"I enjoy reading the latest books on business and management success tactics. I like them not because I’m a wealthy businessman or have any aspirations to become one, but because they often give significant insight on how to best manage my time.
For example, a book I am now reading says, “There can only be one most important thing. Many things may be important, but only one thing can be the most important.” In a business context, that means the executive who gets ahead is the one who can sort through all the possible “good things” he could do today and identify the one thing that will bring the greatest return for the time invested.
But, when we enlarge this principle to include the spiritual consequences of how we spend time, it takes on even more significance. That’s because there is only one thing you can focus on today that will make the greatest impact for eternity.
Identifying what that one thing is and focusing on it will redeem the time.
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"When it comes to buying technology, the key is to avoid extremes in either direction. By that I mean you don’t want to be the first to get something but you don’t want to be the last to get it either.
The first people to buy the new gadget or software pay too much for something that still hasn’t had the bugs worked out of it. The last people to buy miss out on the productivity that comes with staying up to date. They appear dumb and out of touch.
Jesus said, “I am Alpha and Omega.” That means the A and the Z or the first and last. Just as there is no letter before A or after Z, there was nothing before Him and there will be nothing will be after Him. It’s best to let Him keep the title of First and Last while you and I, at least when it comes to technology, strike a middle ground as a way to redeem the time.
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"A modern art gallery once lost a piece of art worth $15,000. It was made from trash and the cleaning lady threw it away.
Here’s a “throw away” idea for managing time. Buy a cheap desktop daily calendar, the kind with a quote or cartoon for each day. At end of the day tear off a page and say, ""There goes another day of my life, gone forever."" Do it with great exaggerated motions and lots of flare and emphasis. Wad the paper up into a ball and forcefully throw it into the trash can.
The point of the exercise is to jolt yourself into realizing the continual passing of our days and to ask at the end of each day if we did anything that day that made a difference.
You might want to try this exercise if you need a reminder that God expects us to use every day wisely. He expects us to redeem the time.
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"A slave whose master had died expressed doubt about whether he had indeed gone to Heaven. When asked why he doubted, he replied, “Whenever the master was going on a trip up north, he talked about it a long time and spent time getting ready. But I never heard him talk about going to Heaven, and I never saw him getting ready.”
The uneducated slave made a very wise observation and expressed it in a way that others around him probably would not have been comfortable articulating quite so honestly. Yet, his simple observation was a true assessment.
If you are really excited about a trip, other people will see it in your life. They will hear you talking about it and preparing for it. Your excitement will be evidenced by the amount of time you give to it.
Are you planning to go the Heaven? If so, what are you doing today to prepare for it? Taking time to prepare for the ultimate trip will redeem the time.
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