Thursday, 20 February 2014
Don't fall into the trap if pursuing in a way that you shouldn't
As a Christian, it is very important to make sure that your priorities are straight. It is not a bad thing to pursue sports for God's glory, but this must not be done at the expense of more important things such as family or other ministries God has called you to. It can be easy to fall into the trap of justifying an unhealthy pursuit of sports by saying, "well I am doing this for God's glory. I am doing this to further His Kingdom". While there is nothing wrong with this desire, there is something wrong with it if you are placing this pursuit ahead of other priorities which are more important in God's sight. It is important to be seeking God to make sire that your priorities are in line with His and that you are not attempting to justify an improper pursuit of sport.
Wednesday, 19 February 2014
What Ecclesiastes Teaches About Sports (and the importance of time management in the pursuit)
-If I could see His glory I would give Him all of my time and energy and be completely surrendered to Him. I would not seek to live for my own glory, but His alone. I would be so completely surrendered to Him.
- I must recognize that I am so tiny and insignificant, that to live for my own glory would be incredibly ridiculous. I must seek to live for God's glory because His purposes are meaningful and worth being a part of. To live for myself would be meaningless. It would be a waste of a life. Only God's purposes are truly worth living for.
- it is shameful to think that I would be excited to serve a celebrity and do stuff for them. How much more I should do this for God. I know the God of the universe. This just goes to show how foolish I am. I must take God so much more seriously. I must see Him for what He truly is.
I am to live as if my life has a point, and I am not it. My glory has no meaning, God's glory is the definition of meaningful, and He wants me to be a part of it. My glory is too little a thing to live for. I am too small a thing to live for.
Priority determines capacity. When I get my priorities straight it allows life to be more enjoyable. It is not necessarily a case of not getting to do the things I enjoy, it is just making sure that the most important aspects of my life come first. A good visual of this is trying to fit big rocks into a jar if pebbles. The rocks represent the important priorities in life, while the pebbles represent the things that we simply enjoy doing. When the pebbles take priority and go into the jar first, then they take up too much space and you can't fit in all the rocks. If you put the rocks in first however, then when you put the pebbles in they will find space around the rocks and you can then fit both the rocks and the pebbles into the jar. Priority definitely determines capacity. If you prioritize correctly, then you should be able to fit everything into your day/life that you need to.
When you try and rush things in life, in order to fit everything in, then it greatly hurts intimacy. Therefore when it comes to my relationship with God, as well as Brie and my kids, I must never rush. I never want to hurt intimacy in these relationships.
By putting the "God rock" into the jar of my life first, it helps me maintain proper priority in all areas of my life. After all, why wouldn't I do this. God says in Matthew 6:33 that He knows everything that I need and therefore I am to "seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness", and that when I do that He will provide for me everything else that I need. It is amazing that God knows what I need and promises to give it to me when I seek Him first, so of course He must come first in my life.
I believe that this means that I should spend the first minutes of my day with the Lord. It is a way to put Him first and set my day off right. It makes sure that God remains the center if my life in general, and therefore all that will arise in that day.
A good saying from Martin Luther is "Pray and let God worry". God wants to never be anxious about anything.
You will make better decisions if you live realizing that your days are numbered.
Investing small amounts of time on things that matter will have a positive cumulative value. At the same time, neglecting spending time on things that matter also have a negative cumulative value. And no one installment of time really matters. It is cumulative value over time that matters. For instance, spending time with my family once will not have a positive impact on my life. It is spending time with them on a consistent basis that will matter. At the same time, if I consistently neglect spending time with my family that will have a negative effect over time on my relationship with them.
Often times it can be very easy to fill our time with random things. For instance, surfing the internet in a leisurely manner, watching t.v., watching movies, etc.. It is important to realize that when you take these things and add up the time youbsoend on them theubhabe no value. There is no benefit to them. Therefore, it is important that we spend those random amounts of time on things which will have a positive cumulative value when we add them all up.
Ephesians 5:15, 16, 17 teaches these principles. It instructs us on the importance of making the most of every opportunity and using our time strategically.
The book of Ecclesiastes speaks in depth about how meaningless life is apart from God. It talks about how life does not always make sense. An example if this is when someone is faithful to God and bad things still happen. The good news though is that no matter what happens in life, God still wants us to trust Him and be faithful to Him. And He will use all things for His glory. Therefore, with these truths in mind, it makes it increasingly clear how important it is to live surrendered to God following His will for your life. It is important tonseek His will, discovering that which he chooses to reveal to you, and then live to tally surrendered to Him. Everything else in this life is meaningless apart from Him. Everyone lives, works hard, gains stuff and then dies leaving all that stuff to someone else who didn't earn it. Living life surrendered to God is the onlynwaay to find true fulfillment.
- I must recognize that I am so tiny and insignificant, that to live for my own glory would be incredibly ridiculous. I must seek to live for God's glory because His purposes are meaningful and worth being a part of. To live for myself would be meaningless. It would be a waste of a life. Only God's purposes are truly worth living for.
- it is shameful to think that I would be excited to serve a celebrity and do stuff for them. How much more I should do this for God. I know the God of the universe. This just goes to show how foolish I am. I must take God so much more seriously. I must see Him for what He truly is.
I am to live as if my life has a point, and I am not it. My glory has no meaning, God's glory is the definition of meaningful, and He wants me to be a part of it. My glory is too little a thing to live for. I am too small a thing to live for.
Priority determines capacity. When I get my priorities straight it allows life to be more enjoyable. It is not necessarily a case of not getting to do the things I enjoy, it is just making sure that the most important aspects of my life come first. A good visual of this is trying to fit big rocks into a jar if pebbles. The rocks represent the important priorities in life, while the pebbles represent the things that we simply enjoy doing. When the pebbles take priority and go into the jar first, then they take up too much space and you can't fit in all the rocks. If you put the rocks in first however, then when you put the pebbles in they will find space around the rocks and you can then fit both the rocks and the pebbles into the jar. Priority definitely determines capacity. If you prioritize correctly, then you should be able to fit everything into your day/life that you need to.
When you try and rush things in life, in order to fit everything in, then it greatly hurts intimacy. Therefore when it comes to my relationship with God, as well as Brie and my kids, I must never rush. I never want to hurt intimacy in these relationships.
By putting the "God rock" into the jar of my life first, it helps me maintain proper priority in all areas of my life. After all, why wouldn't I do this. God says in Matthew 6:33 that He knows everything that I need and therefore I am to "seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness", and that when I do that He will provide for me everything else that I need. It is amazing that God knows what I need and promises to give it to me when I seek Him first, so of course He must come first in my life.
I believe that this means that I should spend the first minutes of my day with the Lord. It is a way to put Him first and set my day off right. It makes sure that God remains the center if my life in general, and therefore all that will arise in that day.
A good saying from Martin Luther is "Pray and let God worry". God wants to never be anxious about anything.
You will make better decisions if you live realizing that your days are numbered.
Investing small amounts of time on things that matter will have a positive cumulative value. At the same time, neglecting spending time on things that matter also have a negative cumulative value. And no one installment of time really matters. It is cumulative value over time that matters. For instance, spending time with my family once will not have a positive impact on my life. It is spending time with them on a consistent basis that will matter. At the same time, if I consistently neglect spending time with my family that will have a negative effect over time on my relationship with them.
Often times it can be very easy to fill our time with random things. For instance, surfing the internet in a leisurely manner, watching t.v., watching movies, etc.. It is important to realize that when you take these things and add up the time youbsoend on them theubhabe no value. There is no benefit to them. Therefore, it is important that we spend those random amounts of time on things which will have a positive cumulative value when we add them all up.
Ephesians 5:15, 16, 17 teaches these principles. It instructs us on the importance of making the most of every opportunity and using our time strategically.
The book of Ecclesiastes speaks in depth about how meaningless life is apart from God. It talks about how life does not always make sense. An example if this is when someone is faithful to God and bad things still happen. The good news though is that no matter what happens in life, God still wants us to trust Him and be faithful to Him. And He will use all things for His glory. Therefore, with these truths in mind, it makes it increasingly clear how important it is to live surrendered to God following His will for your life. It is important tonseek His will, discovering that which he chooses to reveal to you, and then live to tally surrendered to Him. Everything else in this life is meaningless apart from Him. Everyone lives, works hard, gains stuff and then dies leaving all that stuff to someone else who didn't earn it. Living life surrendered to God is the onlynwaay to find true fulfillment.
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