"Picture your life as a basket full of eggs. The basket itself is your daily schedule and the eggs it contains are the various items that have to fit inside.
Using this word picture, you can easily understand how the basket has the capacity to carry a set number of eggs. There is a certain number that can be carried with safety and no fear they will fall out. But as the basket gets fuller, there comes a point where some eggs have to be piled above the brim. They aren’t as secure but it is still doable, especially for a short time.
Eventually however, there comes a limit to how many eggs we can keep piling on, and if we continue piling, something will hit the floor and make a mess.
When our basket gets this full, the only way to add more eggs, is to first remove some existing eggs. If your basket feels full, ask God which eggs He wants you to carry to best redeem the time.
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"Donald Trump and I really don’t have much in common. Besides the vast difference in our incomes, we also have widely differing definitions of success and formulas for achieving success. But in a bookstore this week I found something in one of his success books I agree with wholeheartedly. Trump says:
“We all have a credit card that’s been given to us by God, but that credit card has an expiration date that’s fixed and firm. If we don’t use that credit card properly, we have no one to blame but ourselves.”
As a successful businessman, Mr. Trump understands something that we as Christians often forget in the daily grind of life: That our expiration date is soon coming and whatever we are going to do has to be done now.
Mr. Trump has written that he’s not going to Heaven. I hope he changes his mind, because that expiration date is only on time in this life. Then comes eternity And that’s the real reason to redeem the time.
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"I once saw a list of humorous replies to give telemarketers. One of them I remember was, “I’m sorry John isn’t here right now, he’s serving time in the state prison for killing a telemarketer.” Another response was, “Sorry, I can’t talk right now, I was just on my way to search for a pair of giant tweezers to extract the stray giraffe which just fell into the tar pit in my back yard.”
I’m not sure either of those would be the right way to handle telemarketers. But fortunately there is a very effective method for those living in the US. Entering your number at the national do not call registry at donotcall.gov will eliminate the great majority of telemarketing calls. Other countries may also have similar programs.
If you do get a telemarketing call, you don’t have to waste time listening to them, but remember to act like a Christian even when cutting off a solicitor, because rudeness is never appropriate, or necessary to redeem the time.
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"A few years ago, while traveling the Florida turnpike, a colorful billboard grabbed my attention. It advertised a 13 foot long alligator we could see for free at a store on the next exit. I thought the children would enjoy seeing a real Florida gator, and I like any attraction that’s free, so we got off got at the tourist trap and I asked where the gator was. The clerk pointed in front of the store to a 13 foot ceramic alligator.
The billboard never said it was a real gator. I had fallen victim to one of the Devil’s favorite tactics- Diversion. It’s a tactic he often uses to keep Christians from accomplishing what God wants them to do, when He wants them to do it.
Chances are, within the next hour you will experience a temptation to take a wrong exit and waste valuable time. Don’t make the same mistake I made. Resist! Stay focused on what God has called you to do, so you’ll redeem the time.
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