Time Is NOT Money: Redeeming the Hours God Gives Us

October 21, 1985. A date that will live in . . . infamy? Okay, maybe not infamy, but box office glory, to be sure. In case you didn’t recognize it, October 21, 1985 is the date Marty McFly must get back to in order to get “back to the future” in the film of the same name. This classic Michael J. Fox flick earned more than 385 million dollars worldwide in 1985¹ and was followed by two more successful movies in the next five years. 

Set primarily in the 1950s, Back to the Future plays on our love of nostalgia as well as obsession with time travel. Of course, the Back to the Future trilogy isn’t the only work to scratch the human itch to travel through time. Whether Stephen King or Stephen Spielberg, H.G. Wells or J.K. Rowling, authors and moviemakers alike understand audiences’ thirst for time-travel. 

The reasons for this are many, but among them is the understanding of the inestimable value of time and that no matter how hard we try, we cannot get it back. The idea that we can is just a fantasy. While time travel may be the stuff of science fiction, the value of time has its roots firmly in Scripture. 

Time Is Not Like Money 

In helping the Ephesian believers understand what a walk “worthy of the gospel” looks like, Paul gives this instruction: 

Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise—making the most of the time, because the days are evil. (Ephesians 5:15–16, emphasis added)

While many modern translations have chosen to steer away from the financial metaphor, Paul’s Greek word choice for “making the most” of time is actually a money word, used like our English word ransom or redeem. Thus, we can legitimately make the case that time and money have correlations. But let’s hit pause right there and consider the many contrasts between the two. 

• Time cannot be saved. 

Unlike your nickels and dimes, time cannot be saved up. We don’t have “time banks” or savings accounts for spare minutes here and there that would allow us to stockpile our extra time. Each of us receives twenty-four hours each day—no more, no less. 

• Time has no tycoons or paupers. 

Because each of us receives the same amount of time, none of us are “rich” in time and none of us are “poor” in seconds, minutes, or hours. Of course, we may feel differently when the calendar fills up and our days feel crammed to the max with barely two seconds to sit down. But in truth, we’re given the same as our retired neighbors next door who sit on their porch sipping their coffee and talking about the weather.

• Time never comes back. 

A person who declares bankruptcy may be able to rise from the ashes and build his wealth back to a respectable position. However, the same is not true of time. A minute wasted is gone forever and will never come back. A year squandered is a year lost forever. 

Time Must Be Redeemed

The other day I went through my wallet and discarded several Visa gift cards that had expired. I think I had used some of the money on them, but the rest was lost to the bottom of my trash can because I failed to redeem the full amount before the expiration date. I wasted it. 

Of course, I could have wasted it in other ways as well. I could have used them to buy inexpensive and frivolous junk that broke five minutes after I opened it. Or I could have put them in a junk drawer never to be seen again. However, had I been a bit wiser, I could have saved them until I found the right item on which to spend the full amount. In the least, I could have saved them and used them together to make a large, expensive purchase less costly. 

Think of your time like those Visa gift cards. Paul commands us to “redeem” it or “make the most of it.” I didn’t make the most of my gift cards because I failed to use them up. Nor would I have redeemed them well by making foolish, immature purchases. Likewise, we don’t make the most of our time when we squander it on cheap, fleeting pleasures.

That’s not to say that there’s never a place for a game of solitaire or a scroll through Instagram. Just like buying a Kit Kat at the gas station may not be a waste; it becomes a problem when it’s a consistent way you spend your money (and calories). However, according to Paul, the way we spend our time should distinguish us from the unbeliever next door. We’re called to walk as “wise people”—people who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ. As such, our time habits must reflect our status as blood-bought followers of the Savior. 

Do yours?

Time Ought to Be Evaluated 

To answer that question, let’s consider some different categories of time: 

• Work time
• Family time
• “Me” time
• Screen time
• Drive time
• Chore time 

We must recognize that these categories are not all created equal. For instance, when it’s time to work, it’s time to work. It may not be the right time to walk through the Romans road with a coworker or to open a book about Christian living. While I do not know your personal circumstances or what each of these categories of time might look like for you, I think the following three questions can help us start to evaluate our time. Take each category in turn and consider the following: 

• Am I self-indulgent with my time? 

No matter the category, it’s possible to serve the idol of self with your time. Likely the idolatry will be found in either a devotion to comfort or a lust for control. If you become a tyrant about your time and fail to recognize that it belongs to God and not to you, you’ve slipped into idolatry.

• Am I loving others with my time?

This may look like using time to serve another person, but it might also be allowing someone else to choose what movie to watch or what music to listen to. Loving others and putting their interests ahead of your own (Phil. 2:4) comes in all shapes and sizes. You can love others by humbly picking up their dirty socks, or you can grumble the entire time that you tidy up the house. How do you serve others with your time?

• Am I seeking God’s kingdom first? 

Viewing our time in light of eternity is both exposing and terrifying. As earth-bound creatures, we have plenty of necessary tasks that don’t have a lot of eternal value. However, in many cases, we allow our time to be completely earth-centered with little-to-no eternal value at all. Using commute time to listen to a sermon rather than talk radio may help you seek God’s kingdom. Redeem laundry time by reviewing memory verses or praying for your family as you fold your clothes. Take a break from social media and replace screen time with reading your Bible or a Christian book. At work, do everything as if for the Lord and not for anyone else (Col. 3:23). 

Time is not money. In fact, it’s infinitely more precious. However, we too easily squander it as if it had no value at all. If you’re like me and realize that you’ve been doing more frittering than redeeming, take some time today to make Psalm 90:12 your prayer: 

Teach us to number our days carefully 
so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts.

¹ “Back to the Future Franchise,” The-Numbers, accessed November 6, 2025, https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Back-to-the-Future#tab=summary