January 26, 2015

Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality." Romans 12:13

For the most part, much of America is really struggling to be passionate about life!

4 out of 5 Americans feel that they lack passion in their lives. - Harris Poll, 2007

That means only 20% of Americans woke up today saying, “Come on, let’s go for it!”

Why is passion so hard to come by? What is it?

Passion is - “A strong feeling, a great devotion and intense conviction which fuels or motivates us toward compelling action.”

How do I know if I have a godly passion?

Look at your kids. Generally, your kids will catch your passion. At least, up to a certain age your kids will reflect your passion. They will tend to embrace what matters to you and reject what you dislike.

Look at your checkbook. Where you spend your money betrays your passion. Are you spending it on yourself and your wants and wishes? The register at the back of your checkbook does not lie. It may be revealing to look at it once and awhile.

Look at your date book. Where you spend your time shows your passion. How much of your leisure time is devoted to faith, family or friends? How much is dedicated to your favorite stuff? Your Day-Timer doesn't lie. Your record will reveal your passions.

Joy, according to this verse, is an indication of the source of your passion. Do you find joy in serving God and His people?

Faithfulness in serving, praying and sharing is a third evidence that your passion is genuine and godly.

A church that has passion is a church where "Discouraged folks cheer up, dishonest folks fess up, sour folks sweeten up, closed folk, open up, gossipers shut up, conflicted folks make up, sleeping folks wake up, lukewarm folk, fire up, dry bones shake up, and pew potatoes stand up! But most of all, Christ the Savior of the entire world is lifted up."

Passion has positive power!

How do I know I have passion? I have joy as I serve!

Do I recognize joy in my life?

How do I know I have passion? I can serve patiently!

Do I recognize patience in my life?

How do I know I have passion? I can pray faithfully!

Do I recognize patience in my life?

Do I demonstrate faithfulness?

January 25, 2015

"Be very careful then how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil." Ephesians 5:15-16

Decisions shape your life and they are made in real time. So, time management is crucial for a meaningful and productive life.

That is why I have been sharing four observations about wise stewardship of time and they center around your response to the question: "In light of my past experience, my current circumstances and my future hopes and dreams, what is the wise thing for me to do?"

Reviewing the first three observations:

1) Investing small amounts of time over time is cumulative

2) Neglecting small amounts of time over time is cumulative

3) Random has no cumulative value

Or, put into the context of our study:

Investing small amounts of time over time is the result of asking the question and acting wisely.

Neglecting small amounts of time over time is the result of asking the question and acting unwisely.

Living randomly is not asking the question.

That brings us to observation four:

4) In the areas that matter most, you cannot make up for misspent time.

This is when the regrets kick in from the years of neglect and random decision-making. This happens because the question is asked too late to undo the damage.

When you have ruined relationships, health, finances, your spiritual walk and your family from neglecting to make deposits of time over time you cannot make up for it.

You can't suddenly make large deposits trying to compensate for the years of neglect. Once time is gone it is gone.

The ultimate purpose of time is to prepare for eternity. So, as long as you still have time, you have hope! While you can't undo past neglect you can begin making small deposits of time in important areas of life. Your future can be better than your past if you will begin asking the question, "In light of my past experience, my current circumstances and my future hopes and dreams where do I need to begin making deposits of time over time?"

January 24, 2015

"Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." Ephesians 5:15-16

Life is made up of decisions, so good decisions greatly improve the quality of life. Wisdom is necessary for good decision-making.

Thus, we offer this series of messages on the one question that leads to good decisions - "In light of my past experience, my current circumstances and my future hopes and dreams what is the wise thing to do?"

While life is made better by good decisions, life consists of time. So, wise decisions about how you use your time are among the most important ones you will make.

Over the last few days I have been sharing some observations about the wise use of time.

1) Investing small amounts of time over time is cumulative
2) Neglecting small amounts of time over time is also cumulative

The third time-wise observation is: Random has no cumulative value.

So, there are those who know how to use time wisely and do it consistently. And there are those who know the wise thing they ought to do but rarely do it. And then there are those who only think about what they want to enjoy in that moment.

Random generally refers to those who live with no plan or purpose. They do what seems right or feels right or looks like the most fun. What seems fun tomorrow may be what feels right today. Since your life lacks direction or continuity you waste your time and wasting your time is wasting your life.

Random can also refer to those totally unplanned and unexpected things that happen during the course of a day. These random events tend to be a distraction to or departure from the schedule you planned for that day. It could be a legitimate crisis or it could be a result of poor planning by yourself or by others.

Saying that something is unplanned or unexpected infers that there is a plan in place. Wise people know where they need to invest their time during the day to produce the results they desire. They also know that everything won't go exactly as planned that day. They anticipate there will be interruptions arise and since they know what they want to happen they know how to adjust their plan.

Can you really afford to live without a plan? If you are living without a plan you are planning to fail. That is not wise.

Ask it - In light of my past experience, my current circumstance and my future hopes and dreams what is the wise thing for me to do?

When you ask that question they answer will never be live randomly.

January 23, 2015

"A  person's  days  are  determined;  you  have decreed the number of his months and have set the limits he cannot exceed." Job 14:5

If you were given something very valuable that you would only have one chance to possess, how would you treat that item?

Would you refuse it?

Would you take it and not use it?

Would you abuse it?

That is essentially the question we are considering this week and the valuable commodity is time. Your time is very precious. With each passing day it becomes more precious because you have less of it remaining! You have it in your hand for such a brief span and then it is gone forever and what you do with it matters!

In yesterday's post I considered the first of four observations on the important issues of time management.  Yesterday's important observation is "investing small amounts of time over time is cumulative".

Today's second observation is "neglecting to invest small amounts of time over time is also cumulative."

In other words, what you do with your time is vitally important and so is what you DON'T do with your time. Both decisions have consequences in time and in eternity.

I said yesterday that one incident of neglect has no apparent consequences and, by the same token, one investment has no immediate benefit. So, since it is easier to neglect than to invest the consequences of either are not immediately obvious you then to neglect rather than not. And by the time the consequences of your neglect become apparent it is too late to avoid the penalty of neglect.

For instance, missing one work out is really no big deal. But, because missing one is not big deal it becomes easier to miss  two, or three.

What happens when those few days become a few weeks and those turn into months?

The same goes for other important activities such as quiet time, time with spouse, time with kids, church or small group meetings.

Complicating this scenario is the fact that often when you chose not to do something productive with the time you end up doing something destructive with it.

If you would think back over what you did when you didn't do something productive you likely would not even remember what you did. That is how foolish neglect is. You traded something that would have helped over time for something that you don't even remember now.

So, while neglect is easy, neglect is also very costly.

If you think you can't afford the time to exercise, or to have your quiet time or worship regularly, wait until you discover how costly it was to neglect those things!

Is there something you have been neglecting that you are beginning to pay a price for?

Are there several things like that?

What will you do with the precious gift of time you hold in your hand right now?

January 22, 2015

"A person's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set the limits he cannot exceed."  Job 14:5

Over the next four posts I will share some practical observations regard the wise use of time.

The first observation I want to share is: investing small amounts of time over time has cumulative results.

Spending 30 minutes a day in physical exercise doesn't amount to much on that one day. Not even in two or three days will it seem to matter. But 30 minutes a day over a year, or two years or a lifetime, will make a remarkable difference.

If you skip one meal it won't matter much. But if you don't take time to eat over a period of weeks or months, it will create a serious problem. And over your life span you won't remember many meals you ate but you will remember you made time for meals.

In the same way, you won't remember many individual Sunday School lessons you learned or sermons you heard, but the cumulative effect of going to class and sitting in church over time will make a huge difference in your spiritual growth.

Some days your personal devotional time seems like a dud. You wonder why you took the time to do it. But taking that time day after day over time will prove to be time well spent.

I remember making time to spend with my kids when they were little. I don't remember many of the days individually but I know over the years it paid dividends.

Over the years of our marriage, Barbara and I have made time each week for a date might. While we enjoy each of them I don't remember many of them specifically but I know the cumulative effect has been significantly positive in our relationship.

Small amounts of time over time add up to big differences!

Where do you need to start making small deposits of time to invest in a better future?

January 21, 2015

"Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." Ephesians 5:15-16

It is important to know what time it is but it is more important to know what to do with time. That is the essence of what Paul is telling the Christians at Ephesus.

Here he equates wisdom with the careful use of time and wasting time is unwise. Obviously, since time is what life is made of using time wisely makes a lot of sense. Who can afford to waste time?

Andy Stanley says, "You can overeat, overachieve, overspend but you can't over live."

Wise people, careful people, make "the most of every opportunity" . Or literally, they "redeem" and "max out" the time.

It takes careful and prayerful planning to "max out" each hour of each day.

A wise person once told me, "Brad, if you don't set your schedule other people will set it for you."

So, I set out to learn wise time-management skills.

One of the wisest time management tips I ever received was from Steven Covey's book, "7 Habits of Highly Effective People". In this book he talks about the difference between the important and the urgent when prioritizing time.

Important refers to anything related to your life purpose. Urgent refers to situations that are random and unexpected. Often, urgent situations arise out of your failure to plan wisely.

In order to know what is important you must understand your purpose and have well-defined goals. Otherwise, you will get distracted and derailed by the urgent. While it is possible something can be urgent and important, urgency is often the biggest challenge to the important.

As a Christ-follower, important would apply to spiritual truths that have eternal significance. Living out the Great Commandment is important. Carrying out the Great Commission is important. Ordering your daily schedule around those priorities is wise living. And when the random things happen you can evaluate if it is important or an interruption.

What time is it in your life?

Have you lived long enough to regret wasted time?

Is it time to live more wisely?

Do you know what on earth you're doing for Heaven's sake?

Does your daily schedule reflect that?

As you look over your to-do list for today, how many important things are on it? 

Are there more urgent things or important things?

January 20, 2015

"Man's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed." Job 14:5

Job believed that every person has a life span determined by God.

You may believe that or you may not.

But one thing is undeniable, your lifespan is limited and it consists of seconds, and minutes and hours and days that turn into years. So, if your life matters to you then your time must matter to you as well.

That raises the question, what makes life matter?

You must figure that out and so must I.

As a person of faith and a follower of Christ, what matters to Him is what matters for me. What matters to Him is eternity and therefore using time to prepare for eternity is wise use of my time.

People matter to God because people last for eternity

Relationships matter to God because relationships are how people connect with Him and with each other.

My relationship with Him is what matters most, followed by my relationships with the wife and children He gave me.

As a Christian I have a sacred duty of ordering my time according to His priorities. I am obligated to be a wise steward of my time and must give an account to Him of how wisely I managed time after my time on earth has expired.

Every moment of life matters so make every moment matter in the way that honors God and fulfills His purpose for your life. When life matters you make time to do what matters most.

God has given you a new day. Will you make your time matter today?