"In 1992 Hoover Vacuum of England offered a promotion of 2 free plane tickets to America for anyone who bought one of their vacuums. Lots of people did the math and quickly realized it was much cheaper to buy a vacuum than 2 tickets to America.
The company was overwhelmed and their scheme to make customers jump through impossible hoops or buy upgraded tickets from a designated travel agent, was publicly exposed. A legal battle followed for the next six years until eventually 220,000 people won their flights and top management lost their jobs.
The Hoover executives had failed to count the cost. They promised too much for too little and failed to deliver as promised. Jesus warned against such behavior, cautioning His followers to count the cost before starting a new project, lest they be the ridicule of those who see their failure.
Remember, be careful what you promise. You only have 24 hours each day. Promising only what you have time to deliver will redeem the time.
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"Our family used to enjoy going to a local cafeteria, until we noticed it seemed their portions kept getting smaller and smaller. Finally we decided the servings were just too measly for the price they were charging and we never went back. Others must have noticed too, because they soon went bankrupt.
Nobody likes getting something measly. Measly things are unappealing. You can’t get excited about them. They are boring and unsatisfying.
Yet, most Christians give their time to the pursuit of measly goals. Measly goals are pursuits that will bear no significance at the end of your life or throughout eternity.
Jesus said He had come to offer life, and that more abundantly. An abundant life is the opposite of a measly life. The building where the measly cafeteria once stood is now occupied by a thriving, all you can eat buffet. In eternity, earth’s measly things will also be replaced with abundant fruit from the labor of those who redeemed the time.
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"We all know how leap year works. But did you know there is a leap second?
Our current time system differs from solar time about 15 seconds every century. To correct that differential, the International Telecommunication Union, which is the world timekeeping authority, has on 24 occasions added another second in the year to keep things in sync.
However, at their 2012 meeting in Geneva, the ITU proposed eliminating the leap second saying the confusion it caused just wasn’t worth it since the high tech atomic clocks of our day had to be manually reset to accommodate the extra second. They noted this is a costly practice which boosts the risk of human error.
Just imagine how much time, energy, and money has been devoted to calculating that one leap second, just because someone was so focused on getting everything “in sync” with the sun. Then consider that as a picture of the Christian who strives for perfection to get his schedule in sync with God’s will so he’ll redeem the time.
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"Some things can be similar and have similar names, but differ greatly in their size and impact. For example, both lightning and lightning bugs are sources of illumination, but one gives a lot more powerful light than the other.
Jesus said Christians are the light of the world. That means everyone who is a true believer is giving off some spiritual light to those around them. But the intensity of that light can vary greatly from one believer to the next. That’s because we generate light by spending time differently than our nonbelieving friends.
If the only difference they see between our schedule and theirs is a sporadic hour here and there for Sunday morning church, they may see some light, but it won’t exactly resemble a bolt of lightning. It might appear more like a lightning bug.
What level of spiritual light are you producing for those in your sphere of influence? If they really can’t see much difference, throw out a few lightning bolts today by redeeming the time.
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