I am bored and uncertain of what to fill my time with. How can I spend my time today to meet my own needs and desires? These are common questions I ask myself each day. But what if I viewed time as a gift like grace is a gift. Time is something that is not owed to me. Time is a part of almost every conversation...Hey what are you up to tonight...What time is the game...When is the due date for the next major paper. Time is everywhere and it is not going to disappear anytime soon.
Lately I have been asking myself, largely in part to a recent book I read called “Blue Like Jazz” by Donald Miller, how can I use my time for God’s purpose. Or rather how can I use God’s time He has given me to invest in life. I do so many things out of habit. I play video games or watch movies because that is the first thing that comes to mind when I am bored. Almost every time I ask myself the question of what to do next, I have no regard for other people or God...it becomes all about me. How can I make my story a happier one? I was challenged by my father many years ago to “not simply spend time, but to invest in it”. Just like one should spend time investing in a spiritual gift that they have been given; one should also use their time investing in things that matter such as relationships, reading of Scripture, prayer, solitude etc. One of Satan’s tricks is to make us waste our time. All he wants from us is to have our focus on something other than God because he knows that when our focus is on God we are going to like what we see.
As I have thought and wrestled with this idea of investment, I have been challenged to spend a good chunk of my time in the Bible and in prayer. Simple hey? It is what I have been taught since a little child. Read, pray and everything will be ok. HEY EVERYONE THAT SAYING IS BASICALLY TRUE! Spending time in the Bible and prayer are fulfilling! I have found a new love for these things because they do what time wasting events do not do. I have feelings of satisfaction and meaning. But the craziest part is that the more I read the Bible the more the things I just read about come into play that day. Recently I read in Mathew...
“For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you”
The day after I read this verse, I was tempted to make a joke about someone; a joke that would have obviously been selfish because I would have said it for my enjoyment without any regard for the other person’s feelings. But I was reminded through the simple discipline/oppertunity of reading the Word that I needed to hold my tongue and rather speak words that direct one’s gaze to the Lord and away from me.
Basically I want to encourage all of us to invest more of our time in things that matter and less time in things that draw our focus away from our BEAUTIFUL LORD. Only He will satisfy! God wants to share time with us. How incredible is that?
Michael Brandt
Lately I have been asking myself, largely in part to a recent book I read called “Blue Like Jazz” by Donald Miller, how can I use my time for God’s purpose. Or rather how can I use God’s time He has given me to invest in life. I do so many things out of habit. I play video games or watch movies because that is the first thing that comes to mind when I am bored. Almost every time I ask myself the question of what to do next, I have no regard for other people or God...it becomes all about me. How can I make my story a happier one? I was challenged by my father many years ago to “not simply spend time, but to invest in it”. Just like one should spend time investing in a spiritual gift that they have been given; one should also use their time investing in things that matter such as relationships, reading of Scripture, prayer, solitude etc. One of Satan’s tricks is to make us waste our time. All he wants from us is to have our focus on something other than God because he knows that when our focus is on God we are going to like what we see.
As I have thought and wrestled with this idea of investment, I have been challenged to spend a good chunk of my time in the Bible and in prayer. Simple hey? It is what I have been taught since a little child. Read, pray and everything will be ok. HEY EVERYONE THAT SAYING IS BASICALLY TRUE! Spending time in the Bible and prayer are fulfilling! I have found a new love for these things because they do what time wasting events do not do. I have feelings of satisfaction and meaning. But the craziest part is that the more I read the Bible the more the things I just read about come into play that day. Recently I read in Mathew...
“For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you”
The day after I read this verse, I was tempted to make a joke about someone; a joke that would have obviously been selfish because I would have said it for my enjoyment without any regard for the other person’s feelings. But I was reminded through the simple discipline/oppertunity of reading the Word that I needed to hold my tongue and rather speak words that direct one’s gaze to the Lord and away from me.
Basically I want to encourage all of us to invest more of our time in things that matter and less time in things that draw our focus away from our BEAUTIFUL LORD. Only He will satisfy! God wants to share time with us. How incredible is that?
Michael Brandt
