Trapped in Time
249 | “We’re Keepin’ It PG”
Redeem Your Time
Fire up the DeLorean! In this time travel episode, we explore the time traps we all fall into. How does Jesus redeem our past, freeing us from the magnetic pull of regret and nostalgia? What's the difference between tactical concern and getting stuck in a state of worry about the future? And what does it really mean to "redeem the time" — not just managing our schedule, but wisely and gratefully living in the present moment? Join us for a conversation that helps us escape the loops of yesterday and tomorrow to live fully in today!
Takeaways
The Big Idea: Christ redeems our past, secures our future, and fills our present with purpose.
This Week's Challenge: Bring whatever’s snagging you, your past, present, or future to God in prayer. Then pay attention to what he does as he works in your life going forward.
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Welcome to the Bible Geeks Podcast
Bryan: what is the Greek term? "Skubola"? Like, it's that idea of, like, throwing it in the trash. It's like, I- all of that stuff,
Ryan: That's a polite way to say it.
Bryan: yeah.
We're keeping it PG on the episode here.
Ryan: Yeah, it's gross for sure.
Bryan: Well, hello everyone. And welcome to the Bible Geeks podcast. This is episode 249. I'm Bryan Schiele.
Ryan: I'm Ryan joy.
Time Travel and Its Fascination
Bryan: So today on the show, we are in our time travel episode. Both Ryan and I, we both love time travel movies where characters get stuck in the past. They get lost in the future or looped in the present.
But the truth is, so do we.
Yeah. So in this episode, we're gonna boot up our time machine to show how Christ can rescue us from all of life's time traps like regret and worry and distraction, and the Bible teaches us to live wisely and gratefully in the presence. and in Christ every deed's significance ripples through time and into
Ryan: eternity.
Bryan: so boot up your flux capacitors and hop in the DeLorean. Let's get into our time travel episode. it's always a weird day when I get a text message from you, and it contains a video of somebody standing in front of a whiteboard, which I can only assume was you, although the person was wearing, I believe, a wig? And they had this big white coat on? And, uh, they were babbling on about something about time and time travel, and, what on earth did you send me, dude?
Ryan: Yeah, I... It was part of our, our young adult event, which was themed around this idea of redeeming the time and how time... we— We can get stuck, like people in time travel movies in the past and in the future or even adrift in the present, and so we had this whole, like, thing around a time travel journey that they were on, and that was my version of Doc Brown, right?
That was the equations in the background and crazy pocket protector Ryan explaining time travel and big ideas around time and eternity and how can we unlock time, which... which inspired this episode, right? How do we unlock time? As if you and I weren't already interested enough in
Bryan: Yeah.
Ryan: yeah.
laughs]
Bryan: the listeners, because that would be- I don't know. You had to be there just to- to experience it, but I will say, it wasn't super far off from what I imagine normal Ryan standing in front of a whiteboard would be.
you were just very
Ryan: That's scary.
Bryan: was great. yeah, so today we're talking about time. we will travel back to the past, we'll go to the future, and then we'll spend a little bit of time here in this episode thinking about the present.
Favorite Time Travel Movies
Bryan: Uh, but before we get there, it would probably be helpful for us just to get it over with and talk about what our favorite time travel movies are.
What is, what is the one movie that you always go to as like your favorite time-twisting movie, whether it's like past, present, or future?
Ryan: Well, first of all, like, I think it's my favorite genre of movie. I, like, embrace the paradoxes. I find it totally fascinating, but I think... So this was a really hard question, but I think that my favorite is... Have you ever seen this movie with John Caviezel called Frequency? It's, Like, 20 years old.
Bryan: I remember this movie, although I remember nothing about it,
Ryan: It was... So I am a sucker also for father-son movies. I just... That's like... And so it's about he and his dad. I think Dennis Quaid plays his dad. And so, like, 20 years earlier or something like that. He's a fire... a fireman. And anyways, it's... it's a really cool time travel, time-twisting kind of a storyline using a radio frequency they tune in to talk to each other or hear each other's voice across time.
It was really cool. What about you? What's your favorite time-twister?
Bryan: I... really like Groundhog Day.
Ryan: Ah, yes.
Bryan: is one of my favorite movies.Bill Murray is just Bill Murray, and I love him a lot,
it- the idea of being able to relive the same day over and over again,
to realize that you would be stuck in that every single day. But I think at that point in the movie, he decides that, like, there are opportunities here for him to, like, learn and grow, and I'm like, "Yeah, bring it on."
I think that'd be pretty sweet.
Ryan: That movie kind of, like, started a whole new sub-genre. Have you noticed that? They came up with this idea and now there are, like, a million movies about people reliving the same day. And yeah. No, that's... We watch that every year in February. You gotta watch it. And anyways, yeah, that's a great one.
And I'm not bothered by paradoxes. Do you... do you get all... I have friends that, like, they get so mad about how the MCU, Infinity Wars didn't follow its own rules or whatever. Do you... do you get upset about that?
Bryan: not care. I am- I am one of these people who will not overthink a movie. Like, I- I don't really care. Like, I just enjoy experiencing it, and, if- I- I mean, it's implausible enough to think about something as ridiculous as time travel, but then to also make all these rules around it, I mean, like, come on.
If you were able to break the rules of time, you'd think you could always also break, like, the other rules, too, but
Ryan: That's... yes. Yeah, that's... You should watch a movie with my wife sometime. She, like, breaks everything down and it's like, "Well, that wasn't... that couldn't work that way." And I'm like, "Okay, let's step back. Okay, yes, this particular issue in Harry Potter is a problem, but we're also in a wizarding world.
So maybe we just go with it."
Bryan: All the rules are thrown out the window at that
Ryan: That's right.
Regrets and Lessons from the Past
Bryan: Alright, so let's get into our first segment here, and we're gonna get into a new segment here on the episode that we are calling "Time Traveler." It's hard not to sing the song,
but if we- if we could turn back time, uh, oh no, we are stuck in the past. And if you could turn back time, Ryan, what would be the one thing that you would be trying to address when you turned back time?
Ryan: Oh, man. yeah, I would... I would probably have a lot of things to tell young... young Ryan if I could go back. I don't know how this is working. Am I traveling back to talk to him? I'm getting stuck in the rules again! Oh, no!
Bryan: in the roles!
just
Ryan: Yeah.
Bryan: about all those times for myself where it's like I would regret things, and going back to those times where I would- would have regretted something, to maybe, like, warn myself, "Hey, don't do things that way." like, Bill and Ted's when they go back and warn themselves about stuff.
"Hey, don't forget to- to wind your watt," is, one of the things they- they tell each other to do.
Ryan: Yeah, regrets. I definitely can look back and and think, life could have been a little better if I was wiser and made better choices along the way." And, yeah, that that is a really great gift— I guess this is where we're going, of— of what the gospel does for us. Jesus is going to change our future, and he's going to give us help for right now, as we'll get into, but he also rewrites our entire timeline.
He redeems our timeline. It's like, it's still there. I was thinking about Paul's statement that he forgets the past as he's pressing on. He doesn't really mean forget there, right? But something has changed.
Bryan: I don't think he means re- I don't- yeah, 'cause he constantly, like, brings up his past, right? He's- he's constantly throwing up the person that he used to be as a- as a model for how he's moved on, but it's like he hasn't completely forgotten the past 'cause he's still leveraging it for his- to his advantage, I
Ryan: Yeah, yeah. So his failures, even that same chapter, he talks about the things he's given up, who he was before, and he happily gives it up. So— So there is maybe a letting go, a setting, being set free from the past, and from its magnetic pull to that that can just keep people stuck in it, keep all of us maybe stuck in what might have been, like the regrets, or what used to be, everything was better back in the day.
Bryan: was just gonna say, what do you think about nostalgia as- as a way of keeping us anchored in the past? 'Cause isn't that sort of- we think about regrets as like, "Oh, I made a really big mistake," but, like, then I think- like, my daughter just entered high school, which is, like, shocking to me. yeah, time travel is real for sure.
We- she was, like, four y- yesterday or something, but now she's 14, starting high school, and I think about, like, when I was back in high school, and I'm like, "Yeah, those were- those were- that was a time, man. That was like a- not- not that it was, like, the most amazing time, like, some people pump up high school to be, but, like, it was a special time, I think, where, you know, I was figuring out who I was and, like, what was going on and what I loved to do, and I could think about, like, all the times I loved being in choir
Ryan: or, like, getting together with my friends in times like that.
Bryan: It was, like, seriously, I- there's a nostalgia there that I could really easily lean on, is, like, "Yeah, that was- that was the time. Th- those were the days,"
Ryan: Yeah, I— I definitely can do that, thinking about, you know, I think about our marriage sometimes and how early years we had, we we took seven years before kids because we just wanted to really enjoy each other. It's like, I finally found my person. I want to just like maximize it. And it was easier, and everything was easier for sure, and it was wonderful, but everything is wonderful now too.
It's just things get get harder sometimes, and and that doesn't mean it's not as good. And I was just messaging with a couple friends about this the other day.
My friend just turned, I don't know, 27 or 28 or something, and he was like, yeah, he was like, 30 is just around the corner, one year closer." And there was like this sense of dread, and I was like, you know what? I would never go back. It keeps getting better.
So far where I am in whatever, late middle age, things just keep getting better, and it's harder. It's challenging, but the aches and pains and the aging is met with new perspective and new wisdom, and new richness, and Adrienne and I talk about this all the time. I would not want to go back to high school. I would not want to go back even to early marriage.
I just want to enjoy where I am right now and keep moving forward, and it goes with that. Isn't there a
Bryan: passage in Ecclesiastes that says the same thing. Don't think the former days are better. because That's not wisdom. Instead, just recognize where you are and be present in it, or as Ecclesiastes 3 says, "Everything is beautiful in its time. There's these different seasons, and so notice where you are right now."
you brought up Paul's words in Philippians 3, right? "Forgetting what lies behind, I press on." You- you were sort of alluding to what he was saying there, how he's, like, forgetting what happened before, but I find it interesting on the topic of, like, nostalgia that what he's talking about there is not, like, amnesia necessarily, like, forgetting, as in just not being able to remember something, but he's, he's basically saying that it's- it's something I'm neglecting, or, like, I'm no longer influenced by this thing that used to be there.
And, in fact, I think what he's really talking about there are not the negative things, but actually the positive things, because in that verse, he's,using, like, his pedigree as, like, he could be holding all this stuff up, like, as such a- a point of pride, I suppose? Like, you could look at- at the man Paul was as a Jew and just be like, "Wow, like, he's really attained something."
But he calls it rubbish there, or, what is the Greek term? Skubola Like, it's that idea of, like, throwing it in the trash. It's like, I- all of that stuff,
Ryan: That's a polite way to say it.
Bryan: yeah.
We're keeping it PG on the
episode here
Ryan: Yeah, it's gross for sure. Yeah, that's so trash, even though,
Bryan: the good stuff, right? It's all the good stuff that's
Ryan: yeah. And if you contrast that with where he is now, at that point he's writing it, he's in prison. I mean, it's not like things have really turned for me, and I'm living my best life here, It's not that kind of thing, but he is living his on-purpose best life because now he's in Christ, and all the hardship and all the difficulty is worth it because now he knows what life is about. It's kind of like what we were talking about, about how you gain perspective, and clarity about life, and you don't want to go back to not knowing.
It's a flowers for Algernon kind of a thing, that idea of going backwards and not having that understanding, is such a painful. idea to contemplate. So we move forward, we accept and deal with the consequences of the past, we learn the lessons of the past, we let Christ remove the past, and I think, one of the keys is having faith that Jesus' sacrifice is enough to remove the guilt of all of that.
Hebrews says he remembers those things no more that he has forgiven us. So why am I holding onto something that doesn't even exist in the mind of God anymore? it makes me think, of those moments where you hear about somebody from the Civil War or somebody who's lost a limb maybe that are trying to scratch a limb that's not there anymore,
Bryan: like, the phantom itches
Ryan: phantom itches.
Yeah, you are trying to deal with a pain for something that isn't even there. anymore. And so we need to let God heal that, let God deal with it and then leave it with him. in faith. I think it's ultimately where I've dealt with that. It has been a faith problem. where I needed to trust that he was enough.
to deal with it.
Bryan: So I have a question. When you're- when you're dealing with teaching a group of young people, 'cause that's kind of this episode, the idea about this time travel episode, comes from your experience teaching this to a bunch of young people, how do you think they react when thinking about the past? Because I feel like- I feel like the past becomes a stickier one the older you get.
And maybe that's just me as a middle-aged person at this point. Like, I have more time that I can actually look back and see, versus when I was younger when it's like there was virtually no time in the past. So how did- how did they respond when thinking about this? Did this land for them, or is this really kind of a message more geared towards their future selves as they look back?
Ryan: Well, I think where it lands is not so much in the nostalgia. they're not looking back. Boy, the good old days when I was seven, that was when it was great. But more, you make more mistakes in your youth, I think, than maybe any other time. I mean, I can still make mistakes with the best of them, but like David talks about, "Remember not the sins of my youth." And so we all look back and we can see we were foolish at times
I didn't even think about that passage about the sins of our youth, but isn't that the case, right? It's like even, no matter how old you are, there's still- there's still ways to look back and see that things could have been different, or they could have been better, or you could have been more committed to Jesus, even in your past.
Bryan: And how a relationship with him now can affect our life, in the past is, I think, a really helpful way of framing this idea of looking backward as time travelers.
Ryan: and we don't just like Marty McFly get stuck in the past, but we can get stuck in the
Anxiety About the Future
Ryan: future.
Bryan: She intends to change the future.
Ryan: The future.
Bryan: The future is not set,
Ryan: Yeah,
Bryan: kind of an idea, that flies around in a lot of these future movies, in a lot of these time travel movies, and I think it is helpful for us, as we think about the future, to think about things like anxiety, right? Because those are big, huge traps for a lot of people, is what is going to happen about tomorrow, and how is tomorrow going to look.
I think, uh, I think Jesus said something about that, didn't he?
Ryan: He did. He did. Yeah. In fact, thissection on anxiety and prayer and everything he said there, wasn't that the winner of our first ever Bible bracket, Matthew 6?
Bryan: I do believe it was,
Ryan: is such a powerful passage about worry and about anxiety and about tomorrow. Tomorrow has enough worries of its own. What a simple truth Jesus lays out.
So, and you can't by worrying add a single hair's breadth to your life. You can't change anything by worrying. So I know worry is something we've both talked about it, but you've particularly talked about your challenges, your journey with anxiety. What has helped you the most to not get stuck in thinking about the future and the things that are beyond your control and all the ways that things might happen in an unset future?
Living in the Present
Bryan: Yeah, well, for me, what has been really transformational, I suppose, is being more anchored in the present, and we'll get to that here in a little bit as we time travel to the present, but thinking about the future, I think one of the most helpful things to be aware of is the idea of just settling yourself into today, which is, I think, is what Jesus was really getting to in Matthew 6.
Don't be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow has enough troubles of its own. worry about today. Today is, today is what you can change, today is what you can affect, and for me, I think it's been, those little things, those little moments that I can control today, that helps me just not worry about the future, because I'm doing what I need to do now, so that when tomorrow comes, I'll at least have been in a better spot.
I'm thinking about even silly things, I'll, we'll get to prayer, prayer is a big part of that, but even silly things like going on walks and spending time outside, and little things with, having good conversations with friends, or just finding opportunities to laugh throughout the day, I mean, just little things that I can do now really do impact how tomorrow feels for me in this moment, so a lot of that stuff that's like the fear of the unknown, or like idolizing some future outcome out there that may or may not be on the horizon, I think kind of gets, at least for me, dealt with a lot when I just anchor myself in the now.
I don't know, does that resonate with you in any way?
Ryan: Yeah, it does. And it's not at all where I thought you were gonna go when you were starting to talk about dealing with things for the future right now. I thought you were, gonna talk about planning and thinking ahead and wisdom, but I love that that's not where you went. You were taking us to taking a walk and the idea of again, we're talking about getting stuck in the past or stuck in the future. And it's like, if you're trying to have one foot in the future and one foot in the present, it doesn't work. You're torn apart. We talked last week about being fragmented, right? And so letting go of your need to grip with both hands the future by settling into right now.
It takes a lot of trust, right? It takes a lot of prayerful confidence that God is going to handle it. We sing, "God holds the future in his hands. And what a difference that makes for a Christian to know whatever is coming, whatever is next he is going to be there with us. He is shaping it. Even the bad choices people are making or the awful things, he's going to work it for good.
So as you try to anchor yourself in that confidence in God, what promise, what passage, is there anything that you particularly go to as a trust builder, as Ken Leach used to call it, to help you deal with the
Bryan: it's a weird one, I think, but 1 Corinthians 3, where Paul's talking about the work that we do, it's not about like life necessarily, but it is about our role versus God's role, and how our role is to plant and water, but God gives the growth, and I think it's just the idea that God has the future in his hand, God is the one who's responsible for the future.
I'm responsible for the now, I'm responsible for what I do today, and the work that I'm able to do for him today, I don't have to live in this constant state of worry about how the things I do today are going to pan out someday, because the Lord has the future, that's all under his control, the growth, the change, the direction, my life, where my steps will lead, that's up to him leading from now, but it's a weird one, maybe like something from Proverbs about the ants, as we think about the way that they gather, and they prepare for the future, I mean, that's also helpful too, butit's that dividing line of interest, I think, for me, just understanding that today I'm going to worry about what I can control right now, and then tomorrow God is going to take care of the rest.
Is there something like you land on here that's
Ryan: yeah, but I'm really liking what you brought up there because it is unexpected and it does help with so many areas of life. If you think about like parenting, you want to do such a great job in your parenting and it's just like you are, whenever your first child is born, a new world of worry and anxiety is born into your life.
And it's something that you're just constantly navigating, I think, as a parent. to Try to trust God, to do your best, to constantly, especially with those early ones. Second guess yourself, I want to do this right. But if you're focusing, like you're saying, like Paul, on planting and on watering, If you're focusing on teaching, and training, and disciplining, and providing, and guiding, and doing the little things that you can do.
There's so many big things that are out of your control. You know they're going to make, mistakes. you know they're going to, get hurt. you know that there's so much that they are going to become. I have a 13 year old and a 12 year old that are becoming these people who are making their own choices. You know, this is the world we live in.
It is a different world than where we came from. Anyway, so I like that for that application or work with other people. And even in my own life, who I'm becoming, there's some things that I'm reaching for, but all I can do is, plant and water. So I love that thought that you're bringing to, I would have never in a million years thought, what is my trust builder idea, promise for, for the future.
But that is, that's a great one.
Bryan: It's a different way of saying something like from Proverbs 16, verse 9, I think as well, it's us who plans, right? We're the ones who make the plans, but the Lord directs our steps, and just kind of breaking apart the division of labor maybe is helpful there. I think too, when thinking about Jesus' words here,I think it's helpful for us to come back to this conversation about worry and anxiety, and say, I don't think Jesus is condemning somebody for being worried about something, because he himself in the garden was worried about what he was going to face, obviously, of course, like he would have been.
It also is, I think it's entertaining sometimes, how many times Paul in his letters said very clearly, I'm anxious for you, like I'm anxious about this situation, I'm worried about what's going on, and every word I hear, every report I'm getting back helps me to be a little less worried about you all, and he had like as a parent, sort of making that connection to what you're saying, he had as a parent this background worry, but it wasn't, I think the distinction for me is that it isn't like a state of worry, it's not like a life of worry, or like a mode, a constant mode of anxiety, it's using anxiety and worry tactically, but maybe not like making them just such an interwoven foundation of your life, is maybe I think the distinction Jesus is making.
Is that helpful as a clarification, or would you agree with that, or throw all that out and maybe re-record this whole thing?
Ryan: it's a lot like our happiness versus joy conversation, right? It's like, sometimes I make the distinction between being concerned versus being worried, but really, it's about how we deal with them, right? It's Like you could use the two interchangeably and to say, I'm concerned, it almost sounds like I'm keeping my distance from it.
It's not really bothering me because I know God's got it. No, if you care about something, then you have cares, right? You have, it can become a burden on you to think constantly about, like I said, your kids, about the state of the church, about the state of the world, about people you love, about bringing the gospel to others.
I mean, so many things that we, because we care deeply, because Jesus cared, deeply, he carried those as a burden in his life. But how do we deal with, it? you know, how do we deal with the anxiety that is a natural human emotion, not something to feel guilty about, but it's something to not live in. Just like guilt is a natural human emotion, not that we just want to deal with in a Christ-directed, God-word kind of way.
And so what do we do? You were asking about a passage I went to. I
Casting Your Cares on God
Ryan: I might go to 1 Peter 5, 7, and point us to how Peter says, "Cast all your cares, all your anxieties on him." And then he adds to that, "Because "He cares for you." He cares so much. All of our tears, the psalm says, he catches them in a bottle. He cares so much about all the things you're concerned about, about how your kids are gonna do, about paying your bills, about whatever it is that you're carrying.
with you. And so knowing he cares, I think it's really important we don't just say, "Ah, yeah, God's got my back. God's got this, it's all good." But actually go through the work of, praying, casting your cares on."
him. what does Paul say in Philippians 4, 6? Be anxious for nothing, but pray right? with thanksgiving. Make requests." And so I find that really helpful. is to Actually, I use a prayer app where I will just journal it all out, everything that I'm worried about, everything I'm concerned about. And I know it's a prayer list, basically, so I'm gonna come back to it and keep praying it, but I'm not gonna keep coming back to it as if God's not dealing with it.
I'm just trying to be consistent, but every time I know, "Okay, I feel differently about this. because I did pray, and I did give thanks, that he took those cares and he's handling them, whatever." he does with them. And it just changes things when you not only trust God, but make requests with thanksgiving, trusting him.
Bryan: And I think that ties in too with what I was saying about using your current moment as
Ryan: Yeah,
Bryan: of combating what you might be dealing with in the future, and
Living in the Present Moment
Bryan: and thinking about the current moment, maybe it's time for us to go to the current moment.
about sums it
Ryan: it
Bryan: for me. I love this quote from Groundhog Day because, Bill Murray is dealing with something where he basically dies at the end of every day and comes back, or at least in some of the days he dies and comes back and he's reliving the same day again. And I think, we're getting into a conversation about the present, but wouldn't that be quite an interesting way of viewing death, how we had literally no fear of it at all because we understood that it had no power over us?
I think that might be one of the reasons why Groundhog Day resonates as a movie with me. It's like that'd be pretty sweet, wouldn't
Ryan: yeah, yeah. And that is a way that we are freed from the past and can start redeeming the present is we have been freed from Hebrews 2 says the power of the fear of death that Satan was using to control and enslave people. And we can become so obsessed with mortality. I mean, there've been times when I was spinning out of the control as a young man, you know, teens and 20s, where I just was thinking about it all the time.
And I was already a Christian, but it was still so difficult. to Work through God has set eternity in our hearts, Ecclesiastes 311. We know we're not meant to end. And so the idea of an ending is so strange. But once we start to find confidence in Christ that though I die, I will still live. It changes things. It really does free you up.
Not that there's no weirdness to that idea of death still, but there is a ability to look to it with a courage that comes from someplace different than whatever I have to go through. It'll be okay. I'll make it. It's no, there is hope because Jesus has gone through that.
The Power of Redeeming Time
Ryan: So I love the way that disconnecting from the trap of the future and unlatching our foot from the trap of the past can free us to redeem the present. And that's really the word that Paul uses in Ephesians 5, verses 15 to 17. Do you think that that word has more theological significance?
Like do you think he's just using a natural word to say, hey, take every opportunity, make the most of it. Or do you think there's actually more to it because redeem is such a theologically significant concept in Paul's writings?
Bryan: I get to that, I really cannot
Heavy Words: "Redeeming"
Bryan: continue into this segment without playing.
Ryan: Yes. Wow. A
Bryan: I mean, come on, we can't do a heavy words segment in a time travel conversation without playing our heavy words song, soI think this is a very powerful and strategic use of this word.
Ephesians 5 15 that we're referencing here. Paul says, look carefully, then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise making the best use of the time. ESV says making the best use, of course, other translations say redeeming the time because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
And I think the use of this term here that he's really leaning into, like redeeming is a marketplace term, right? It's a very transactional term in which we're talking about buying something. We're talking about like seizing control of something or exchanging something that we have in exchange for what he's talking about here time, you know, making the best use of time, redeeming the time.
And so I think what Paul is saying here is that every moment is a non-renewable resource that we have to use or rescue or buy back from the evil days because this time it could be wasted for frivolous, unimportant things, evil things, things that don't matter. And so, you know, when I'm seeing this word redeem here, I'm really just seeing this as like a an opportunity cost.
If you want to get economical with the whole thing, right? It's like if I if I pass on using this time well, then I'm going to use, that time for something else that isn't going to be valuable. And I think Paul is really getting us to open our eyes to this, to this time we have to use and to leverage, leverage it for the most practical and useful purpose.
Ryan: I love that you went back to the most basic transactional economic form of the word 'cause even without the redemptive metaphor, the redemptive aspect of it from the spiritual perspective, we love talking about time and money. Almost all time is money. Right. And almost all of our metaphors for how we talk about time are about treating it like it's money.
We spend time or we save time. Right. Everything is about this idea that time is something that you're trying. I don't know. Maybe it goes back to this passage. so much of our language has been shaped by that.
But it's really interesting 'cause you actually can't save time. You can't put time into a piggy bank. Yeah. You can't say I'm gonna, But you can invest time. Right. You can take your time and make an investment into eternity that will have a really huge return on your investment. And so that's what we wanna do. But the redemptive idea starts to show us that even though we're in a time where everybody around us is using time for all kinds of sometimes evil purposes, the days are evil, sometimes just insignificant, meaningless purposes, we can take it.
And I like your term. I think you said something like rescue it or take it in and use it to make it into something. holy. Like God has in Christ taken us and bought us out of enslavement, and made us holy, and made us eternal, and made us a living, powerful, meaningful being.
or him.
Bryan: You talked about time management and that becomes like a really hot topic, especially for you and me.
Time Management vs. Redeeming Time
Bryan: We talk a lot about time management and how we can, be more productive and be more fruitful is a word we'll often talk about it. But in terms of time management, is that what we're really talking about here?
When we're talking about redeeming the time, like, do you think this is the, this is what he's really talking about? Like make a list and, time block your day and, all of these tips and tricks and hacks that come come about these days. Do you think that's what he's talking about? Or is it something deeper than that that he's trying to get to here with redeeming the time?
Ryan: I love that contrast. And I think it's something deeper. for Sure. I think that time management is part of redeeming the time because you're recognizing, like you said, this is a scarce resource and it is a gift from God that I need to steward, But it is about so much more because doing the wrong thing more efficiently, it's not gonna help you.
Right.
Bryan: That's a good
Ryan: about. Yeah, it's about choosing what am I going? what is it time for now? We did in our virtual retreat that you and I did recently. We spent a lot of time thinking about Ecclesiastes 3 and in our lives and in Bible Geeks, What is it time for now? God makes all things beautiful in his own time in its right.
time, But there's a time for everything.
There's a time to be silent and a time to talk, a time to laugh, and a time to mourn. What is it time for now is a part of the wisdom that comes with trying to redeem the time, to make the most of the time. There is a time when I need to work and there's a time when I need to spend time with my kids. There's a time I need to sleep and there's a time I need to get up and just go for a walk with Bryan here thinking about the present.
So yeah, I think that thinking about what is the best use of your time.
It's like that song from Frozen 2 do the next right thing. So Ecclesiastes 3 has been a big area of thought for both of us. So I'm just wondering as you've pondered all of this Ecclesiastes 3 stuff and the things we were mulling over here a few weeks ago.
Where are you now with what it is right now time for in your
Bryan: getting back to the question that I started this with, the difference between time management and really this idea of redeeming the time right now, for me, they have two different goals that time management is just about, just about like being more productive, cranking things out more efficiently.
Whereas the goal of redeeming the time is really being wise and discerning and, being fruitful in a way that actually matters. So like you were saying, you can be really productive and efficient in doing the wrong thing. And so what is the right thing? And that is I think what Paul's getting to here.
And for all of us, that really just takes centering ourselves in the present because the temptation here for me is to center myself in the future and to travel into the future to think of like, where do I want to be in five years or 10 years? And like, that's a helpful way of framing it. Don't get me wrong.
Like I think it is important for us to look forward, but what is it time for right now may not have anything to do with where you want to be in five years or 10 years. what does the Lord want you to do now?
A lot of times for me, it's, it's about simplifying and reducing and optimizing is not a great word for it, but really like, understanding how much, how much time I have in my day, what that day needs to be spent for is going to be very different today than it was five years ago or five years from now.
So I think all of us really have a challenge of just sitting with where we are now, getting real with ourselves and saying, what is it that I can actually take on and have discernment in that? What is the wisest and most God honoring thing that I can be doing today? And Ecclesiastes three really does give you a nice, like, list of options, maybe a menu to choose from about like how you could spend that time, which is what I really appreciated from our retreat thinking about that verse.
Finding Joy in the Present
Ryan: I love how this conversation is bringing together the past and the present and the future right that you were talking about living in the present which like when else can you live? You can't live another time and yet we try we really try to
Bryan: I can do a great job living in
Ryan: the past. And like people talk a lot about being present living in the present and one of the distinctions from a Christian perspective.
We wanna make sure we make is that we are talking about living in the present, which is very different than living for the present. We are living for a bright future which just changes things too. we know how great the future is which more than frees us from the future. It enlivens us to press on as Paul did and then we know that the past is dealt with we've learned from it.
We've taken the lessons of the past and integrated them into ourselves constantly kind of debriefing and thinking through it but let go of the pain of those things, the way that others have hurt us, the way that we've made bad choices so that we can be all the more present right now making the right choices and knowing that God is present with us in the present which I think man.
This is the real theme of this season so far in two episodes like going to Sharilyn's idea of everybody getting presents here. But yeah,
Bryan: that the case, right? Joy comes from being in the present. Joy doesn't come from, being stuck in the past or just pining away all the time for the future. Joy comes from now. And I think God knew something about that when he made us,
Reach Out Question
Bryan: but I didn't really answer your question though, in what I'm assuming would be a very good opportunity for a reach out question. So what was the biggest takeaway from those meditations and discussions we had from Ecclesiastes? There is a time for everything. time right now, I think there is a time to go back to fun and excitement and energy.
I think that's a, that's a big one for me lately. And, of course going back to the fun, but like in this season, I think we're really focused on joy.
And it was something that really resonated with me that I love this show and I love talking to you and I love preparing for this discussion and all the stuff that surrounds Bible geeks in general. But, as a vehicle to just have more fun, this is, this is definitely something that I'm focused on in this current season.
And I think it is helpful for us to think of things in seasons because what it is time for now, maybe, maybe fun is a good way of focusing on it this season, but maybe next season something else will come up. What about you?
Ryan: I love that I resonate with that for sure and we both were sort of discovering a lot of things about what we are valuing in our work together, but also how we can grow And one of the places that you
challenged me to work on in that retreat was to just be more authentic and
Bryan: be you,
Ryan: to be
Bryan: good you.
Ryan: and to try to use my gifts just naturally and not get so caught up in thinking. I don't know if anybody knows this but I can overthink with the best of them and try to think about hey, what does everybody need me to be right now?
Bryan: are you? And when you're thinking actually is a good question. Are you in the past or are you in the present or are you in the future when you're,
when
Ryan: I'm not yeah, I'm not settled into myself in the present. I'm in everybody else's heads. and how is this gonna be misunderstood and what does somebody else need and what do they need me to be and so yeah a little bit in the future maybe stuck in some things in the past. So it's been really freeing to more anchor myself into what am I seeing that it is time for now, time for me to do time for me to say really gratefully settling into the gifts that I have right now in my life There's so many good things that I have to enjoy It's a critical moment in my family's life.
And yeah, this season is gonna be so fun. Just following the interesting things that we're fascinated by right
now.
Yeah, for sure. All right. Sokind of leads us to our challenge here for this episode. A quick self diagnosis for all of us, our past, our present, or our future, which traps are you falling into the most? And so this week take those things to God in prayer and then watch how he redeems that part of your timeline. Yeah, we've been doing a little diagnosis already here, but I think it'll be interesting to watch this watch this week. And do we wanna check in on last week's challenge?
Bryan: Yeah. So last weekwe had this really helpful challenge to, instead of chasing this feeling of joy to abide gratefully noticing the way that he's blessing us throughout the day. And, I think that has been for me, a helpful reminder.
It's like, it's not about chasing. It's not about like, running after joy, but just kind of settling into, as we've been talking here in this episode about settling into the present and just understanding that God is doing some amazing things in my life today.
And he's, he's just constantly parading before me opportunities to be grateful. And I've had a few opportunities to notice that this week. How about you?
Ryan: Yeah. Yeah, me too. so we now have this indoor/outdoor room that I'm sitting in right now.
Bryan: very green there.
Ryan: It's very green. It's beautiful. And this has become my space, which it wasn't before, that. I'm using as sort of an office but also just to sit and study pray reflect look around listen. I open all these windows it's completely surrounded by windows and I just listen and watch, watch the squirrels run up and down trees and listen to the birds.
And It sounded like a Disney song now, but
Bryan: Yeah.
Ryan: it's been good to praise God for the good things and to, yeah, notice more. And so that's already two episodes in I think as we've said this is a theme that we're noticing that's really been helpful so far in my walk.
Bryan: We are history as we almost history, as we start to wrap this thing up. I think what really landed with me in this conversation, the most was thinking about the future and how that comparison we made from the last episode with joy and happiness, how sadness and joy can coexist together. I think the idea of clarifying that care and concern, but this like state of anxiety are two different things, that we cast our cares on him for he cares for us.
Like anything that we care about, we are going to be thinking about, it's going to be on our mind, but it doesn't mean I have to let it wrap me up in a really deep and profound way that like freezes me or keeps me from acting. So that was helpful for me. I think in this conversation, what about you? Right?
Ryan: Yeah. I think that the idea of a loop, you know, time loops are a major theme in all the time travel movies and the idea of like you're spinning. You're spinning on the future you're spinning on the past or even in the present. What do I gotta do? What do I gotta do? What do I gotta do as opposed to we've really emphasized this idea of presence as part of redeeming the time the last couple episodes and kind of connecting the past episode and this one about joy and happiness.
I was thinking about this TED talk. I heard a while back and how it connects to happiness and the present. being happy about your life versus being happy in your life.
So like they both matter right?
If You're at the end of a vacation. You wanna look back and think I'm happy about that vacation or even more important at the end of your life. You wanna look back and think I am happy about my life I made good choices. I did hard things. but in the moment you also wanna be happy in your life or as we were saying yesterday joyful by abiding in Christ and be joyful in your life and so not so focused on adjusting all of the things in your life.
to try to make sure that you look back on it feeling good, but really being intentional in the moment to focus your attention on the person you're talking to like Bryan right now or to think about what is it time for right now and give attention to that and do it gratefully
and joyfully
Bryan: was Daniel Kahneman in his Ted talk about the experiencing mind versus the remembering mind.
Ryan: thank
Bryan: I am actually I am currently in the process of writing a blog post about that exact thing. So maybe we'll just drop that in on the blog here coming up next. But yeah, that's a powerful reminder because it is you get the, you get seriously stuck in like trying to craft a memory while you're in it.
Like, you know, and you get so distracted by all of that process versus like, just being in the moment and experiencing it and not being so worried about like walking away from it with all of the perfect Instagrammable photos. Right? It's like just being present is a real challenge, especially for us today.
It seems like.
Ryan: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It's the thing we talked about telling young people last week about Ecclesiastes like remember your creator because you wanna look back on your life and be happy about your life and especially in Eternity, but also rejoice in your youth and rejoice in your days and know that this life is a gift meant to be spent in the presence of God with joy and with recognition of how much he loves you and wants to bless you.
Bryan: you find it interesting how much we have in this episode spent talking about past episodes? And now we've come to the point where we will talk about our future episode.
Looking Forward to Ezekiel
Bryan: Thank you so much everyone for tuning in on our next conversation. We're looking forward to unlocking Ezekiel. it is a book that we have been getting into just tangentially over the past season.
I don't know how many of you remember how many times Ryan talked about teaching through Ezekiel and we are going to ask him some deep and probing questions about his teaching. So that's going to come up on the next episode. Thank you so much everyone for tuning in to the Bible Geeks podcast. You can find show notes for this episode in your podcast player of choice or at Bible geeks.fm.
There's lots of other resources there. If you want to get in touch with us on our website, we also have a blog where we're throwing out a whole bunch of things, especially our season plan that we put out last week. And then also maybe in upcoming days, we will have a blog post specifically about this idea of our remembering self versus our experiencing self.
That could be
fun. I don't know if we'll do it. But stay tuned for that. Thank you so much again for tuning in and until next episode, may the Lord bless you and keep you