"A man jumped from a plane and his parachute failed to open. About half way down, he saw another man flying upward from the ground and asked, “Do you know anything about opening parachutes?” The man answered, “No, do you know anything about lighting gas stoves?”
We all have differing areas of knowledge and expertise. But the people who accomplish most, are often those who find a specialized niche and develop it.
A dentist might make a $100,000 per year. That’s good money. But with two more years of training an orthodontist makes $300,000 per year. The difference is finding a niche, a specialty, and developing it.
The same holds true in the Christian life. Maybe you’ve found a unique method of child evangelism. Perhaps you’ve taught on a particular topic in Sunday school or from the pulpit that has been especially blessed of the Lord. Don’t let that success fizzle. Do it again. Teach it to others. Because developing your niche will help you redeem the time.
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"Have you ever heard of a Bible character named Demas? He may be unfamiliar to you because he is only briefly mentioned three times in Scripture.
At the close of Paul’s letters he often sends greetings from a short list of coworkers laboring with him to spread the Gospel. Demas is mentioned as one of those faithful co-laborers in Colossians and Philemon. But at the close of Paul’s final letter, Second Timothy, he writes one of the saddest lines in all of scripture when he says, “Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world.”
Think of it, a man who had the honor of laboring with the Apostle Paul, turning his back on God because the loved this present world. But, what if someone were to look at your schedule for this weekend? Would they conclude that the activities you have planned indicate a greater love for God or for this present world?
Remember, as long as you love “this present world” you’ll never redeem the time.
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"Some people think “denial” is just the name of a big river in Egypt. But “denial” is something a lot closer to home than that. Denial is one of our biggest time wasters. It’s often a key element of procrastination.
When we have a problem that requires an investment of our time to resolve, many people use denial to deal with it. When we hear a noise coming from the engine, we think I’ll check it out later, nothing big. Then when the engine is ruined what could have been a little problem has become a big problem because of denial.
In spiritual matters, denial is a key tool of Satan to keep us from acting swiftly to do God’s will. It causes little things to become big things that eventually ruin or relationship with the Lord.
What thing is God speaking to you about right now? Are you going to let God have His way and deal with the problem right now? Or will you live in denial and fail to redeem the time.
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"Joseph Zimmerman of Brookfield, WI died recently at the age of 92. But he left behind a significant invention. In 1948, when the Army Signal Corps veteran couldn’t afford a secretary, he rigged up an 80 pound device that used a lever to lift a phone receiver. A 78 r.p.m. record player then conveyed a personal greeting, and a wire recorder captured the caller’s 30 second message. Zimmerman’s “electronic secretary” as he called it, was the world’s first telephone answering machine.
Today answering machines and voice mail are a key part of daily life. But an answering machine only works if you’re not on the phone. If you want to make sure you don’t miss any calls, you might invest in call forwarding to a voice mail or a cell phone if your number is busy.
Telephone tag wastes lots of time. Let’s conquer it with technology that makes us more effective for the Lord and redeems the time.
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