"Did you hear about the scientific breakthrough that promises to solve our energy shortage? Someone observed that when thrown into the air, cats always land on their feet. They also observed that whenever buttered toast is dropped the buttered side lands down. Therefore if a cat were thrown into the air with a piece of buttered toast strapped to his back both sides would be attracted to the ground resulting in a perpetually spinning object which could be attached to an electrical generator.
We all have a limited supply of energy. One of the keys to accomplishing more for the Lord is learning when your energy level is at its peak and scheduling your highest priority activities at that time. For example, if you are most creative in the morning, schedule activities which require creative thought, such as writing or Scripture meditation, for that time of day.
The laws of physics tell us that energy is limited. The Word of God teaches us to use that limited energy to redeem the time.
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"As we were riding to town recently, one of my younger children, who is learning his alphabet and likes to ask how things are spelled, said, “Daddy how do you spell YMCA?”
Some questions are easier to answer than others. But one question we all need to answer is, “How much stuff do I really need? How will I know when I have accumulated enough stuff?” It’s important that we have an answer to that question in mind. If we don’t, we can spend all our time trying to accumulate, and then maintain, more and more “stuff” and never produce anything of eternal consequence.
The apostle Paul warned Timothy, a younger Christian, that if he was to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ, he had to be especially careful not to become entangled in the affairs of this life. Paul knew that setting our affections on the things of this world would result in a lukewarm spiritual life and would keep us from redeeming the time.
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"In 1992, Lou Scripa performed a record setting 70,715 sit-ups in 24 hours. I am sure Lou pushed himself very hard for a long time to achieve that record and he no doubt had some help from a competent trainer.
If you are an adult, the chances are you’ve been able to read for many years now. But how much has your reading speed increased in the past 5 years? Probably none, because you have not pushed yourself to read faster. The vast majority of people tend to simply accept their reading speed as fixed and never push themselves to improve or seek coaching in this area. But, it is a simple principle that if you push yourself at anything you get better and if you don’t you stagnate or go backwards.
Never has there been so much good material available to help us in our walk with Christ. By pushing yourself to read faster, you can take advantage of more of those resources, grow in the Lord and redeem the time.
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"There are basically two categories of people when it comes to how we approach life. There are those who are in the game, and then there are the spectators who watch them.
Unfortunately, this same principle holds true in the Christian life as well. There are a lot of people in the stadium of church on any given Sunday. But the great majority are not active players. They are in the stands. Becoming an active participant in the game would require a certain commitment of time and energy that they just aren’t ready for.
The stands are safer and more comfortable. No one notices if you make a mistake there. But if you’re on the playing field and you mess up, everyone sees it, and some might even laugh at you or criticize you.
But God never intended the Christian life to be a spectator sport. He’s looking for active players who will do their best to redeem the time.
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