where did our time go - and how can we redeem it

8/8/2019 Where Did Our Time Go - And How Can We Redeem It

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Dear brothers and sisters and friends, I've been thinking about life - time. How do welose so much of it? Where does it go? How can we get it back? Most often we can't -but we can redeem it, and set patterns that help us to redeem more time in thefuture, not for temporal earthly things, but for eternal. Please check out my notesand get back with me ~ okay? Thanks. ~ your bro/friend and a growing servant/life-

slave of Jesus, SH

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Thoughts and study notes: Have you ever thought about why entertainment is sospiritually harmful? Why is that? Well, for starters, they either act out, laugh about,or give blatant approval to actions and lifestyles that God says are evil and wrong. Inaddition to that, they desensitize us to what is right - actually convincing us torewrite our definitions in our heads to something different from what the Bible says.And, entertainment stirs up and inspires our self-centered wants. For instance, theAmerican dream: to have a large house, nice car(s), the perfect (worldly-minded)

wife, kids that don't require any (or minimal) discipline and care, and a lifestyle thatincludes time alone for just us. Does that catch your attention? If it does, then there'shope for you, because you are likely seeing the problems and cutting spirituallyharmful things from your life. If that doesn't catch your attention, then you need toreally get worried - because there is a good probability that you are drifting furtherfrom God and obedience to Him and His Word than you have realized.

May I give you a few examples? Sports - boosts our pride, inspires our self-centereddesires to be lazy, and even helps us 'get used to' the immorally dressed ladies called'cheerleaders'. ~ There is a bit there that should make us blush and not participate init and anger a holy God. Spiritual hazards? When we are praying for our team to win

(etc), then we are spending our energy on something very self-centered, whilemillions of unbelievers die all around us, and persecuted Christians desperately needour prayers for their protection.

TV - so they portray something to either boosts our lust, boosts our covetousness, orboosts our pride by helping us feel good about how good we really are. They act outall manners of sinful lifestyles in ways that make sin look fun, and righteousness lookuninteresting. ~ Spiritual hazards? How often do we think about how it's not when wefeel the best about who we are that are our most holy moments, but it's when we seehow Holy, Holy, Holy He is, and how we must keep growing into His likeness, even tothe point of hating things, activities and attitudes - in our lives (and around us) that

He says He hates, or that He tells us to flee from.

Movies - basically all of the movies these days - and in the past, package murder 'for agood cause' and call it 'an action movie', and lust and immorality 'for fun' and call it a'romance' movie. My dear brothers and sisters, don't you realize that every time wewatch something and listen to something, we are learning the ways of the ones wewatch? This is evident in the fact that most Americans who call themselves Christians,look just like the world. How did this happen? One step, one show, one movie, on


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song, on game, one choice - at a time. "Do not be deceived: 'Evil company corruptsgood habits.'" (1st Cor. 15:33) It corrupts us, and that's not good. May I also add tothis - how can we abhor what is evil and yet entertain ourselves with it? ~ " ... Abhor[hate] what is evil. Cling to what is good [right, holy, pure]." (Romans 12:9) **"Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of

God, but he who does [practices] evil has not seen God." (3rd John 1:11)

Please hear me on this - when I see others post things like this, the typical response is- 'Oh he just hates entertainment...' ~ I think those who say that miss what some aretrying to say. And if you, my dear brother, sister, or friend, think that - you'vemisunderstood me, and missed what I'm trying to say. I'm not attacking the objects ofyour interest, I'm merely trying to show as many as I can that the objects of theiraffection are very often: 1) what they choose to follow, and 2) are leading you stepby step further from God, and more in love with sin and friendly with the world. It'snot the object that I'm trying to highlight, but how it is affecting and spirituallyharming YOU. I genuinely care about you - yes you who are reading this. And if you

think anything differently, I'm sorry - you will have misunderstood me.

Please, join me, and let's rethink what we do and why? We all seek comfort in thislife. Is that wrong? No. However, if we are finding comfort in a distraction (that helpsus ignore reality and life) than that's a problem and it will show up really clearly oneday - unless we catch it early. If, however, we are everyday including Christ in moreof our activities, plans, thoughts, decisions, then we are indeed growing closers toHim, and in the process becoming more like Him - in His image.

If you are wondering if I have solutions, I do. I'm still learning in this, so it's notcomplete, but here are some starters. 1) First to recognize any spiritual hazard in our

life, we have to grow in spiritual logic - oh, when I do this, such and such will (does)happen and that hurts - oh, I guess I need to stop doing that and ask God to show mewhy this is wrong, or if I'm doing it with the wrong attitude. 2) We need to take actionon getting rid of the problem. If it's part of our lifestyle, then we need to get veryserious about getting rid of it, until it's gone - not just try for a week or two and giveup, as all of us have the tendency to do. It takes discipline to actively become deadto old sinful behaviors, attitudes and activities (and all the wrong enjoyment of sinand it's temporary pleasures) that we train ourselves to like - with the help of ourrebellious nature. And, it takes discipline to become alive to things that are good andright - to relearn how to be faithful, to relearn how to always tell the truth, torelearn how to love those of the opposite gender so much that we do not dare reduce

them to objects of lust. Those take discipline - they take work, and that's whatRomans 6 and 8 describe in more detail. If we are spiritually alive then God will beteaching us to become obedient in those. However, if we are lazy and try to ignoreHis teachings and disciplining, life will get more painful.

How do I (we) know if we are making progress in these areas? Simple - if you and Ihate lying and deceiving more this year, than we did last year, then that showsprogress. If there's no change, then we might want to look at if our commitment to


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Christ is real or fake. Same with lust, same with coveting, same with using God's namecarelessly. Those are the types of wrong things to double-check to see if we aregrowing.

Let's look at another side - Do I spend more time 1) thinking about God's Word, and/or

2) reading God's Word myself than I did last year? If so - there's evidence of growth. Ifnot, the evidence of no growth needs to cause us to do some soul-searching.

With this said, I need to cover another angle on it, as well - our desires. Do we desireto spend more time in God's Word than last year? Do we desire to tell more peopleabout Christ, and to grow in making sure our message is becoming more exactly likeHis than last year? Do we desire to be humble in everything? Patient? Genuinelyloving? - than last year?

These are simple steps for us to assess ourselves. But, there is another key factor forthis to work - quality quiet time. We cannot make sense of life when we are

constantly pumping ourselves with music, books, friends, food, partying orentertainment. We must break the habit of the American culture - we must eithergrow or start incorporating quality quiet time with God, in His Word and presence -into our daily schedules. Let's look at this a little more.

Have you ever seen a speaker ask any size crowd to just be completely quiet for 30sec? It's pretty funny - none of us like to just be quiet and sit there. :) ~ But, wecannot run on the fast-paced 'American dream' hamster-wheel and expect God toinsert Himself somewhere. We have to stop, and get alone with Him, and learn to justbe real - everyday, at least once. This may be a novel idea for some of you. For othersit may not be. But, either way - this is essential!

Well, I have shared a variety of thoughts built on Biblical principles, and I want tobuild on them in the days ahead. I want to wrap up, for now, with a Bible verse thatJesus said is very, very important. And I want you to read it as though it were the firsttime you read it - and really think about it again, and I plan to do the same. And Iwould challenge all of us to really dig into this verse and meditate on it for (at least)the rest of this year - better yet, the rest of our life. May it never become stale to us- better said, may we never let it become stale to us.

...

Ready?

"And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, withall your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. And thesecond, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no othercommandment greater than these." ~ Mark 12:30-31


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For now, take care - with my prayers, your bro/friend and a growing servant/life-slave of Jesus, SH

where did our time go - and how can we redeem it

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