"A young man wasted his money and needed $200 to get his car fixed. He called his parents collect via the operator, and said, ""Dad, I need two hundred dollars."" Dad said, ""Sorry, I can't hear you, son, there may be a bad line."" The boy shouted, ""Two hundred. I need two hundred dollars!"" ""Sorry, I still can't hear you."" said his father. Then the operator cut in, ""Sorry to butt in, but I can hear him perfectly."" ""Oh, good,” said the father. You send him the money!"" There may be times when the best way to deal with some requests for your time is to simply ignore them. I’m not talking about people with genuine needs or those we have a responsibility to minister to, but rather those who want us to give time to something we just don’t feel God wants us to do. When that happens to you, remember allowing some requests to go unanswered might be the most tactful way to redeem the time. "
"On August 20, 1911 a penniless house painter hid in an obscure room at the Louvre art museum in Paris. The next morning when the museum was closed he slipped into the room where the Mona Lisa was kept. He took it to a nearby staircase, cut it from its frame, and walked out with the world’s most valuable art object under his cape. The first attendant to spot the space on the wall assumed it had been taken down to be photographed. Another thought its removal was a security precaution. A third was discovered asleep on the job. It took 24 hours before anyone realized the painting had been stolen. It’s amazing that something so valuable could be stolen so easily. It’s also amazing that the museum didn’t even realize their most valuable and irreplaceable asset had been stolen. God has given you a valuable and irreplaceable asset- your time. Many people don’t even realize how much time Satan is stealing from them each day. Lets be vigilant today to redeem the time. "
" Procrastination is the assassination of your motivation. When God gives a revelation of what He wants in our lives, we get filled with inspiration and pledge to do things beyond imagination, but then comes a hesitation and with it, an evaporation of that determination, allowing procrastination to become the assassination of our motivation. To the student, procrastination means the deterioration of your education which brings the defamation of your reputation. In the workplace it can lead to the termination of your occupation which means the elimination of your compensation. Procrastinate on changing your oil and you will see the disintegration of your transportation. If its home repairs it will be the dilapidation of your habitation. Procrastinate on spending time with your children and you'll experience the alienation of cherished family relations. But the worst procrastination of all is when we procrastinate on the things of God which may lead to the expiration and revocation of God's offer of salvation. So don’t procrastinate. Initiate! And redeem the time. "
"Your automobile is an amazing machine. Consider what’s involved in turning raw materials into a finished car: The sand and heat used to make the glass, the metal that had to be mined, the complex chemicals used to create paint, Freon, and antifreeze, or the computers that control a new car. Your car didn’t come into existence overnight. Over a century of engineering went into building that machine. The point: Any product requires a process to create it. And processes take time. The Apostle Paul knew the product he wanted. His desire was “that I may know Him (Jesus) and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.” A few verses later he emphasized the process by which he would attain that product, when he said, “I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Keeping our focus on the product gives direction to the process and shows us how to redeem the time. "