FBF: Marking Time

Before I began this blog, I had another blog on a different site for several years.  That blog is now closed, but each Friday, at least for a while, I want to resurrect some of my favorite posts from the previous blog.  These will be my Flashback Friday (FBF) posts.

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Several events of late have cast me into a contemplative mood and led me to evaluate my life and the priorities by which I live.  Psalm 90:12 challenges us: So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. As I thought about that verse, I resolved to make three life adjustments.
First, slow down.  Psalm 46 contains a word unique to the Psalms.  The word selah is a musical notation that means to pause and to reflect.  Three times the word is used in this psalm, as the writer encourages us to stop and reflect on God’s presence (vs 1-3), provision (vs 4-7), and power (vs 8-11).  In today’s rat race, however, we find ourselves too busy to stop and reflect.  We have lost the disciplines of silence and solitude practices by the saints who walked before us, and as a result, our faith is not as deep as was theirs.  I am resolved to building margins of time into my regular schedule that I might reflect on God and what He wants to say to me and work in me.
Second, simplify.  1 Thessalonians 4:11 challenges us “…make it your ambition to lead a quiet life.”  This “quiet life” is not one absent of sounds, but rather absent of strife.  We can accomplish this objective by following the instruction found in the rest of the verse: “to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands…”  How much “noise” do we create in our lives by not minding our business?  These two statements work in tandem to instruct us to stay so busy fulfilling our own responsibilities that we have not time to meddle in others’ affairs.  My grandmother used to say, “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.”  We create more drama in our lives by involving ourselves in things that aren’t ours to own. I am resolved to eliminating the unnecessary from my life and taking care of the responsibilities God has entrusted to me . . . and ONLY those responsibilities.
Third, focus.  In Colossians 3:1-2, Paul challenges us to trade our earthly perspective for a heavenly one.

 

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 
In his essay The Tyranny of the Urgent, Charles Hummel laments that we sacrifice the important on the altar of the urgent.  Life has a way of distracting us from eternity.  Christ followers live with a view to eternity.  Not only is this life not all there is, this life is inferior to what awaits us in eternity.
Unfortunately, sometimes I fall victim to the temptation to focus most on things that have the least (if any) eternal value.  In Philippians 1:10, Paul prays that the believers in Philippi would “approve what is excellent…”  We need to learn the difference between acceptable and excellent; between good ideas and God’s ideas. I am resolved reorder my priorities around God’s eternal values.
I am not sure how many more days I have to number, but I think it is safe to say I am past half way. I have lived more days than I have left.  The question that matters most is “what will I do with the days that remain?”

Living Intentionally

Many years ago a man by the name of Charles Hummel wrote a pamphlet entitled “The Tyranny of the Urgent.”  The main idea of the writing was that all too often we “sacrifice the important on the altar of the urgent.”  Hummel reminds us that we are easily derailed by good things often at the expense of the best things.  

The last several months I have made a commitment to what I call “intentional living.”  I am prayerfully asking God to shape my purpose and priorities and I am beginning to base my decisions on those things that He shows me matter most.  I am sure it is not a minister’s-only malady to get so distracted with so many things that we have little time or energy left for those things most important.  

How many of us live our lives with a clear sense of the specific purpose to which he has called each of us?  Sadly, most people occupy their days dealing with what lies in front of them, spinning plates, putting out fires, and just trying to stay one step ahead of life.  

How would your life be different if you knew God’s purpose for each phase of your life?  Would decisions be different if you considered God’s purpose for your family role?  Would your job take on new meaning if you began to see it as the place God strategically placed you to affect people for Him?

God has divinely ordained your stations in life not by accident but INTENTIONALLY.  How can you then INTENTIONALLY invest yourself by choosing the important over the urgent and the best over the good.  I invite you to come with me as we live our lives ON PURPOSE.

Paul’s prayer for the Philippians, and my prayer for me and for you:

…so that you can approve the things that are superior and can be pure and blameless in the day of Christ… – Philippians 1:10

Tomorrow’s blog:  Help for setting priorities.