Maximize your Moments

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Be very careful, then, how you live–not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. (Ephesians 5:15-16)

For the next seven weeks we will be unpacking what it means to live a joy-filled life. I will reveal one secret at a time that I have found helps in the journey of joy. Please let me know your secrets for living a joy-filled life. I would love to hear them.

The first secret I would like to reveal for a joy-filled life is that we must learn how to maximize our moments. Jim Elliott once said, “Wherever you are be all there.” We live in a world where our attention is constantly divided. Our minds are racing with a thousand things to get done. Often we will be thinking about the next moment before we finish the moment we are in.

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The Earth is Mine

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Then God said, “Let us make man in our own image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” (Genesis 1:26)

Yes, I’m sure you have heard this verse before and many times at that.  But maybe it’s time to go back to the beginning.  The place where there was no sin.  A place where only God and man existed.  A place where man was able to enjoy sweet fellowship with God and not have any interruptions.  A place where there were no excuses, no cell phones, no business meetings, no traffic, no illness, no financial strain, no loss of jobs, no house payment due, no one to distract you from simply remembering that the Creator made you in His image.

WOW!  That very thought amazes me!  God did not have to make us in His image.  His image is so beautiful and so indescribable.  Why would He create me to mirror His image?  There is only one answer to that.  He created me to glorify Him.  Everything He did, He did well!

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Is it Essential

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Everything is permissible for me, but not all things are beneficial. Everything is permissible for me, but I will not be enslaved by anything [and brought under its power, allowing it to control me]. (1 Corinthians 6:12, AMP)

Happy New Year! It always feels so great to start a brand new year. I don’t know about you but I love starting with a clean slate, new goals, and fresh opportunities to see God work. The last few years I have tried to make themes for my years instead of a list of goals. I still have goals every year but I have an overarching theme that I keep my mind on. This year my theme word is Essential and I will be asking myself daily “Is it Essential?” Is what I’m doing essential to my marriage, my boys, my writing, my books, my website, my ministry, my family, and my life in Christ.

It seems so easy to get caught up in the non-essentials of life. My calendar can become so full of things that really don’t matter and don’t impact eternity. This year, I’m going to step back and focus in on what’s essential for my life. Webster’s dictionary defines essential as this, “extremely important and necessary”. Is what I’m doing extremely important and necessary? I need to evaluate that every day as I come in contact with all kinds of things that really aren’t necessary.

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Reflecting Back to Move Forward

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Not that I have already obtained it [this goal of being Christlike] or have already been made perfect, but I actively press on so that I may take hold of that [perfection] for which Christ Jesus took hold of me and made me His own. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have made it my own yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the [heavenly] prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14, AMP)

Another year is coming to a close. I can hardly believe it. Every year I think I will accomplish a little bit more than I actually do. The enemy is good like that. He tries to make you think of everything you didn’t do. He get’s you stuck in yesterday so that you don’t enjoy today and don’t fully live out tomorrow. He’s smart. He knows if he gets us spinning our wheels thinking about the woulda, coulda, and shoulda that our effectiveness for Christ will be lost. The end of the year marks a time of celebration, not a time of condemnation.

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The Secret

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…I have learned the SECRET of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. (Philippians 4:12)

Most Christians can quote Philippians 4:13 with no problem, but few can quote what comes before it.  In fact, I bet few know the circumstances in which Paul wrote it.  Yes, Paul wrote the words… “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13).”  But what does everything include?

Many times we go around saying this verse on a whim without truly appreciating all that it means.  Even non-christians say it.  They too want to believe there is strength in something greater than themselves.  They’ve heard us use it, so now they use it too.  That’s how popular this verse has become.  But there is no power in words or in how many times you say them.  The power comes in the Truth behind the words.  The power comes through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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