From “The Word For You Today” by Bruce Christian

TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR TIME (3)

Time is like money; it must be budgeted.  That means determining the difference between the fixed – what you must do – and the discretionary – what you would like to do.  What caused Jesus to be such an organized person?  (1)  He understood His mission.  During His final walk to Jerusalem where He would be crucified, His ears picked up the voice of a blind man and He stopped, much to the consternation of His friends.  They were irritated that Jesus did not appreciate that Jerusalem was still six or seven hours away and they would like to get there to achieve their purpose, the celebration of the Passover (See Lk 18:35-42).  From where they were standing, it appeared that Jesus was misusing His time.  But from where Jesus was standing, the time was well spent for it fitted the criteria of His mission.  (2)  He understood His limits.  He knew what we so often forget: that time must be properly budgeted for gathering inner strength and resolve in order to compensate for one’s weaknesses when spiritual warfare begins.  Knowing His limits, such private moments were a fixed item on Jesus’ time budget.  And it was hard for even those closest to Him to fully appreciate this.  (3)  He had His eye on the future.  Jesus spent the lion’s share of His time training twelve men.  He said, “I will build my church” (Mt 16:18 NKJV).  How did He plan to build it?  Through others.  So, the way to maximize your time – is to keep your life’s purpose before you at all times and evaluate each decision in the light of it.

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From “The Word For You Today” by Bruce Christian

TAKE CONTROL OF YOU TIME (2)

Gordon MacDonald gives us some of the traits of a disorganized life.  See if you recognize any: “(1) Appointments/messages/deadlines missed.  I know I’m disorganized when there are a series of forgotten appointments, telephone messages to which I have failed to respond, and deadlines which I have begun to miss.  The day becomes filled with broken commitments and lame excuses.  (2) Unproductive tasks.  If I am disorganized I tend to invest my energies in unproductive tasks…There is a tendency to daydreaming, and avoidance of decisions that have to be made, and procrastination.  (3) Lack of intimacy with God.  Disorganized Christians rarely enjoy intimacy with God.  No one has to tell them that time must be set aside for the purpose of Bible study and reflection, for intercession, for worship.  They know all of that.  They simply are not doing it.  They excuse themselves, saying there is no time.  But they know it is more a matter of organization and personal will than anything else.  (4)  Shallow personal relationships. Days pass without a significant  conversation with my son or daughter.  My wife and I will be in contact but our conversations may be shallow.  I may become irritable, resenting any attempt on her part to call attention to things I have left undone or people I appear to have let down.  (5)  Lack of self-esteem.  When we our disorganized in our control of time we just don’t like ourselves, our jobs, or much else about our worlds.  And it is difficult to break the destructive pattern that settles in.  This terrible habit pattern of disorganization must be broken, or our private worlds will quickly fall into total disorder.