"If you want something you’ve never had you’ll need to do something you’ve never done.
Most true Christians say they want to do great things for God. But at the same time, they admit they aren’t doing much for God right now because of their busy circumstances. They go through life kidding themselves, with the notion that at some point in the future, their circumstances will change and then they’re going to commit all to God and begin a life of great usefulness to the Lord. The problem is that day never arrives.
Instead of waiting for our circumstances to change to improve our service to God, maybe we should focus on improving our service to God so our circumstances will change. Many people who have been mightily used of God in ministry were ordinary people in ordinary circumstances just like yours who had a vision of change and started serving God with their whole heart right where they were.
They began their extraordinary new life by redeeming the time.
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"The founder of a well known Christian university is remembered for a simple two word quote he often gave to his students. The little two word sermon was “Do right”
A large part of redeeming the time is simply doing the next right thing with each moment of your time. It means striving to apply each moment of time to its highest possible use. God has a perfect plan for you today. You can picture this plan as several small assignments which will make up your complete mission for the day. The key to having a successful day, is just to have an accumulation of successful smaller missions.
So ask yourself, what is the next right thing I need to do? Going from one right thing to the next throughout the day will give the results you desire at the end of the day. And ending your day well is a good reward for redeeming the time.
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"A waiter asked, “Sir, would you like your pizza cut into four pieces or eight?” “Oh just four.” He replied, “I could never eat eight pieces.”
That customer failed to understand the basic mathematical function of division. But division can be a handy thing to know if you are to make the best of your time. Most big projects, like reading a book for a school assignment are overwhelming when we look at the size of the project. But when we divide it into smaller units, of say a chapter a day, it suddenly seems quite manageable.
Bible reading falls into this category. Reading a collection of 66 books seems beyond our capability, until we realize that’s only about 3 chapters a day for a year. If you’ve never read the Bible cover to cover, visit our website where you can find a free daily Bible reading chart. Dividing this task in to a lot of smaller bites, makes it more likely you’ll stick with it and redeem the time.
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"Someone once noted:
""Happiness does not come from doing easy work but from the afterglow of satisfaction that comes after the achievement of a difficult task that demanded our best.”
That’s true. God’s best will usually not be the easiest assignment. For example, a few years ago I was invited to speak for a convention in Honolulu. They bought my wife and I a nice hotel room, provided our meals and even paid me for coming. I told my friends it was a tough job but someone had to do it.
A few months later, I spoke for a home school convention in a developing country. I stayed with a missionary in a cottage with no electricity and spent much of my time hauling water up a steep mountain. But we saw many people encouraged in the things of God.
Today, reflecting on that second trip gives me a greater sense of fulfillment, because in the end, it’s usually the more difficult assignment that best redeems the time.
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