Listening to the Holy Spirit:
Who do you say that I am? I call you as Father; I give you understanding and guidance as Spirit, and freedom from sin that you would receive that Spirit. This is great truth beyond the comprehension of those without My voice. Do you hear My voice within? The demand of life is great, a weight unbearable even for the rich of this world. It has been given by man that the wealth of man makes all woes diminish, and that those with more treasure have great lives of peace and comfort. Look to your tabloids – is it so? Man without the Spirit finds no lasting happiness. His own voice haunts deeply his soul, knowing the emptiness, but having no wisdom to fill. These go the way of most men – empty with pockets full; not so My children called by Name. You are not the unwise, for My Spirit speaks loudly in the still silence of prayer. I call that you might have life, abundant not as the world offers, but far greater blessings untold with price no gold can buy. I am your Creator. I know the greater plan for you. Come follow Me that you might find My wealth, never lost, without diminishing. The time is short for all men. Come.
Luke 12:15 (ESV) – And Jesus said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
Ps 39:4 (NLT) – “LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered— how fleeting my life is.
1Cor 10:23a (NIV) – “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial.
Taking It to Work:
One of my greatest disappointments as an adult, is realizing everything is work. As a kid, especially in our very affluent culture, you want this, you want that, you want all the stuff money can buy, and all you imagine is all the fun its going to be. So, as you begin to have the means, you start accumulating things.
Well, it doesn’t take long to realize, “Wow, I’ve got to keep up with all this stuff!” Depending on what it is, we have to store it, clean it, organize it among our other stuff, do maintenance on it. Some of those things need to be insured and protected; some washed and waxed, fed and groomed, painted and sealed. We could go on and on! Top it off, when we don’t want them anymore, we have to sell or dispose of them. All this takes our two most precious resources: time and money.
Now, as you learn in business, where time is money, is that time spent in one place, is time not spent somewhere else. So, not only did you spend the time, but something else got robbed of that time.
Now in the business world, there is a high awareness of that fact, and good businesses are careful not to bog down themselves or their employees with too much extraneous stuff. They want to run lean, maximizing profit and productivity.
Now, let’s apply that workplace principle to our personal life. If we want to be protective of our time, so that our personal lives will be healthy, we need to remember, that every toy, every video game, every rental house; the travel trailer and the boat, even the new puppy, is going to have a “time cost”, and if were are already not connecting with our kids, date night is already a rarity, or we’re already working too much to pay for the stuff we already have, we can wake up one morning and realize our stuff owns us, and not the other way around.
Paul said we are free to do many things, but not everything is beneficial. Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should. Your time is a great gift, to you and those you love. Maybe your next big purchase for the family should be a FOR SALE sign, it may free up something much more valuable, as His Word works in you, today.
