Take Time

Take time to see the beauty of God's creation and learn to appreciate the wonders of God's creation. By doings so, you will learn to appreciate who you are! For you are part of His beautiful creation. Share 

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: (Romans 1:20)

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Eight Time Thieves

Eight Time Thieves

One commodity of which we have a limit supply is time.  There are a number of Bible verses admonishing us to use our time wisely; but most of us let what time we have here on earth slip away from us.  We allow time thieves to steal our time away. We have identified eight of those time-thieves below with the hope that we can help you guard again these bandits. 

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow.  For what is your life?  It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.  Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15 NKJV

Time Thieves

1. Trying to change the past

Trying to undo what is already done is a bandit that eats lots of our time and can rob us of our future.  You cannot change the past.  If you have wronged someone or sinned against God, then seek forgiveness and move on. 

Philippians 3:13-15 (NKJV)
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.

2. Trying to escape the present

Trying to escape the present

Sometimes the affairs of the present day and/or the future are so overwhelming that we seek to just blank-out.  We fill our day with unproductive activities like watching television or reading novels so that we do not need to face the daily obligations of responsibilities.  Therefore, we waste time.  For some this can be one of the signs of serious depression; but for most of us, it is a sign of a need to refocus on the hope and blessings that are awaiting us in the adventure of life. Don’t let the thief of the present steal your valuable time.

 Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV)
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

3. Dreaming away the future

Everyone knows a dreamer that is always dreaming big dreams but never acts on them.  Perhaps, we all have a little bit of that dreamer in ourselves.  Of course, there is always an excuse for never initiating the dream. Hours or even days are lost in dreaming.   A person can dream their future away; and time lost in fantasizing can never be found.

Proverbs 22:13 (NKJV)
The lazy man says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be slain in the streets!”

4. Worrying 

Worry is perhaps the greatest cat burglar of all time.  Anxiety sneaks into the mind and causes us to spend needless time worrying about things that never come to pass.  Some say that ninety percent of what we worry over never amounts to anything.  

Matthew 6:25-36 (NKJV)
"Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

5. Procrastination

Generally speaking, we tend to put those things off that we do not like doing or are fearful of doing.  Here is where procrastination becomes a time thief.  First, we spend more time finding excuses for not doing it than if we had just done it!   Plus! What is often the case; the job we have put off becomes more difficult and takes more of our time and money to remedy. 

Ecclesiastes 11:-4 (NKJV)
He who observes the wind will not sow, And he who regards the clouds will not reap.

6. Punishing Yourself

Have you noticed how much time people spend on beating themselves up for a mistake?  It’s often more time than it takes to correct the mistake.  Take this example: John installed a storm door only to discover he had it swinging the wrong directions.  John was so upset over his error that he spent the next three hours sulking in angry.  Three hours of wasted time and energy. 

This time crook (Punishing Yourself) delights in stealing time from Christians.  Many Christians have wasted a ton of time by being reluctant to serve God because of past sins.  Don’t lose another moment of time.  If you have sought forgiveness, then you have found forgiveness.  Move on!

1 John 1:9 (NKJV)
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

7. Pleasing Others and/or Seeking Approval/Praise from Others

Living your life for others can be very exhausting and time consuming.  While it is natural to want to do nice things for people you love, pleasing others can become compulsive.  If you self-worth is based on the approval of others, there is a good chance most of your time will be spent unproductively.

Galatians 1:10 (ESV)
For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

8. Never Leaving the Starting Gate

A race horse will never win a race if it doesn’t leave the gate.  The best way to make the best of the time the Lord has given you is to live it!  

2 Timothy 4:7 (NKJV)
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Psalm 90:12 (NKJV)
So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Today Counts!

So teach us to number our days,

That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 90:12 NKJV

As of late, I have awakened with a new keenness to life and a grateful heart for another day to live. No I have not had a near-death experience but rather a realization that when I went to bed I had no grantee of a tomorrow.  Thus Psalm 90:12 has taken on a deeper meaning. 

"Numbering our days" could mean -- make them count!  Looking over the past, I can regretfully say that I have a number of days that were wasted with needless worry, idleness, resentfulness, anger -- and the list goes on-and-on! Perhaps you too can relate the same? 

So each day I awake with a grateful heart and determination to make this day -- Today -- count!

Alone Time

There is great wisdom to be found in alone time with God. In a world filled with busyness and a culture that seems to demand social interaction, spending time alone with God has taken a backseat. The benefits are enormous including allowing God to speak to your heart and giving you time to unload all your cares and concerns on him. Take time to be alone with God. 

With Bible in hand and an attitude of prayer, make time to get alone with God. Share

And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. -Mark 1:35

Grace: More Than We Deserve, Greater Than We Imagine By Max Lucado We talk about "grace periods," "falls from grace," "grace notes," and "graceful" dancers---but do we understand what this all-important word means when God uses it? In his latest faith-stretching, heartwarming volume, Lucado challenges readers to be changed, shaped, strengthened, emboldened, softened, and "shaken to their senses" by Jesus' radical mercy. Let it rock your world! 240 pages, softcover from Nelson.

The Clock Is Ticking...*

Tomorrow I will... Avoid using the word tomorrow and try using the word today. People of action, the shakers and movers, don't put things off until tomorrow. Today is their motto.

Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. -Proverbs 27:1 (Also see James 4:13-15)

The best way to get something done is to begin.  ~Author Unknown

May we suggest this book for your personal enrichment: The Traveler's Gift: Seven Decisions that Determine Personal Success

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Make Someone's Day!

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Make someone's day better. It's easier than you think. Start by finding out about them and by listening to them. Encourage them to share their interest, their problems, their joys, and their life with you. Show you care about them and you will make their day. The two key words to making another person's day are caring and listening. Share 

Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad. -Proverbs 12:25

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Just Consider

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained…(Psalm 8:3)

“When I consider…”  That is the problem.  We do not consider!  The truth is that we do very little considering.  We spend very little time observing or thinking upon all that is around us.  Therefore, we know little about our Creator and give little thanksgiving for what we have been given.  

What a shame!  We are so busy living our life that we have no life.  Consumed by the desires of the world we fail to really see the world.  Pursuing disappearing pleasures, we miss the joy of what we have and the Glory of Him who granted it!

Take the example of the Palmist and pause to consider the wonder of all that is around us and learn the true Glory of God. 

Value the Day!

Are we appreciating the days that the Lord has given us? Value this day and every day. Waste not your days on foolishness for they are numbered. Give this day and everyday to the Lord.

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom (Ps. 90:12)

The Grass Outlives the Mower

Today's Wisdom Tidbit comes from a sermon delievered by Charles Spurgeon and is worthy of your consideration. 

“Dust we are and that dust hastens to dissolve, and so to return to the kindred dust of the earth. Under our feet are our graves and above us are the stars, which will soon look down upon our silent tombs. The trees cast their leaves, but they grow green again. We shed our life’s glories once, and they return no more! Thus, the trees outlive us and beneath their shade, we are reminded that man is far more frail than the tree which he fells with the axe. Yes, the very grass that he mows outlives the mower! Man is a mere shadow—we have scarcely time to say that we are before we are not! Are we not foolish if we place our reliance upon such a feeble creature, so weak that his breath, his unsubstantial breath, is essential to his life?

Who are you, O man, that trusts in man? If you have half a grain of wisdom left, how can you quit the ever-living God and put your reliance upon a poor creature who is as the grass, who today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven? Go, rest on a reed, or ride on a moth, or build on a bubble; but rely not on a man!” ~Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892). Spurgeon Gems (Kindle Locations 537-541). Chapel Library. Kindle Edition. 

Life Is Too Short*

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Galatians 6:9

Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice...) Hebrews 3:7

"Life is too short for us to put into manifestation much that we would choose. Even with a good choice, life is too short for it. But I tell you one thing, life is long enough so that when Truth is presented, and there is an occasion for us to make a decision; or a surrender; or die a death; or accept a Truth—right here is where we do it, but the fruitage—the real fruitage—of it, won’t always be seen here. We aren’t here long enough; the real fruitage will be projected in the things yet to come." -John Wright Follette, Golden Grain

Make the Time!*

E.M. Bounds encourages us to take the time to pray and meet with the God who hears prayers!  This morsel of wisdom comes from his book titled, Power Through Prayer:

The men who have most fully illustrated Christ in their character, and have most powerfully affected the world for him, have been men who spent so much time with God as to make it a notable feature of their lives. Charles Simeon devoted the hours from four till eight in the morning to God. Mr. Wesley spent two hours daily in prayer. He began at four in the morning. Of him, one who knew him well wrote: "He thought prayer to be more his business than anything else, and I have seen him come out of his closet with a serenity of face next to shining." John Fletcher stained the walls of his room by the breath of his prayers. Sometimes he would pray all night; always, frequently, and with great earnestness. His whole life was a life of prayer. "I would not rise from my seat," he said, "without lifting my heart to God." His greeting to a friend was always: "Do I meet you praying?" Luther said: "If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer." He had a motto: "He that has prayed well has studied well." --E.M. Bounds, Power Through Prayer

Check out Today’s Prayer

"Time, the subtle thief of youth" -John Milton

Check out the book Power Through Prayer