Enjoying the Journey
Posts Tagged ‘Time’
What Will Change In Your Life When This Is Over?
Did you know that the word “quarantine” actually comes from an Italian word that has biblical roots? It means 40 days – a reference to the 40 days of purification and the 40 day testings found throughout the Scriptures. While the immediate purpose is medical and physical in nature, I believe that God is using this quarantine to both test and purify His people. This extended period will prove to be a time of purging both for churches corporately and Christians personally. Some will fall away, but, God willing, many will draw nearer to Christ. What will this quarantine do for you? “Redeeming the time” is not a matter of busyness or activity – it is a matter of emphasis…
Read MoreNo Substitute For Time
We are fast approaching the season of the year where vast sums of money will be spent on things. More stuff. Newer stuff. Nicer stuff. But, just stuff. It would be good for all of us to take a fresh accounting of true riches. As a boy I heard Adrian Rogers say, “To find out how rich you are, add up everything that money cannot buy and death cannot take away.” The most priceless thing that any of us have is time. Time is the currency of life, and it is limited. Once spent, you never get it back! In many ways every day is like a dollar, meant to be used wisely… Time will be spent. Time can be…
Read MoreThe Danger Of Conservative News
Have you heard the news today? It is easier than ever in our digital age to keep up with what is going on in the world. Usually if you listen for 15 minutes you have the general picture…the next several hours will just discuss it in 100 different ways. While it is good that news can travel fast in our world, there are also some inherent dangers in it. The same news that can fill your mind with information and ideas can also drain your soul. After listening to local and world news I often feel “sapped” of strength instead of renewed. Why is that? The Danger Of Time You can be so connected with the news and opinions of…
Read More90 Days and Counting
28,835. That is the estimated number of days the average American now lives. Sounds like a long time, doesn’t it? Until you start figuring up how many days you have already lived. The other problem is that, though you may be able to tell how many you have lived, you cannot know how many you have left! If I were to give you $28,835 it would seem like a great sum of money…until you began spending it (and paying taxes on it!). What sounds like a lot seems to disappear quickly. Every day you live is like a dollar spent – it is either wasted on the temporal or invested in eternity. Soon we only have a handful left. As of…
Read MoreToo Busy to Pray?
Aunt Goldie is with the Lord now. I rode my bike past her house hundreds of times as a boy. In the summer she was almost always sitting on the front porch in the swing. Life was simple. There were few material possessions and yet she was a happy woman. One afternoon she said to me, “You know, Scott, sometimes I like to just get down on my knees and look at Him.” I thought maybe she was losing her mind! Now I understand that her mind was clearer than most. Life revolved around fellowship with Christ. She was living for another world. The last few months have been some of the busiest of my life. At times like these…
Read MoreLearning to Say, “No”
As a young man beginning in the ministry I heard my pastor say that one of the most difficult things to discern was what to eliminate. At the time, I was so busy adding things to my life that I did not fully appreciate the truth that he expressed. Through the years I have found that one of the most challenging things to do is simply say, “no.” Yet saying no is often just as spiritual as saying yes. No man can do everything. Few men can do many things well. Wise men say with Paul, “This one thing I do.” Try this exercise. List the key areas, assignments, relationships, interests, and hobbies of your life. Now place all of…
Read MoreThe Changing Seasons of Life
Fall is my favorite time of the year. At least in the fall! I actually love all of the seasons and am blessed to live in a part of the country where there are four very distinct seasons. The older I get, the more I enjoy the change of seasons. It reminds me so much of life. Football season has arrived (not one of the four, but important nevertheless). Soon the leaves will begin to change here in East Tennessee. The foothills will be alive with color. And then they will be gone, and another season will come. It is interesting that this is the word God chose to use to describe all of life. “To every thing there…
Read More8 Words That Have Helped Me Get More Done
We all have 1,440 minutes in a day. Try as you might, it is impossible to add time! It is possible, however, to make a wiser investment of the time that you have. Paul was led of the Holy Spirit to tell us twice about “redeeming the time” ( Eph. 5:16; Col. 4:5). Are you spending your life or investing it? This means more than proper “time management.” Life is about emphasis. A divinely ordered life and ministry will help you place the emphasis on that which is eternal. Order is more than organization. Recently I shared with a group of our youth ministry majors at Crown College 8 simple words that have helped me be a wiser steward of the…
Read MoreRight On Time
We live in time. 60 minutes an hour. 24 hours a day. 7 days a week. 52 weeks a year. For as many years as God chooses to grant us. But our God is not bound by time. He is eternal and time is in Him. Often time seems to move slowly, especially when we are living in the middle of uncomfortable circumstances. It is then that we must remember that God is a God of perfect timing. Rudyard Kipling, describing the key questions of investigation, penned, I keep six honest serving men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When, And How and Where and Who. While I have asked all of these…
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