"John and Charles Wesley were men greatly used of God in 18th Century England. They preached a radically different religion of the heart and disciplined living with all committed to Christ. This made them so much different from the world around them they were often the target of mocking crowds who ridiculed their preaching and their radically different lifestyle.
Once, when John Wesley was mocked he simply replied, ""Our people die well.""
Dying well is the final test of a man’s life. John Wesley himself with his final deathbed words gave glory to God. While no doubt many of those who mocked him died a fearful death looking back at a life spent in rebellion against God.
When you get down to the end of life will you be ready to die well? You can only die well if you have trusted Christ and lived well. And living well really just means redeeming the time.
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"A student helicopter pilot took his first solo flight. All was going well until he reached 2000 feet when suddenly he took a dive and crashed. As the instructor pulled the student from the wreckage he asked what happened. The student replied, “I started getting cold around 2000 feet so I turned that big fan off.”
It’s important to know when to turn things off. One time we should turn things off is when we have guests. Christian parents often miss valuable opportunities to train their young people in conversation and social skills by allowing them too much time with computer games, TV, and electronic toys. If we’re not careful the time they spend with these items will quickly surpass the time they spend interacting with other people.
Young people mature through interaction with adults. By habitually assigning them an electronic babysitter when company comes, we deny them the opportunity to practice mature conversation which is a much better way to redeem the time.
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"A flight attendant tried to inject some humor into her monotonous safety lecture with the following announcement, ""In the event of an emergency water landing, your seat cushion can be used as a lifesaving flotation device. When you finish with it you may keep it as a souvenir with our compliments.""
Flight attendants and pilots are known for living by checklists. That is, they have list of procedures they must do every time they prepare for a departure or landing. The airlines have developed checklists to make sure nothing vital gets overlooked or left out.
Checklists around the house or office can also be great time saving devices. What to pack for vacation, or regular shopping lists, keep us from missing important items.
When you make a check list remember to include the spiritual elements, such as packing the children’s Bibles for a vacation checklist, or giving the cashier a Gospel tract on your grocery checklist.
Creating and using checklists will remind you to redeem the time.
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