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Morning Inspiration: Part Three - Time is of the Essence



This is the final part of Time is of the Essence series. This week I wanted to give two specific examples of how Christ helped me to become better and not bitter. I chose these two because they could have become one of my biggest time eaters had I allowed it. I realised that time is simply too precious to be taken up in this way.

My first example is having a very short tolerance level to mistreatment of any nature and typically I tend to be passive or aggressive in response to this. The Holy Spirit prompted me to realise that the people who have mistreated me will not be the last. The problem isn’t the problem - it is my response to the problem. I need to focus on what I can control, which is my response. This involved a lot of soul searching and prayer. 

I had a few situations where the desire to help others has become more of a liability to my well-being and wellness. The Holy Spirit prompted me to take stock and I realised it’s not wise to continue and that I needed to pull back from the situation. As the saying goes, you cannot help someone, if they are not willing. In the words of Jeanette Rankin, ‘You need to take people as far as they will go and not as far as you would like them to go.’

I would just like to close this series with an idea from North Point Community Church:

‘Time is currency. It's limited and it's valuable. When it comes to your time, invest it. Don't just spend it.’

In a world that is characterised by instant gratification, it is easy to get sucked into this type of culture in all areas of life. A healthy balanced diet can become a quick fix pill that claims to help you lose weight or instead of working for success, we would rather it was given to us in a tried and tested formula. Patience becomes a virtue of character, a willingness to go around the long way and endure the trials and tribulations that come with life. This moulds and shapes us into truly having the character that reflects Christ.

A practical application we can all do, regardless of our faith, is to read, listen, observe and explore life in all its settings to inspire our souls to be a better version of ourselves than we were yesterday. I don’t collect things but I do collect moments of love, peace and joy that come with knowing who I am in the Father. Just to balance this, I don’t think there is anything wrong with downtime such as a TV binge or just pottering around. The question is what is largely dominating your time? Going back to the idea of time - are you just mostly spending it or investing it?

In my experience, spending gives you instant pleasure not necessarily long lasting or meaningful. Whereas investing gives you delayed pleasure not necessarily instant or satisfying in the moment. The outcome of the investment usually comes a lot later because the impact will be life changing rather than just mood changing. As I draw this to a close I can see how following Jesus may seem a less desirable option than all the other forms of self-help because it requires you to get uncomfortable before you can get comfortable. It requires you to be vulnerable before you can be free and most of all He teaches what you need to hear, not what you want to hear.

For example, “learning to suffer well” instead of “how to raise successful kids” doesn’t sell books but it does set up kids for living in a difficult world. The irony in all of this is that our inability to suffer well is probably one of the most common causes of unhappiness whether it be a difficult start to life to being on the receiving end of unpleasantness. God doesn’t excuse people’s foolish behaviour or support this in any shape or form.  But He does teach us how to deal with it when we face it.  Living for Christ doesn’t change your story but it does change the way you see your story and ultimately your ability to see past it.

Trusting in a realm that we cannot see, requires faithfulness and intimacy it only comes when we know WHO we are trusting.  You can’t have intimacy with someone who doesn’t love you or is not full of truth and holiness. (i.e. isn’t faithful or good or honest).  It’s “by faith” that we become a Christian and it’s “by faith” that we grow in Christ too.  Trusting HIM to do the work in our hearts and transform us from the inside out.


With peace and love

KIMI 

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