It seems so ironic that in today’s world where we have a multitude of ways to save time in our lives, in reality, we are always feeling that we don’t have enough time to do the things we really want to or the things we feel we really need to do. We look with longing at generations 150 years ago and call it the ideal lifestyle. To us it seems that those who lived the “Little House on the Prairie” lifestyle had less stress and lived a more enjoyable life. I know for myself, one of my continual priorities is to simplify my life more and more so that I can have the time to do the things that I really want and need to do.
Why is it so hard for us to prioritize our time? Why is it so hard for us to grasp what really matters and embrace a lifestyle that will allow us to accomplish those things?
I believe that one big reason that we continually fail to prioritize our lives around things that really matter is that we fail to remember what the end of life is really all about. We are so consumed with the here and now that we continually forget that what we are living for has not yet appeared. Our society encourages us to live for the here and now while reality tries to get us to remember that this life is only a preparation time for what really matters--the second after we die.
The word “hell” is seen more as a curse word now than a word we hear in church. To actually speak in Biblical terms about a place called hell is not only frowned upon but brings an automatic stigma of someone who is unloving and intolerant.
That is one reason that we have problem prioritizing. We fail to remember in daily life that everything I do today will ultimately have consequences not only in my eternal future, but in the eternal futures of each one that I interact with and meet. Forcing myself to remember that one day, my life will be over and what I have accomplished in life for eternity is done and my judgement has come, is a thought that we don’t like to think about. Probably some would think of me as overly morbid, but once in a while when I take the time to evaluate my life, I purposely imagine myself as dead and in a casket. Who would come to my funeral and how would I have affected them? How big of a mark did I leave for God and did I do what He called me to do whether I see many outward results or not?
All of life is just a short preparation for eternity. It’s just a little blip on the big screen of forever. Today I must force myself to remember that some day my time will be up and what I have done will be finished and given account for. I also have to force myself to remember the unpleasant truth that many that I meet in daily life are not prepared to be in heaven for eternity. Like it or not, the Bible says that the majority of those going down the pathway of life are on the “broad way” and will one day fall into an awful place that we don’t like to think or talk about. We like to excuse it away, or make exceptions or hope for the best. That’s why we can’t prioritize. We forget the most important thing about life--that using today to get myself and others ready for eternity is the most important thing I could ever do.
There are lots of tasks that I have to do in a given day that don’t seem to directly point to preparing myself or others for eternity, but remembering that there is a hell to shun and a heaven for all of us to gain, makes me keep my tasks better aligned with how they should be. Some things just don’t matter. Other things have to be done but can be simplified so that I can get on to things matter more. Remember...the devil’s goal today is to throw as many obstacles in your path as possible to get you off track. He doesn’t care if it is time wasting activities or mundane tasks that he can get us to overemphasize. Either way he wins. But today, if I can focus my eyes on eternity and passionately live in light of it, I will prioritize those daily tasks that I must do, more easily.
Today, each person that I meet is headed either for a wonderful eternity with Christ or an awful doom without Him. Help me, God, to thoughtfully arrange my day to be as effective as you want me to be!
I believe that one big reason that we continually fail to prioritize our lives around things that really matter is that we fail to remember what the end of life is really all about. We are so consumed with the here and now that we continually forget that what we are living for has not yet appeared. Our society encourages us to live for the here and now while reality tries to get us to remember that this life is only a preparation time for what really matters--the second after we die.
The word “hell” is seen more as a curse word now than a word we hear in church. To actually speak in Biblical terms about a place called hell is not only frowned upon but brings an automatic stigma of someone who is unloving and intolerant.
That is one reason that we have problem prioritizing. We fail to remember in daily life that everything I do today will ultimately have consequences not only in my eternal future, but in the eternal futures of each one that I interact with and meet. Forcing myself to remember that one day, my life will be over and what I have accomplished in life for eternity is done and my judgement has come, is a thought that we don’t like to think about. Probably some would think of me as overly morbid, but once in a while when I take the time to evaluate my life, I purposely imagine myself as dead and in a casket. Who would come to my funeral and how would I have affected them? How big of a mark did I leave for God and did I do what He called me to do whether I see many outward results or not?
All of life is just a short preparation for eternity. It’s just a little blip on the big screen of forever. Today I must force myself to remember that some day my time will be up and what I have done will be finished and given account for. I also have to force myself to remember the unpleasant truth that many that I meet in daily life are not prepared to be in heaven for eternity. Like it or not, the Bible says that the majority of those going down the pathway of life are on the “broad way” and will one day fall into an awful place that we don’t like to think or talk about. We like to excuse it away, or make exceptions or hope for the best. That’s why we can’t prioritize. We forget the most important thing about life--that using today to get myself and others ready for eternity is the most important thing I could ever do. There are lots of tasks that I have to do in a given day that don’t seem to directly point to preparing myself or others for eternity, but remembering that there is a hell to shun and a heaven for all of us to gain, makes me keep my tasks better aligned with how they should be. Some things just don’t matter. Other things have to be done but can be simplified so that I can get on to things matter more. Remember...the devil’s goal today is to throw as many obstacles in your path as possible to get you off track. He doesn’t care if it is time wasting activities or mundane tasks that he can get us to overemphasize. Either way he wins. But today, if I can focus my eyes on eternity and passionately live in light of it, I will prioritize those daily tasks that I must do, more easily.
Today, each person that I meet is headed either for a wonderful eternity with Christ or an awful doom without Him. Help me, God, to thoughtfully arrange my day to be as effective as you want me to be!
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