"One of my Bible college professors, Dr. Glen Reiff, teaches there are two ways of serving God. There is “kingdom building” and there is “empire building.”
Empire building refers to doing church work to make a name for yourself or make a show of what you are capable of doing. Their thinking goes, “Sure I’m doing this for God’s glory, but I want some credit.” No one admits to empire building, but stay around some folks long enough and you’ll see what motivates them.
Kingdom building on the other hand is when a person truly works toward building the Kingdom of God. Kingdom builders don’t seek self-recognition or build memorials for themselves. Their genuine heart motive is to get people ready for eternity.
It would be amazing how much we could see accomplished for Christ if we didn’t care who got the credit for it. What will be your focus today, empire building or kingdom building? When we reach eternity, we’ll realize it was only the kingdom builders who redeemed the time.
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"Can you scratch your ears with your feet, or turn your legs completely around so you're literally walking backwards? Pierre Beauchemin was a man who could. His unusual ability to dislocate his legs earned him the title of the world's most elastic man. On one occasion he even folded himself down small enough to fit inside a picnic basket.
While you will probably never need to fit into a picnic basket, learning to be flexible could help you manage your time. Flexibility means being able to change our plans if unexpected conditions require it. Amaziah, an Old Testament King, hired 100,000 mercenaries to help defeat an enemy army. But, when God’s prophet warned him not to go through with it, he changed his plans by paying them and sending them home without a fight. God then rewarded him with victory in battle.
Remaining flexible to the leading of God and setting our affections on His plan instead of ours is how we redeem the time.
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"Do you want to impact the world for Jesus Christ? Then consider the example of Jonathan Edwards. He’s remembered as a great preacher, used of God to bring revival to the American colonies in the 1700’s. But Edwards was also a very devoted family man with 11 children.
In 1900 a researcher studied Edward’s 1400 descendants and here’s what he found:
13 college presidents
65 professors
100 lawyers, including a law school dean
30 judges
66 physicians, including a medical school dean
80 holders of public office, including 3 U.S. Senators, 3 mayors of large cities, 3 governors, a controller of the US treasury, and a U.S. vice president.
The argument could be made that Edwards’ greatest legacy was not his revival preaching or even his famous sermon, “Sinners in the hands of an angry God,” but rather, the great influence of his descendants who chose to live for Christ.
It’s another example of why family time is redeeming the time.
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"You've heard it said the early bird catches the worm. But people who arrive early can catch a lot of other good things as well. That's why whenever possible you should consider scheduling your appointments early in the day.
The reason is that the first meeting is the least likely to be delayed. As the day progresses, the chances of the person you are meeting with having some crisis or interruption in their day increases. That means the chance of their running late to see you increases as well.
Other benefits of being first include the accountability of getting up earlier and the ability to reschedule your meeting later in the day if you can't make it.
In matters of showing meekness and humility, Jesus said the last shall be first and the first shall be last. But, when it comes to setting appointments, the first shall be the ones who redeem the time.
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