"When you get a free moment to think, what does your mind most enjoy thinking about? When you are not fully engaged in a task, what does your mind occupy itself with?
The answer to that question can reveal a lot about us and where our true affections lie. Jesus gave the command to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. But how do we love God with all our mind?
The answer is by making provision for Godly thoughts and images to fill your mind. Think of your mind as a picture gallery. When Satan tries to fill your minds with pictures of lust or greed, cover these images by picturing the Lord Jesus crucified on the cross for those sins.
Secondly, learn to fill the gallery with Godly pictures by meditating on God’s Word and listening to pure music.
Training our minds to think on good things in our free time is a powerful method of redeeming the time.
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"Henry was already having trouble sticking to his diet, when he drove past the bakery and saw a cheesecake in the window. So he prayed, “Lord if you want me to eat that cheesecake make a parking place to open up in front of the bakery.” Henry’s prayer was answered that day when a spot miraculously opened up-- after his ninth time circling the block.
Henry was like a lot of Christians who are asking God to bless things He never called them to do in the first place. Instead of purposeful planning and seeking the mind of God for our time, we often simply fill our days with random activity and then ask God to bless it.
Stop what you’re doing right now if you need to, and ask God to show you if it is really the best use of your time in light of what He has called you to do with your life. If it’s not, back up and start over, so you’ll redeem the time.
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"In his book, “Measure your Life” Wesley Duewell makes the following observation about the way we spend our time:
Life is an investment. God planned it that way. For every hour we sow in our earthly life, there will be millions of years of reaping in eternity. No life will ever end. Once we are conceived in our mother’s womb, we will never cease to exist. Death does not end existence. Nothing that a person can ever do can shorten his existence or cause it to end.
Mr. Duewell gave us a very profound thought. Think of it- Millions of years of reaping the consequences for one hour of time in this world.
What are you planning to do with the next hour of your life? Before you settle in to watch another television program, consider the fact that what you do in the next hour will have millions of years of consequences. That might make you want to redeem the time.
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"Would you offer someone $1,000,000 for a nickel? One coin collector is. He is offering the fortune for a rare 1913 Liberty Head nickel. It is one of only 5 ever minted and the other 4 are in museums or private collections. The nickel is worth a million dollars because it is scarce and value is determined by scarcity and demand. The more scarce the item, the greater it’s value.
That is why time is so valuable. Like Manhattan real estate, there is only a limited amount of it and there is nothing that can be done to generate any more. All we can do is make the best possible use of what we have.
The owner of that 1913 Liberty Head nickel is not going to drop it in a chewing gum dispenser. He will no doubt guard his investment very carefully. Likewise we as Christians must carefully guard our time if we want to redeem the time.
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