"Have you ever noticed how those who arrive late for a meeting are usually a lot more jolly about their tardiness than those who have been kept waiting? That’s because those who habitually arrive late seldom realize the inconvenience they cause others by their frequent tardiness.
Punctuality has been defined as “demonstrating the worth of people and time by arriving for appointments before they begin.” I like that definition because it captures the two things we need to become punctual- a respect for time and a respect for people.
People who lack punctuality, have seldom considered the precious nature of time. It is our most valuable resource because once we spend it, it can never be replaced. They have also not learned respect for other people. When we keep others waiting, we are robbing them of their most valuable resource- time.
Consider right now the appointments you have scheduled for today. Make sure you’ve allowed yourself enough margin to arrive early for each one because being punctual redeems the time.
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"According to goal setting expert Krish Dhanam there are four reasons people don’t set goals:
1. Fear. They fear they’ll set the wrong goals or they won’t achieve the goals they set and then they’ll feel worse than if they never set them to begin with.
2. Poor self image. They don’t see themselves as capable of significant accomplishment.
3. They don’t know how to set goals. The whole idea seems a bit fuzzy and intimidating.
4. They’ve never been sold on goal setting. They’ve gotten along OK so far without setting goals so why should they start now.
If one or more of those reasons rings true in your life, consider the consequences of drifting through life with no goals. The Bible says some day we’ll all have to give an account for ourselves to God. When that day arrives for you, don’t you want to know you’ve given God your best, that you really have redeemed the time?
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In September, 2004 Science magazine reported that Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers recently made advances in state of the art electron microscope technology that has allowed them to view object .6 angstroms big. That would be an object about 800,000times smaller than a human hair.
Those scientists have certainly perfected the art of focusing on little things. And that’s OK if you’re working with electron microscopes. But for most of us, focusing on the little things is a habit that wastes a lot of energy and time. A survey by time management expert Alec McKenzie showed that most executives don’t get to their most important task until mid-afternoon. Instead they fill most of their day with low priority tasks that five a feeling of immediate accomplishment.
As someone put it, “The things that matter most must never be at the mercy of the things that matter least.” That’s really quite simple and obvious, but how often do we as Christians still neglect what’s important and fail to redeem the time.
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In Duet. 24:5, God gave a commandment that after taking a wife, a husband was to be excused from work and military duty for one year simply to be with his wife.
I know that many Christians simply dismiss scriptures such as these as totally useless and irrelevant to us today. But when Paul said in 2 Timothy that all Scripture is profitable for our instruction, the people he was writing to didn’t even have the New Testament. So while we may not apply these scriptures in the same way the Jews did, the Bible clearly teaches that these Scriptures are given for our instruction.
So, what can we learn from this passage? We learn that God is especially concerned that our first year of marriage be a special time, set apart as much as possible from outside commitments, in order to establish a Godly home.
Both Old and New Testaments are filled with rich nuggets of truth which give practical instructions for managing time. Read them today, so you’ll redeem the time.
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