Time: pt. 2

Worthwhile vs. Worthless

What are the things worth the most to you in life? In the end, what are the things that will win out the battle for what is most important to you?

You spend your time on that which is most important to you. With the exception of work, which often requires us to be there if we are to provide for our selves and our families, it is very simple to determine where a person's priorities lie. Even as I write this I recognize that I place a disproportionate importance on entertainment, which is something that needs to be changed.

So what things are worthless vs. worthwhile? That is something that, to some extent, will be different for everybody. There are a few general rules we can follow though:

Something is worthless if:
It harms your faith, family, or character
It invites sin or sinful practices into your life
There is nothing redeeming about it whatsoever

Something is worthwhile if:
It builds up your faith, family, or character
It encourages you to become better in some way
It teaches skills or ideas that will improve your life in some way

Some will automatically take the track of saying "Games and novels and TV shows are obviously all mostly worthless." I would encourage a more nuanced view. The fact is everyone needs a break at times. That may mean reading a book or vegging out and watching a show or playing a game. Those things can all be good, as long as they are kept in check, as it allows us to get our minds off things, go somewhere else for a little bit, and rest.

It must be kept under control, however. It is far too easy for our short little break to turn into 4-hour marathon "break" sessions. Not only is this physically unhealthy, it is spiritually unhealthy as well. Furthermore, if it takes needed time away from your family and those things which need to get done, it can become a lifestyle problem as easily as breathing.

The point is to make the things you do worthwhile and beneficial to your faith, your family, and yourself. Don't squander your precious time on nothing, but instead spend it wisely, and you will find that you have gotten much further than you ever thought possible.

Don't worry if you mess up. Get back on board and try again. It is a long, often difficult process for us to begin using our time wisely on worthwhile things when worthless things are so easy for us to fall into.

So move forward! There is no time like right now to begin working on it. Remember to pray for help. You (and I) will need it. :-)

Time: pt. 1

What do you spend your time on? Do you have enough time for the things you want to do? How can you do everything you need to do with so little time in the day?

These are all questions that we must answer for ourselves at some point in our lives. If we do not answer them, or if we ignore them all together, we will all too quickly find that we are at the end of our life with very little to show for the years we have been given. If we do not pay attention to these questions, we will forever be trading the important for the "urgent," the worthwhile for the worthless, and distraction for truth.

These three things are not unimportant. They are the basis for everything we do. It is far, far too easy for life to be taken over by urgent, worthless distractions. Living the full life that God has in store for us takes a focused effort, and one that we will have to renew when we find ourselves going off towards the pointless shiny bits that line the road of life. But how can we fight back? How can we get past these things? Over the next few posts we will be looking at these subjects, starting today with the urgent vs. the important.

Urgent vs. Important
One of the most common misconceptions in society today is the thought that because something is urgent, it is automatically important. This is not true. It's the theory behind putting things on sale. When something is on sale we say, "Oh! It's on sale! I have to get that new jacket/shirt/game/whatever before it's full price!" This is simply not the case.

The real case is whether or not you need that item right now, or whether it is something you can do without. Whether it is on sale or not is irrelevant if that money is needed for something else. It is the same with what we choose to spend our time on. Just because someone wants something tomorrow is irrelevant. The real question is what are you giving up in order to get that request done so quickly, and it is worth giving up that which is truly important?

Sometimes the answer will be yes. There are things in life that are both urgent and important enough to put other things on hold. But this is not always the case (in fact, I would argue that it often is not).

Look at your life, the people, the events, and the things in it and ask yourself: "What is most important? What are the things that I cannot fail at? What is required in order for me to be the Christ-centered person God calls me to be?" When you have answered those questions, you will know what is truly important in your life.

When you know what is important in your life, let those things take first priority. Everything else goes to the back of the line until those things are taken care of. If something unexpected or unavoidable does come up, take care of it, but do not let it run your life and dictate it's importance over everything else. I cannot determine what is most important for you in all situations. You are the only person who can decide what level of importance everything takes. In the end, no one else but you gets to decide what they will do with their life.

For myself, the order goes: God, Wife, Children, Family & Friends, Work, Everything Else.

Do I always succeed in living this way? No. Do I always choose the right urgent things to put ahead of items in that list? Hardly. I am human and I make a lot of mistakes. But I do try to learn from them and get better as time goes on.

And that's the key. Work at getting better, and stand back up when you fall short. God will take care of the rest. We are called to move forward and follow Him.

So move forward! It's something every single person on the planet can do. If you don't know what to do yet, then pray and ask for help. You will get it.

Remember, once the big things are taken care of, once the truly important things are settled, there is always plenty of time to take care of that which really does need to be taken care of.

A Different Kind of Resolution

At the end of last year and the beginning of this year I thought about the things I wanted to accomplish. The normal things like "get in better shape," "read my Bible more," and others immediately popped into my head and I wondered how I could accomplish them. Then the new year came and went and I did nothing to accomplish them. I fell off the wagon before it even got going.

Personally, I don't really like New Year's resolutions. If you have to wait until the year restarts to begin something, chances are it's not going to happen in the first place. So instead of a "New Years Resolution," I propose something else: a Life Change Resolution. 

Now I am not proposing some radical new medicine, or some new exercise that will make you better, faster, smarter, prettier, and richer. There are enough infomercials to fill that void. What I am proposing is for you to look at your life, see what matches with God's will and what does not, and pick one thing to improve on for the next 6 months. Once you've got that down, move on to the next. It may be slow progress, but there is only one way to eat an elephant, and that is one bite at a time.

Do you struggle with anger? Take time out of your day to actively work on controlling it. 
Do you struggle with money? Pick something you like to spend it on and work on spending less on it.
Do you struggle with prayer? Use your time in the shower to pray.

You may have something else that is difficult. Look at what it is, look at what it takes away from you, and look at the simplest way to fix it.

Then follow through on it.

If you mess up, that's OK. Get back on the wagon and start moving forward again. The point is do not give up. As long as you do not give up, and as long as you realize that you can do it with God's help, you will be successful in the end. Remember, God does not say we have to do everything perfectly all the time. He does say that we must keep trying our best to be what He wants us to be.

So start today! Tomorrow is not soon enough. Today is the day we are given, so let's make the most of it! :-)

Rat Race

Since it is close to Christmas, I will preface this post by saying this is not some sort of anti-Christmas rant. The times just happened to coincide with each other. That said, let us consider what is truly important in our lives and look for ways to make this a lasting, memorable time, instead of just hoping we get everything on our list. I promise you that you will have a much better and more lasting Christmas season if you do. :-)

I've recently started reading The Man in the Mirror, by Patrick Morley, and he begins the book by talking about the force with which consumerism has been pushed on us. Consumerism, for those who don't know, is "the concept that an ever-expanding consumption of goods is advantageous to the economy," (Dictionary.com).

At first I thought that this did not relate to me. My family and I could really not care less about "keeping up with the Jones," and we are fairly happy with some basic general things and a couple of fun toys. Then I realized that its much more insidious than that. Consumerism (and materialism, it's younger brother), affects us on a much deeper level than we are used to having to deal with.

It's in the way I feel drawn to wanting "the best" when I do go and get something new. It lies in wait until I get even the tiniest bit bored with what I have, and want something different. It's in the thousand tiny decisions I make every day about whether to go out to eat, get that candy bar, or by a new video game because it's on sale (hey, I'm saving 75%!).

I am told "my wants are important," "it's just a couple bucks," "save money by spending more," and similar attitudes that have been taught to me for my entire life. Not by my parents (thank goodness they strove to teach me differently!), but by the media, the internet, billboards, and everything else to the extent that you can't help but be affected by it unless you move out to Easter Island or something. It wants to put us in a rat race that can never be won, and can never be truly fulfilling even for those who make it to the "end" of the race. It wants to put us on a never-ending track so that we want more and more and more and more. Until we die and are of no use to them any longer.

The real danger isn't in wanting something new or nice. There is nothing wrong with getting that occasional candy bar, or getting a name-brand washer-dryer so that it will last a long time. The real danger is in wanting more when you don't need it, and chasing something new when what you have works perfectly well for your situation. It's the chasing, the wanting, the "needing," when we don't really need. It's the sacrificing of our time, energy, and effort on things the world deems important, when what we really need is time for our families, time for ourselves, and time for our God.

Jesus said, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses," (Luke 12:15). If you find your life consisting more and more about the things you have and want, especially to the detriment or your friends, family, and God, it is time to turn around and begin chasing what is truly important. Start chasing that which is eternal, fulfilling, and truly real, instead of the things we see around us which will disappear and be destroyed in the end anyway. It's a lifelong struggle, and one I will continue to deal with as well. But as long as I am chasing, wanting, and focused on what is truly real and important, I will win the race, because it's not being run in a rat maze.

Ps. 33:6

I've been on a poster creation kick the last couple of days. I love making these so far. :-)

What is your heart connected to?

Poster by me. :-)

YGITS: Heavenly Bosom

                There is a charge made that those who believe in God do so only as a crutch to escape the harsh realities of this world. Instead of being able to take life’s challenges head-on, they create a parental figure to believe in, call it God, and go about their merry way. For most people, this is ridiculous on its face. History is replete with examples of thousands facing very real, very visceral, very painful challenges even to the point of death in the name of God without trying to escape it at all. These people stand on the foundation that God has placed them on. 

Think of man able to weather all sorts of storms in life while his family is there to support him. Should his family crumble, however, the core of his life give way, it will not take much to bring him into destruction. In the case of God, it is not escapism, but a foundation to build our lives on. It is precisely because God is such an immutable being, such a Rock, that a man can build his life on Him, and return to Him for stability, strength, and refreshment. In this sense there is an “escape,” but it is one that prepares him for engagement with the world and its difficulties instead of simply hiding him from such things.

There are, however, those who do think of God as a place to hide from the tempests and trials of life, and even encourage others to do so. They may even write nice sounding songs about “Jesus,” but it is not a reflection of the real Jesus that we read of in the Bible. Do not misunderstand; I am not saying that Jesus is not able or willing to comfort us in times of need. We see Him time and again giving sympathy to those who need it or who need a brief respite in His presence. What I am saying is that the same Jesus who said “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest,” (Matt. 11:28) is the same Jesus who expected all (yes, all) of His followers to go into the world and make disciples of all men. Jesus did not come to enable us to escape life. He came to give us life more abundantly (Jn. 10:10).

To maintain this view of God, and to perpetuate it, can bring a great deal of harm to many people even outside the one that holds it:

1. They see Jesus saying only “Come unto Me,” instead of, “Go out in My Name.” They do not become powerful, independent agents of Christ, but weak, unfocused, and fearful spiritual babes.

2. They encourage others with a tendency towards this mentality to stay where they are instead of growing into that which God intends them to be.

3. They provide critics with ammunition for this meme, and make Jesus look unattractive to those who desire maturity over blind sentimentality.

4. They do not fight on when things get hard, preventing the Christian message from people in a world desperately in need of His love and strength.

So there you have it. If you find yourself seeking only asylum instead of growth, realize that God’s plans for you are much bigger than that. Christianity is not to enable those who wish to stay immature and hidden away from the world to do so. You are God’s tool to help bring this world to Him. He will not be pleased with those who take the gifts and skills and abilities He has blessed them with and hide them away. He calls us to more. To put on spiritual muscle we need to put ourselves out there. It can be scary, but He has told us that He will always be there with us and for us. He will not let us down. 

Ever.

So get out there. He has given you the victory.