Iron Sharpens Iron, Men Strengthen Men

I heard one of my favorite Pastors, Andy Stanley, recently speak about a topic that I think is so very relevant right now because of where we are in the world with all of its chaos and unpredictability. As Christians, many of us can honestly see the worlds events unfolding just as the Bible says they would…all right in front of our eyes and yet at the very same time, we same Christians are living on this earth as if we are going to live forever?

We live, play, and conduct ourselves as if our tomorrow is something guaranteed to us…NEWS FLASH…it isn’t.

You see as Pastor Stanley said, if we could totally see God as He is, everlasting to everlasting, we would give Him the reverence that He is due because as humans, we are only just a blip on the screen of eternity. In fact, I don’t even think we are a blip or a speck on His eternal timeline. If you really think about it, what is 70 or 80 years to a God who is truly eternal or time less?

Here are a couple of points to consider:

• If you and I could see God as He truly is we would be much more careful with the time that we have here on this earth.

• If you and I could see God as He truly is we would probably rethink what we do with our limited time here on this earth and how we choose to spend it.

Think about that for a second…Do you consciously think about how you will spend your time?

Because from my vantage point, it looks like many of us are just living as if the rest of our life is guaranteed and locked in permanent. We even spend our time with our children as if they’re going to be here forever. Whether that means we ignore them or we tolerate them, they too will be gone before we know it.

Moses said in Psalm 90:12

Teach us to number our days so that we may gain wisdom from you.

When we number our days and gain that wisdom from God, we carefully allocate what we choose to spend our time on each day. In other words, we pay attention to what we do and where we focus our efforts on. Simply put, this life is preparation for the next and our task here on this earth is to accomplish what GOD wants us to accomplish and NOT what WE think we should. As Christians, remembering our time is limited on earth should give us better insight into how we should not waste it.

Please trust me when I say this, wasting time is not what God would have us do while we are here on earth.

One more thing to consider:

Pastor Stanley made the point that because my time is limited means I need to limit what I do. In other words, don’t throw yourself into every single thing you are asked to participate in as well as for your kids.

You know exactly what I mean…

Busy is good…crazy busy, stressful busy, that is not careful allocation of the time we have here on earth. Something to think about…

Guys, when I heard this message it hit me between the eyes and spiritually speaking, I hope it does for you too…

Until next time guys…