No Time to Waste

Redeeming Time in a Battleground Culture

Feb 10, 2026

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person (Colossians 4:5-6 English Standard Version).

So teach us to number our days

that we may get a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12).

An old industrial punch clock with a black face and white numbers, mounted against a wall cluttered with papers and cards. — Image by Joshua Olsen from Unsplash

People love controversy and argument. Subjects range from Superbowl halftime shows and the risk-to-reward ratio for AI to the organization of the food pyramid. Social media amplifies the extremes and the end result is deep division, intolerance of divergent ideas, and debilitating anxiety brought on by the fear of isolation by appearing to be on the “wrong” side on an issue. Civil discourse has gone the way of cursive writing and it seems like every public conversation feels more like a battleground than a community.

The Church is not immune to the draw of an argument. Pastors who preach deep truths from Scripture often find their Monday morning emails filled with objections and accusations about the content of the message, the perceived tone of the message, or the connection/disconnection of the message to individual pet political projects. Additionally, people sometimes take their dissatisfactions to the wider world in gossip online and in-person, leading to misunderstandings, bitterness, and alienation—none of which point to to Jesus and all of which steal time from the things God has for us to do and to experience.

Time is the one thing that every human has in equal measure: the only variable is length of life. There are 365 days in a year (leap year exceptions apply to everyone). That breaks down to about 525,600 minutes, a number that the composers of Rent found significant enough to write a song about. The daily ration of minutes to us all is about 1,440. After sleeping seven hours, working 10 hours, plus household responsibilities and eating, we are left with abut 270 minutes of time to our priorities. Interestingly, non-work related screen time in the US averages 240 minutes.

God established the idea of time for us in the Creation narrative (Genesis 1:14-19), and while there is no formula for how we should specifically use our time, it is clear that engaging in social media arguments over controversial topics is not God’s best for us. Knowing that we have fewer than 300 minutes of discretionary time on any given day should give us pause. How do we use the time we have?

Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15-16 ESV). In many ways, Ephesus shared many characteristics of the modern West: arts and theater were held in high esteem, international trade led to great wealth, and people were often well educated. At the same time, a fascination with eroticism, pagan worship, and crime dominated both daily life and entertainment. Wisdom would lead people to be lights in the darkness, rather than perpetrators of it.

Similarly, Paul reminded the Colossians to “walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person“ (Colossians 4:5-6). The arguments, criticisms, critiques, and endless tirades that dominate conversations in both the secular world and the Church reflect people living in opposition to wisdom and godliness. The best use of the minutes we have available to us is not promoting conflict, but rather pursuing peace (Hebrews 12:14).

Each of us has the same amount of time in each day, week, month, and year. If we use those precious minutes in continual angry conflicts, we risk coming to the end of our years sighing that life is “toil and trouble” (Psalm 90:10), rather than rejoicing in the Father’s steadfast love, (Psalm 90:14). If we choose to use our 525,600 minutes to point to Jesus, the chaos of the world diminishes in importance. If we number our days with Jesus at the center, he will give us a heart of wisdom for the things of the kingdom to the glory of God (Psalm 90:12).

Defaulting to Grace

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