Redeeming the Time: A Study

As part of our adjustment process here in Thailand, we have been reading through the book "Cross Cultural Connections" by Duane Elmer, a must-read for anyone experiencing life in a different culture. Be it missions work or otherwise, this book is suited for anyone heading into the unknown territory of another culture. As we were reading through the book, something really caught my attention in chapter 13. In summary, this chapter is dealing with the issues surrounding time versus event. The issue is whether one sees time as hours and minutes or as opportunities... strictly related to a clock, or more relational. One section in the chapter dealt with "Time in the Bible", where he makes a distinction between the Greek words chronos and kairos, both usually translated as "time". He mentioned Ephesians 5:16, the famous verse about "redeeming the time", and so it got my mental gears turning. Is there credibility to what he's saying? If there is, it changes a few things! This is what I have found then...

Elmer makes a distinction between the two words, stating that,

"Chronos refers generally to time segments, sequences and what we might think of as a specific time or time period. In today's culture, we might think of it as clock time or calendar time."

Of the other word, he states,

"Kairos, used nearly twice as often in the New Testament, approximates the way many people in the Two-Thirds World perceive time. Time is understood not in terms of specific segments but more in terms of opportunity, the right time, the appropriate time or the meaningful time. Thus, kairos people value the moment, the event or the opportunity and try to make it significant and memorable." (pgs 121-122) This then set me off to discover if the things he stated about these words were so.

CHRONOS: In my search, I found about 54 hits for this word in the New Testament, here are some examples.

Matt. 2:7- Herod asks what TIME the wisemen saw the star.
Matt. 25:19- The master in a parable returns after a long TIME.
Luke 1:57- Elizabeth's TIME came to give birth.
John 12:35- Jesus says only a little TIME is He with the disciples.
Acts 14:28,15:33,18:20-23- Speaks of staying in a place for a TIME.
1 Peter 1:17- Speaks of life as the TIME of our soujourning.
Rev. 20:3- Satan to be loosed from the pit for a TIME.

Compare that with KAIROS: In my search, I found about 80 hits for this word in the New Testament, far more than the prior word...

Matt: 8:29- Demons asking Jesus if He will torment them before the right TIME.
Luke 12:56- Jesus speaks to "hypocrites" who cannot discern the TIME.
John 7:8- Jesus does not go to a feast because His TIME is not yet come.
Acts 12:1- King Herod attacks the church "at that TIME" (the right time).
Romans 5:6- At the right TIME, Christ died for the ungodly.
Gal. 6:10- As we have OPPORTUNITY, let us do good...
Eph. 5:16- Redeeming the TIME...

And here are some extra-biblical examples from some common, everyday type correspondences in the world at the time of the New Testament...

1. An Alexandrian contract reads, "Apportion to him TIME (chronos)". In other words, he needs more time to do something.
2. A statement from a lawyer that says, "seizing a favorable TIME (kairos), she broke into my client's house, and carried off the foundling."

The evidence is rather overwhelming in my estimation. While these meanings are not necessarily exclusive from each other, they are generally referring to different things. So when Paul tells us to "redeem the time", is he saying that we need to fill our minutes, hours and days? Is he suggesting we need to be a part of the rat race, or even the Christian rat race? Or could he be saying the opposite? Could he be telling us to make the most of every opportunity? I tend to think so. Frankly, given a choice between a meeting or family matter, people in a third world agrarian culture will opt for family every time. They won't always miss the meeting itself, but they might be a few minutes late. They could not think of brushing somebody off because they might be late to something. In the western world, business is life and life is business. Time is money or at least valued as such. But is that entirely biblical?

In Elmer's evaluation of Time versus Event cultures, he makes some interesting comments about the typical western time-oriented culture. He notes that things were not this way until the industrial revolution, when people began punching clocks. On an assembly line, everyone needs to be there, if somebody is late, it holds everything up, and so our view of time began to change. Everything was tied to time, it was money. We measure life by time, we earn money by time, we sometimes even measure our success or effectiveness by time. Why is the wristwatch the most common graduation present? He says this,

"Many of us remember the hectic frenzy around the house trying to get ready on time for church or some event. We arrived on time but at the cost of shouting and tense feelings. Maybe it is still true in your house. Nevertheless, our time orientation served us well for things like gross national product, national emergencies and progress in science. It has, however, often take its toll on relationships." (pg. 119)

That somewhat floored me, mostly because it is so true. Even in something like church, this aspect of American thinking dominates. We view our time the same way the business world views it. We fill our lives with schedules and calendar items and times to be here and there. Then if something comes up, even an opportunity, it is lost because we "have to be somewhere". What has happened?

On page 118 however, Elmer makes another interesting note.

"It is my observation that much of the two-thirds world is becoming more like the west and much of the west is becoming more like the two-thirds world. For example, younger-generation Americans are less time-oriented and more event-oriented. Two-thirds world people, with exposure to the west, are becoming more time-oriented... Everyone has the same twenty-four hour day. Beyond that, however, people think about and use time differently."

In my estimation, nothing could be more true. I've seen clashes between two cultures even in America, where perhaps older generations look at the younger generations with disdain for their lack of concern for time. Likewise, younger generations may look at the older ones with a smirk because they are perceived as being nailed to a clock.

This raises some interesting questions. It is easy to fill our lives, make our schedules crazy, and imagine that we are living our life to the fullest for the Lord. "Look at everything I'm doing". But what are we doing? In the last number of years I spent in the states finishing up seminary, my life was nothing but hectic. I filled it up to the max with events and calendar items, being here and there doing this and that. I barely had time to breath! But towards the end (before crossing the ocean), I began to think, "what am I actually doing?" I wondered, in the insanity of my life's schedule, how many lives were actually being touched by mine? Is it possible to create such a busy life (even with good things), that we miss the opportunities that are afforded to us every day? Are we in such a hurry in the grocery store that we fail to even recognize the existence of the cashier, much less offer them a kind word, much less show them the love of Christ?

Life in Thailand sometimes seems dreadfully slow. It was a huge adjustment coming here. But then, it made me think. Is life too slow here, or is it too fast back int he US? The truth is, it would be wrong to make a blanket-statement about he US in this way, for there are many places, usually rural, where this is not the case. But in more metropolitan areas, it is definitely the case. And it's not like you can just have a daytimer or blackberry burning service or something. You can't ignore the demands of work and obligations, especially in America. But you can look at your life and perhaps take a priority-inventory. I've had to do that, I suppose I was forced to when we moved here. Redeeming the time... Did God intend for us to fill our lives with things, meetings, stuff to do? Or did He intend for us to view time a little more as an opportunity that only comes once?

Perhaps our super-civilization can learn some things from the rice farmers, the goat herders and the people of the field. Does God suggest that we fill our minutes with business and schedules, or that we use every opportunity that comes our way for Him?