Jim Valvano said, “There are 86,400 seconds in a day.
It’s up to you to decide what to do with them.”
How many seconds in a day do you give to your education, your career, your health, and to the people you love? The same amount of time is available to all of us. Everyone is granted twenty-four hours each day. How we choose to use that time is up to us.
During a seminar in Austin, Texas; Gary Keller of Keller Williams Realty grabbed my attention when he said, “If it is not on your calendar, then it is not important to you.”
From that point on, my former wife scheduled our son’s activities on my calendar so I would not miss them. If a client wanted to see me during a time that conflicted with our son’s ball game, I let them know I had another appointment. My son remembers his dad as one of the few fathers who attended every one of his events.
You know the old adage,
“you only get out of something from what you put into it”.
Your success, your health, and your relationships all depend on the time you devote to them. How much time do you devote to your relationship with God?
In Luke 11:34 we read…
“Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness”.
God loves each and every one of us completely and unconditionally. His light (love) is equally available to all. It is entirely up to us; through our free will, we get choose His light or the fleeting light this world has to offer. In order to receive His light, we must be turned towards Him.
Unfortunately, I didn’t schedule God in as much as I should have, other than the obligatory Sunday church service – unless something was going entirely sideways in my life and beyond my control; then I would get up very early and go to daily service. Perhaps there would have been fewer sideways situations in my life if I had given God the first fifteen minutes of every morning or better yet, involved Him in every aspect of my day.
My intent is not that you need to schedule appointments with God, but rather convince you to be engaged with Him throughout the day. Believers come to understand that God did not create us in likeness to His image to be a distant deity. Not only does God want to be involved in every part of our daily life, He would love for us to choose for Him to be there and share it with us. He is a loving God who is waiting to be invited into our lives.
So with all the hustle and bustle of the daily grind,
how do we accomplish that?
Before becoming a true believer, I began the day with the list of things I had to do. And that list would get prioritized. I am embarrassed to admit, I would put dollar($) signs near the things that would be financially productive. For example, I would put a $ sign near “sales calls”. At the time, my heart was set on being a good provider.
God was also scheduled on my calendar just like my son’s events. Sunday church and religious holidays were marked on my calendar and I would check them off and pat myself on the back for attending. But God isn’t interested in being a check ✅ mark or an obligation.
God wants our hearts!
I never thought of it this way before but I think the Holy Spirit helps believers to posture their hearts. He helps you get your priorities straight. What truly matters takes precedence. Once you are saved you learn there is no better way to start the day than to acknowledge God’s presence and thanking Him. I try to start each day when I wake up by thanking God for His love, for favoring me with His graces and blessings, asking Him to forgive me for the times I disappointed Him, and I profess my love, trust and confidence in Him. Yes, I still have my “to do” list but it takes a back seat to God. I am no longer anxious about the things on my list that are beyond my control. I find wisdom in Jesus’ words found in Luke 12:25 … And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
Believers will all agree that once they invited God into their being, an amazing transformation occurs in their life. The Bible calls it being “born again”. I prefer the term “spiritual awakening”.
In Luke 12:49 we read…
“I have come to bring fire on the earth,
and how I wish it were already kindled!”
Theologians vary on the meaning of this verse. I like the interpretation that Jesus is using the word “fire” as a metaphor to mean the Holy Spirit. The only source of light during Jesus’ time was fire. Just as the fire from a candle lights up a room, the fire of the Holy Spirit places His light in our hearts.
When you are turned towards God, when you surrender your will to His will, He fills you with His light. That light is His Holy Spirit. His light replaces the darkness in you. You become a new being, your essence is filled with His Holy Spirit.
But don’t get too complacent!
Once we become believers, the threat of darkness is always lurking and looking for a way to separate us from God. How many Rabbis, ministers, priests, and clergy have fallen backwards into the darkness? If it can happen to men of the cloth, it can happen to any believer.
In Warner W. Wiersbe’s book “Be Wise” he discusses how to discern between Man’s knowledge and God’s knowledge. He provides questions as a litmus test to our Decisions and Actions.
- Do my decisions and actions lead me to freedom or slavery?
- Will my decisions or actions be a stumbling block or a stepping stone for me and others?
- Will my decisions and actions result in building me and others up or down?
- Will my decisions and actions be for the sole purpose to please me or will they please God?
- Do my decisions and actions keep me turned toward God and will they help others to be turned toward Him or away from Him?
Our actions are usually the result of decisions we make. Do we make decisions based on the perspective of this physical world or the perspective of God’s kingdom? I believe the best question to sum up all 5 of Wiersbe’s questions is: Are we making decisions “with God or without God”. I covered this in a previous post With-me-Without-me. If we are turned towards Him and filled with His light, then we enjoy the discernment of His Holy Spirit. And when we are filled with His Holy Spirit, that is a huge stiff arm to the demons in the darkness.
It’s ok to make a list and prioritize our day, but we don’t want to reduce God to a “to do” item on our list. Ask His Holy Spirit to help you make your list, prioritize it and give you the discernment on how to accomplish your day’s tasks. Invite Him to walk with you through your day. God is a gentleman. He will never force Himself upon you and He will never turn down the invitation of genuine heart.
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