Lose this day loitering, ’twill be the same story
Some good reading from today…
“Go to bed seasonably, and rise early. Redeem your precious time… that not one moment of it may be lost. Be much in secret prayer. Converse less with man, and more with God.” —George Whitefield
“Lord, let me not live to be useless.” —John Wesley
Jon Bloom looks at narcissism in a different way: Beware The Mirror.
“To be specific, the self-sins are self-righteousness, self-pity, self-confidence, self-sufficiency, self-admiration, self-love and a host of others like them. They dwell too deep within us and are too much a part of our natures to come to our attention till the light of God is focused upon them.” —A.W. Tozer
“Confession isn’t a punishment for sin; it’s an isolation of sin so it can be exposed and extracted.” —Max Lucado
“We must learn to tell ourselves the truth on the basis of God’s Word.” —Oswald Chambers
During the cold & flu season, here is a great reason to kiss your sweetie: Kissing helps boost your immune system.
Some great reading from today…
“Time is precious. We are fragile. Life is short. Eternity is long. Should we not then enter on every venture with a vigilance like that of the young Jonathan Edwards when he wrote his fifth resolution: ‘Resolved, Never to lose one moment of time, but to improve it in the most profitable way I possibly can.’” —John Piper
I am so impressed with the love story between Ian and Larissa Murphy. Check out Larissa’s very transparent and vulnerable post Why I Need Him.
A thought-provoking post from Chilly Chilton: Artificial Or Authentic?
Wow! An abortion survivor writers a letter to the doctor who attempted to murder her.
More evidence that so-called global warming is not “settled science.”
Some great reading I found today.
Dr. James Dobson won a big lawsuit against ObamaCare. Read more here.
“People are always saying it’s the other person’s fault, the other one who needs to change. That is why I believe no amount of counseling will have an impact until God’s people resolve something. We all have to make this our sincere, daily prayer: ‘O God, change me.’ We spend far too much time praying, ‘God, change my circumstances; change my coworkers; change my family situation; change the conditions in my life.’ Yet we seldom pray this most important prayer: ‘Change me, Lord. The real trouble isn’t my spouse, my sibling, my friend. I’m the one who stands in need of prayer.’” —David Wilkerson
[VIDEO] Margaret Sanger of Planned Parenthood on film saying women should stop having babies.
[INFOGRAPHIC] How creative people in history used their time.
This is a reprint of an article I wrote for this week’s Cedar Springs Post.
Now that it appears that—let’s cross our fingers—Spring has finally sprung, many people will be throwing open the windows, airing out the house, and cleaning up some things that have accumulated over the long, icy winter. Ah, yes, the annual rites of spring cleaning!
One place that lots of things accumulate is our schedule. Between sports schedules, church activities, music lessons, grocery store trips, making meals, parent-teacher conferences, birthday parties, and so many other things, our schedules are packed chockfull.
In our relationships love is typically spelled “t-i-m-e.” So if you don’t have enough t-i-m-e to express your love, perhaps some spring cleaning is needed.
A few things to remember:
(1) Time is finite. You cannot call a time-out, you cannot bank up some time for another day, you cannot slow down the clock. Once you commit to something, that time is gone forever.
(2) It’s okay to say “No.” A friend of mine recently shared this thought: Whenever you say “Yes” to anything, there is less of you and your time for something else. So make sure your “Yes” is worth the “less.” If the “less” is t-i-m-e with your loved ones, please say a guilt-free “No, thank you.”
(3) Make your “Yes” mean yes. If you do decide to commit to something, then honor your commitment. Jesus said, “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’” (Matthew 5:37). And wise King Solomon warned, “It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it” (Ecclesiastes 5:5).
(4) Time is your servant, not the other way around. Make your time work for you; don’t be a slave to the clock. A good indication that you’re the slave and not the master is that feeling like you are always running late for everything. Cut out some non-essentials like TV time or countless Facebook hours so you can make t-i-m-e for what’s really important.
Happy Spring (time) Cleaning!
These are links to articles and quotes I found interesting today.
What the what? An App To Help You While Out On A Date
“God deserves to be served with all the energy of which we are capable. If the service of God is worth anything, it is worth everything.” —Charles Spurgeon
For you Detroit Tigers fans: When Willie Horton Walked Out On The Tigers
[VIDEO] A cool interaction between a garbage collector and an autistic boy
Interesting: How Millionaires Manage Their Time
Good reminder from Jeff Bonzelaar: satan Serves God
“No great discovery was ever made without a bold guess.” —Isaac Newton
“Chocolate is a perfect food, as wholesome as it is delicious, a beneficent restorer of exhausted power.” —Baron Justus von Liebig (1803-1873), German chemist
[VIDEO] My daughter asks Seth to Swirl: Will You Be My Date?
Do you have any habits? I’ll bet you have more of them that you realize! In fact, most of our day is made up of habitual things: same wakeup time, same morning routine, same route to work of school, same lunch choices, same way of thinking, same way of coping with stress, and so on.
For many families, a new school year begins today. Even if you don’t have school-aged children, the Tuesday following Labor Day is sort of the (un)official start of the fall season. And it’s a good time to take a look at your habits.
“Take your mind out every now and then and dance on it. It is getting all caked up.” —Mark Twain
Good advice! We usually learn things through four stages:
The problem is with both of our unconscious zones. Unless we pull out our habits and look at them every once in awhile, we may never know what’s holding us back.
QUESTION: What new habits are you going to try to make/break this fall?
In listing the sacrifices that the Israelites were to bring to the tabernacle, a repeated phrase kept jumping out at me:
…in addition to the regular burnt offering…
There was one daily offering that was necessary every day, then there were other offerings that were additional.
Here’s the principle:
There are some things that are necessary for me every day: my devotional time, my personal prayer life, time with my wife, time with my kids, and a few other necessaries.
There are some things that are additional for me: a church project, a community event, a committee or club. You get the idea.
There is nothing wrong with the additional UNLESS the additional is crowding out the necessary.
What is necessary for you? What are the additional things you have added?
Always remember: The additional should never take the place of the necessary. If your additional is crowding out your necessary, it’s time to make some changes.
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been extremely busy. In some ways that’s a good thing: ministry is happening, relationships are developing, business is taking place.
But…
…there’s a danger when very busy becomes too busy.
How do I know I’ve crossed the line? I think this quote from Billy Graham sums it up:
“We hurt people by being too busy. Too busy to notice their needs. Too busy to drop that note of comfort or encouragement or assurance of love. Too busy to listen when someone needs to talk. Too busy to care.”
How do you know if you’ve gotten too busy?
Anyone who knows the Ten Commandments has heard the command to take a Sabbath rest. The charge is to take one day a week to recharge. We take a break from our busyness to refresh ourselves. Sounds good, but I really struggle to take a rest.
Throughout the Old Testament, the prophets linked two warnings together: honor the Sabbath and don’t turn to idols. Here’s one example:
Also with uplifted hand I swore to them in the desert that I would not bring them into the land I had given them—a land flowing with milk and honey, most beautiful of all lands—because they rejected My laws and did not follow my decrees and desecrated My Sabbaths. For their hearts were devoted to their idols.
For me, work can become an idol. If I don’t take a Sabbath rest I’m really saying, “I can do it all.” Or maybe even, “If I don’t do it, it won’t get done.” By saying this, I’m making my work more important than my acknowledgment that God is in control.
Here’s what I’m questioning in myself: Do I work all the time because…
I’m asking the Holy Spirit to help me see why I struggle to take a Sabbath rest, and He has been showing me a few areas for improvement. I’ll be making those adjustments so that I can take a day of real rest.
I’d love your help on this one:
Craig T. Owens 