ONE of the great blessings which Christian Science bestows upon the earnest student of its teachings is the improved sense of progressive activity which comes to him as his mentality gradually expels the material beliefs which comprised to a large extent his former view-point, and he awakens by degrees to the wonders of that spiritual consciousness characterized by the apostle as "the deep things of God." In this thought-transforming process his concept of time undergoes a very radical change, for the hours that once were spent in toilsome search for intellectual or artistic proficiency, or were wasted, prodigal fashion, in the aimless pursuit of mere amusement, assume the character of multitudes of "golden" moments, the conservation and righteous employment of which do indeed make him "rich toward God."
In his epistle to the Ephesians, Paul points to an exceedingly important phase of watchfulness when he says, "See . . . that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil." To redeem means "to regain possession of by payment of a stipulated price." "Redeeming the time," then, means regaining possession of time, that is, a correct understanding of what time signifies, by payment of "a stipulated price:" On page 60 of "Miscellaneous Writings" Mrs. Eddy says: "Every material belief hints the existence of spiritual reality; and if mortals are instructed in spiritual things, it will be seen that material belief, in all its manifestations, reversed, will be found the type and representative of verities priceless, eternal, and just at hand."
We therefore recognize that since time is finite, limited, with both beginning and end, its opposite or reversal is eternity, which is infinite, unlimited, without beginning or end. Therefore in our effort to redeem the time, what we in reality regain possession of is the mental equilibrium to think in terms of eternity,—in other words, the ability to grasp and make practical in our lives the facts of spiritual causation, creation, and being, which like God are "the same yesterday, and today, and forever." In this scientific understanding of God's eternal day, time, the material counterfeit and mortal misconception, takes flight, and we realize the inspiring truth that we are individually working out our salvation of unfoldment as God's ideas in His infinite plan and under His all-embracing laws of guidance and protection.
