Monday, February 11, 2008

Our Time is Limited!!

Sounds like a heavy topic, doesn't it? Well it is!! Last night at our small group, we were watching Andy Stanley's video on "Take it to the Limit".

He had some great ideas that got me to thinking about my time and about my life in general. It so impacted me that i thought i needed to write some of it out here on my blog today!

He told us things that we of course already know but isn't it odd how we humans have to be told and told and then told again? Our pastor at our church has been doing some GREAT sermons lately and most of them are like that too...Things that we know but just do not STOP and think about.

Andy was saying that our time is limited!! God only has given us one life...one time to be 20...one time to be 30...one time to be 40...one time to be 50...one time to be 60 and so on!! He gave us these hours, minutes, days, weeks, months and years for us to do great things for HIM!! What are we doing?

We do have to realize that there is a limit to our exsistence!! You cannot save any time. He gave an illustration of when we are laying on our death beds and reach under the bed. We pull out a suitcase and in there we have 6 months saved up over the years of our time!! nope!! It does not work like that, does it?

We cannot save time anymore than we can go back and do things over again!! All of our time will be spent doing SOMETHING!! We need to remember that each minute is precious to us. I think that i am understanding that more and more with each new birthday that I am allowed.

He said that SOMEBODY will determine how your time is spent...our jobs, our appointments, our church...anything that has a time on it will determine how we spend it!! Why do we want to overlook God as a source of wisdom for our schedule? How would you answer that question? I thought it was a very good one. I think it is US wanting to be in control of everything all of the time. Like Dr. Phil would say.."how is that working for you?" Not too good!!

The Urgent things always seem to push away the Important things. Those of you that still have little ones at home need to realize NOW that one day you are going to just "wake up" and wonder where those little ones went? How come they are all grown so suddenly? I know that I look back and wonder where all of those years went??? They are gone now...time does not wait for anyone...It is LIMITED!!!

First of all Andy says that we have to Recognize that our days are numbered by GOD! Then we have to Prioritize accordingly...fun!! Thirdly we need to make time alone with God a priority!!

You know and I know that he is right!! Why do we not do what we know is right? Human nature you say...well we can be in control by doing what we know is right FIRST!!

What is the wise thing to do? He says that we need to ask this when we are planning our appointments or scheduling things in our calendars. The world is our biggest problem..I know...culture...things getting in the way...BUSY NESS!!

In Job 14:5....the author says, "Man's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed."

Also in Psalm 90:12...."Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."

When we let God be in control of our lives and our time we will find the peace that He is willing to give to us. We will not feel as frazzled as we often do. Why is this so hard to do? What might be different if our habit was to spend the first few moments of every day with God?

I am trying and I hope that you are too. Remember that our days are Numbered!! God is in Control!!

9 comments:

Linda said...

What a thought provoking post! At my age I recognize my limited time on earth and try to live each day to its fullest.

God is in control and he does listen to our prayers. That is illustrated in my post today.

Carson is home and feeling good, Caramia arrived on Saturday, and Nicole is no longer sick. Life is good!!!

Glad you made it safely home from Illinois in spite of your delays and that your Dad is doing better.

It's good to be home, but I sure miss my grandbabies!!!

Linda said...

Ooops...I hit that publish button too soon.

I wanted to thank you for your prayers and your posting about Carson on your blog. I am overwhelmed for all the support I received for my family.

Glo said...

Our Pastor spoke of the samething yesterday. We also talked of forgiveness. Our time is numbered and we need to forgive people who have hurt us or said bad things to us or about us. And God is in control.

Hope said...

Now that is a lot to think about! Our lives would go so much more smoothly if we just let God take control! Why do we always think WE have to be in control? I should say, Why do I feel that way? You really do realize when you get older just how short life is and look back and wonder where all that time went.

Thanks for sharing that.

Hugs,
Hope

Denise said...

Amen my friend, God is in control.

Talk..to..Grams said...

hi sandy karen got a wii I am typing 1 letter at a time. But i am online! love Grams

Betty said...

What a nice posting for today, Sandy. I know it helped me to read what you had to say. Something I've been knowing for a long time but am having a hard time getting into the habit of spending the first few minutes of every day with God. I let other unimportant things get in the way of me spending quality, personal time with the Lord. I need to work on that and make it a priority.

Melli said...

And thank HIM that He IS!!! I really do like to spend about 30 minutes in the morning with Him, before my feet hit the floor! When I can allow that, my day always seems to go better! A couple of days ago, I woke up and had to fly out of bed and down the steps to address a crisis, and of course, I never got my 30 minutes of MORNING time with Him... the day did not go so well. I did grab about 20 minutes in the late afteroon - that refreshed me some. But SOME days it IS just hard to do. I think God has an appreciation though when He knows that we are TRYING!

Donetta said...

I think I'll go play with the kids :) Thanks