“Those who obey him (the king) will not be punished. Those who are wise will find a time and a way to do what is right, for there is a time and way for everything, even when a person is in trouble.” (Ecclesiastes 8:5-6 NLT)
Do you struggle with managing your time well? Does it seem there are never enough hours in the day or enough energy to fill those hours? How do you prioritize the use of your time? Who or what gets top priority, your best time, when you’re freshest and most alert?
If you’re still employed, most often our employer/employees or those we serve as an employee get us at our best. We want to look our best, act our best, smell our best, be our best for those whose opinions matter to us, but, unfortunately, too often we seem to throw those desires in the trunk of our car when we come home from work.
Pastor Corky Calhoun addresses this when he writes: “When it comes to our time, there are always winners and losers. Sadly, way too often the losers are our family and God.” While most of us will look at that with sadness, realizing it’s truer than we’d like to admit, guilt and shame are of the enemy, not the Lord, so, what constructive decisions can we make to right what we see as an obvious wrong?
The first step is taking an objective evaluation of our priorities. For each day list what we deem “must do” for that day. These are non-negotiables, things like work, meals, commitments we’ve made to meet with people, etc. Then there are things like housework, house, lawn and car maintenance, doctor’s appointments, school and church activities, and social events. The list can be very long of things we want and need to get done.
Did you notice I didn’t include the two MOST VITAL, ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF OUR SCHEDULES? Spending time in God’s Word and prayer, including, but not limited to praying with our spouse/kids. It’s not uncommon to not even let these things enter our mind when thinking about our schedule. Why not? Because we’re too busy! That’s the excuse we use, but the truth is, we don’t give those things the priority they deserve because we don’t understand how not doing them is crippling us spiritually.
“Yeh, but I read a few verses on my break at work!” or “We pray before we go to sleep at night!” Which are good, but they’re not best. Too often we settle for giving God our “leftovers,” not our best. James MacDonald reminds us: “Prayer is purifying – as you pray, you learn to want not just right things, but right things for right reasons.”
Whatever time you usually get up, if you’re not reading and regularly praying in the morning, get up 20 minutes early, then over time, stretch it to 30-60 minutes or more. To start, read one chapter of Scripture and pray for the remainder of the time. If you’re not reading Scripture regularly now, start in the Gospel of John, read through John, then go back to Matthew and read straight through the New Testament. When you’re finished, start in Matthew again. Do that at least three times before you begin reading in the Old Testament devotionally.
As for prayer, make a written list of people and requests that you deem critical. That can include family, co-workers, classmates, neighbors, friends, your church and friends at church, but it also must include time asking the Lord to rid your heart and mind of the junk that collects during the course of any day. I hold my hands out in front of me and say some version of: “Father, this is my life, please remove anything that is unlike you, that’s holding me back from being everything You desire me to be. And give me whatever I need to enable me to become more like You.” Then throughout the day breathe prayers of help or affirmation. Things like: “Father, help me to represent you well at work/school/wherever you are.” Or “Lord, accept my praise and honor as I love you well in whatever circumstance I find myself today!”
Please allow Jesus and your family to be the winners in how you invest (don’t just spend) your time!
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 