"Peter Drucker, considered the greatest authority on corporate management in our day, advises: ""you must take time for your opportunities as well as for your problems.""
That's good advice in the corporate world, but its also good advice for us as Christians. It's true. Most of us don't have trouble finding time to respond to a crisis. They create a sense of urgency that makes us want to drop everything to focus on the crisis. The problem is we have never learned how to do the same thing with our opportunities.
We think opportunities will still be there later when we have more time. But that's not true. God gives us windows of opportunity lasting only a short season. A wise person will recognize those opportunities and drop everything else to take advantage of them.
Is there an important opportunity God has brought your way? Maybe there is someone you could share the Gospel with? Making time for your opportunities just like you make time for your crises is a smart way to redeem the time.
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"Someone said you know you’re living in the computer age when you try to enter your password to start the microwave oven.
It seems computers have come to control just about every part of our lives these days. So if we as Christians are going to reach our fullest potential, we have to learn the best way to use our computers.
If you’re like most people, you perform some of the same routines over and over on your computer. But did you know you can often accomplish those routines with one push of a button by creating a “macro.” It is a single command that carries out a string of commands like inserting the date in a letter, spacing down and inserting a greeting all in one step. You can learn how to create a macro by going to the help menu and doing a search for macros.
As Christians, we what to reflect God’s excellent character by being our best at what we do. It’s a big part of redeeming the time.
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"Can you afford luxury? Maybe you’ve worked hard all your life and you’ve been able to accumulate some wealth. You’ve paid your tithe, made some offerings, and there’s still money left over so God wouldn’t mind if you had a few luxuries now right?
Before you answer yes, consider this. Luxuries also have a hidden price tag which is the time they consume. They have to be locked up and guarded, polished and appraised, counted, cataloged and stored. We have to constantly tell our guests “Don’t touch!” “Don’t eat in there.” or “Be sure and wipe your feet.”
Luxuries create high anxiety as we worry about what can go wrong. Accumulating luxuries makes us leery of having guests with young children and it makes families with young children uncomfortable if they do visit our homes.
The bottom line is luxuries can consume time and none of us have the luxury of extra time. So, don’t be trapped by luxuries that keep you from redeeming the time.
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"Did you hear about the genetic engineer who tried to combine a 4 leaf clover with poison ivy? He was looking for something to give him a rash of good luck.
Unfortunately lots of people today are like that scientist, looking for luck to make them successful or to give them the break they need to get ahead in life. But the Bible never speaks of anyone getting lucky or having bad luck. Rather, God says in Proverbs that “The hand of the diligent shall prosper, but the slothful shall be under tribute.” God promises that those who apply themselves will be rewarded accordingly, both in this life and for those who are saved, in the life to come. Another Scripture says, “In all labor there is profit.”
When we lose the mentality of luck or fate controlling the events of our life and begin to accept full responsibility for our actions, while acknowledging God’s sovereign control, we gain the true frame of reference we need to redeem the time.
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