Skip to main content

Making the Most of Your Time

"Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.  So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." Ephesians 5:15.  

This past week was a big growth week for me.  I definitely experienced a valley and because of that, I experienced a peak.  I am a firm believer in the fact that you grow the most when you are either pushed into uncomfortable situations or you experience a valley.  Can you recall times in your life when you grew spiritually on a personal mountain top?  

This verse above is from Paul in which he is sharing many keys to experiencing the indescribable joy that Jesus offers by being in a relationship with Him. I was reminded of this verse when I had a less than desirable Wednesday.  I'm sure you have those days:  The ones where your list keeps getting longer and longer, your stress keeps building, and you simply don't know where to begin to tackle the items.  What do you do when you experience this?  I used to want to go and sleep, or go play golf, or run....but I know that it's best for me to simply get my phone and listen to a few sermons that I have saved.  I listened to a sermon about reviewing your assets and liabilities.....and more importantly reviewing them in the proper context:  God's view.  

More often than not, the things you typically view as assets are in fact liabilities in your relationship to Christ.  If Christ came to you today and said to give up the most important thing in your life and to follow Him, could you?  In the verse above, Paul states that the days are evil and not to be foolish...but rather understand what the will of the Lord is.  The more I mature in my faith, the more I see how imperfect I am.  The more I mature in my walk with the Lord, the more I desire to pour my heart out in thanks to Him for His grace.  We have been put on the IV fluid in our time because people are starting to be unable to see that we have drifted away from being in relationship with Jesus and understanding and applying what the will of the Lord is.  The will of the Lord is this:  Love God with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind.  We get this from Luke chapter 10.  

Circling to the meaning of today's writing is this:  What gets in the way between you and God that doesn't allow you to love Him with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind?  Is it acceptance of people? The love of your house or car?  The desire to see your 401k balance going up all the time?  For me I always find that this world and my days will constantly attack my time with God.  It's very easy to get busy by not posting up boundaries around the precious time of being 1 on 1 with God.  

The days are evil and wasted time will ultimately rob you of the joy that Jesus provides.  Of all of my assets and liabilities, the only asset that means anything is Jesus Christ.  He is the one that can offer me salvation, and He is the one that can offer you joy amongst ANY CIRCUMSTANCE because He is FOR YOU!  All you have to do is put Him first.  When you put your full trust in Jesus, you will find that no mountain is to difficult to climb.  This week I pray that you seek the will of the Lord by reading through the Gospels.  You will find discernment, you will find your answer to your questions, and you will find peace in the glory of Jesus Christ.  

Have a great week!

Song of the Week:  Jesus Only Jesus


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God Doesn't Need your Ability. He Needs your Availability.

The past couple weeks I've been diving (pun intended) into the story of Jonah.  We all know that he spent three days in the belly of the beast, but do you know how he got there?  Jonah decided to disobey God by going towards another city.  Jonah got on a boat to run away from where God had told him to go.  Here are my three key takeaways from Jonah's story: 1) God will use "bumpers," 2) God can use you whether or not you're available, and 3) God is bigger than anything you can even dream of.  1)  God will use "Bumpers" Jonah decided not to go towards Nineveh, instead he headed towards Tarshish.  Jonah is on a boat with other sailors and as they are traveling they encounter a great storm.  The storm was so great that the ship "threatened to break up."  This storm and the risk to the ship was great enough for the sailors to start throwing cargo off of the ship and cry out to their own gods.  What was happening?  I am fortunate to k...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pursuing Righteousness

The past month my church group has been focusing on the Sermon on the Mount for which we get the Beatitudes from Jesus.  The cool thing about going through this has been that I learned that the order of the Beatitudes is important as Jesus was giving His people a road map of how to be transformed through Him.  Jesus lived His life perfectly and is our example for what we should strive for.  Two times Jesus talks about righteousness in the Beatitudes:  "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be satisfied" and "Blessed are those that are persecuted for the sake of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."  As I learned more about this and dove deeper into my own prayer time it occurred to me that Jesus didn't say blessed are THE righteous, or blessed are those that are persecuted for THEIR righteousness.....no, Jesus said blessed are those who hunger and thirst, blessed are those that are persecuted for the sake of righte...
Post a Comment
Read more

Peter's Advice for When You Encounter Suffering

As I mentioned in my last blog post, things have been moving fast for me.  I'm so fortunate to now be leading a life group at my church (Chet's Creek).  It's truly an incredible thing to look back over the last five plus years in my life and see the changes that have taken place all because God wanted my focus to be on Him.  Today I want to talk about Peter and what he tells us to do when we encounter suffering.  Unlike in Peter's time, in today's world I believe that many of us suffer internally rather than externally.  In our daily walk we are likely not stoned by others, or physically beaten, rather we are entrenched more by internal sufferings.  The suffering of being different than the world, the suffering of not fitting in, the suffering of not measuring up to what the world wants for you.  Peter gives us some great advice for when we encounter suffering:  First we must discern if we are suffering due to God's will.  Second we must comm...
Post a Comment
Read more