 13.44). Pau's word for time, by the way, doesn't mean the kind you dole out in five-minute slots; it refers to opportunity and might better be translated, "chance." Waters exchanged the fool's gold of flattering platitudes for her one shot at hearing the truth.
When the Devil dangles distractions before you today, refuse to be re-routed. Don't waste any time on you. Remind the enemy that ever since the coming of Christ, he's on your time, and you mean to use it to proclaim the truth of the Gospel.
What truth do you have the chance to tell today? What word does the moment require from you? Don't play! Reclaim your time!
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