"Whenever I go to an all you can eat restaurant I’m always torn between the Biblical principle of temperance, or self-control, and the principle of good stewardship. Most of the time good stewardship ends up the winner.
For every Biblical principle there is a balancing principle. Understanding that fact can be a great help when determining how God wants us to spend our time.
Satan often gets the Christian to waste time, by getting his life out of balance in one direction. But there are at least 7 areas of life where everyone should have goals and schedule activities. They are:
Spiritual
Financial
Family
Career
Health
Social
Intellectual
A well balanced person sets goals in each area. An out of balance person may limit their usefulness to God by excelling in one area at the expense of all others.
Remember, spiritual, financial, family, career, health, social and intellectual goals will all help redeem the time.
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"How well do you handle the mail, email, and memos that come across your desk each day? The answer to that question may determine how useful you will be to the Lord. If you want to be used of God, try the 4D system of handling requests.
The first D is for Dump—most email and all junk mail should go here immediately
The second D is Delegate—Is there someone else who could do this better than you? If so, and you have the authority to do so, delegate it to the best person for the job.
The third D is Defer—While you don’t want to procrastinate on something that needs your attention, there are times when you can and should wait for the right timing to respond. Determine when that time will be and note it.
The fourth D is Do. Just do it and do it now.
Remembering the 4 D’s Dump, Delegate, Defer and Do will give a system for handling requests and redeeming the time.
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"3% of Americans leave a charitable donation in their will. 3% can name the 3 main credit bureaus. 3% abide by the government’s diet guidelines. 3% live and work on farms. 3% of American drivers at any given moment are talking on a cell phone. And only 3% of Americans have written long term goals and a plan to accomplish them.
That last 3% is why so many people spend their time in ways that leave them feeling frustrated at the end of the day. Even many Christians go to bed each night with a gnawing sense of frustration and uneasiness over how they’ve spent the day. The problem is they don’t know if they used their time properly because they never clearly identified what God wanted them to do in the first place.
How about you? Do you have written lifetime goals? Do you write out daily goals that move you toward your lifetime goals?
Until you become part of the 3% that do, you’ll probably never redeem the time.
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"An angry patient stormed into an eye doctor’s office claiming someone had given her the wrong wig after her surgery. The doctor asked how she knew it was the wrong wig. She replied, “I noticed after the operation the wig I had on was this cheap ugly thing.” “Ma’am,” explained the doctor, “That just means your cataract operation was successful.”
Sometimes we just don’t see ourselves the same way other people see us. One example is the way we use our time. We often think we manage time better than we actually do. Sometimes it’s a good idea to ask someone to help you identify your weaknesses. The two best people to help you with this are your boss and your spouse. Ask your boss to identify your 3 worst time wasting habits at work and ask your spouse to do the same for your home life.
The Bible teaches us to encourage one another in the things of God. We can do that by getting honest help with redeeming the time.
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