Keep your minds thinking about things in heaven. Do not think about things on the earth. Yep, if you can believe it I am still talking about treasures, our treasures in heaven. Are you familiar with the three T’s? The three T’s are time, treasure, and talent. I’ve been reflecting on how important those are to us in allocating our personal resources in our relationships with God, family, friends, dreams, ideas, jobs and so much more. Whatever we choose to make a priority will utilize all three T's. Time. Louis E. Boone once joked, "I am definitely going to take a course on time management... just as soon as I can work it into my schedule." In our culture today we are running ourselves ragged. We rush from appointment to appointment and all too rarely get to stop and smell the roses. Our life on this earth is finite. As such, each moment is running down the clock on our time here. Everything we do takes up that limited resource. The hour glass of our lives just keeps going. Recognizing that fact is necessary in understanding how best to make choices. Do you want to spend all your time in an office or on a golf course. Heck, I don't golf and yet that's an easy choice. There are things we have to do, but we don't have to give over all of our time to those things. Find balance, find the time for your passions and live it up! Treasure. When we look at Colossians 3, we know how important it is to focus on the treasures in heaven. We can also see how in all of our relationships those treasures will play a part. For example, if the treasure is hope, it will infect everyone around us with a sense of hope, it will affect how we view and do our job, it will direct how we respond to problems and it will determine if we pursue our dreams. Any of the treasures that come from heaven, anything that God has gifted to us will affect our lives considerably. It takes the treasures that we’ve been given in order for us have the right mind and heart to accomplish anything. Although the treasures in heaven are infinite, our ability to use them effectively is not. We are finite humans, we only have so much time and energy to be able to deal with everything in this life. We need to respect what we are able to accomplish, we may have big hearts wanting to love and protect every single person, but there are 7 billion people on this planet, that is gonna be really hard to accomplish. Talent. It will take the talents God has bestowed to truly live the way God wants us to live. Utilizing those talents for the relationships, goals, jobs and whatever else God has brought into our lives is their purpose. I have a knack for words. A friend of mine is always taking notes around me because she thinks gems of thought consistently fall out of my mouth. In reality, I just have the ability to turn a phrase. I chose to apply that talent to writing and sharing my life and thoughts on God with the world. First, figure out your priorities and then see how best your talents can be exercised for those priorities. We do not all have the same talents. Some people are singers, some people are fighters, some people are mechanically inclined, where other people are great thinkers, or teachers or builders or healers and so on and so forth. We each have a myriad of talents, we do not all have the same talents. So when those things come into your life that are great but do not suit your talents, recognize it and don’t put your energy there because that is meant for somebody else. Find the things in your life that God has for you. Ultimately, what we need to do is to seek God’s will in our life. It is through His will that we will find our true passions and talents and see where the Holy Spirit steps into the gaps. God wants to bless our socks off. One way He plans to do that is to show us His will in our life and to walk out that will.
Set your time, treasures and talents on all the wonder that God has for you and you will experience that “abundant and vital life.” Take a moment to think about one of your talents. Maybe at this moment you need to create something with God. Maybe you need to write a book, paint a picture, call a friend. Maybe you need to dance with Him. Wherever your heart is leading you right now, go do that with God.
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🎶And turn your eyes upon Jesus I started noticing a pattern. There are certain words that pop up in most of my messages. I don’t know why, well yes I do...it’s because that is the central message of the Bible. What is that message? Turn to Jesus. Our hope, our joy, our peace all come from Him. Focus on Jesus. Talk to God. The central message of the Bible, the essential purpose of our life is to have a relationship with the Almighty. Considering the fact that it is literally what we are meant to do in this life — it is why we were created — it’s amazing to me how difficult it actually is to live out.
I’m a living, walking, talking testament to that fact. I allow this world to influence me way too often, practically on a moment to moment basis. A 17th century monk named Brother Lawrence wrote about his experience communing with God. For 40 years he washed dishes and talked to God. His goal was to live in constant communication with God. It took time to create the habit of constantly having God at the forefront, making God his everything. Forty years!! He described it as, “a loving turning of his eyes toward God at all times.” That is just beautiful. Some people would say impractical. They need to focus on paying bills and going to work and driving the car, whatever it is that is going on in their lives. But God wants all of us, every moment. I am sitting here on my vacation doing some reading and watching TV...just relaxing, and God wants to be a part of this time. He wants to sit here while I watch TV and hang out with me. He wants to read the book with me. He wants to drive in the car and sing at the top of our lungs to the radio together. He wants to do data entry or talk to customers with me. He wants everything of me. For some selfish reason, I’m sure, I only actually give Him little parts of me, just the quiet moments, just the times I feel like I want to focus on God. How disrespectful can I possibly be? How utterly clueless am I to not see the truth right in front of me? He wants all of me because He loves all of me! One more time Melody: He wants all of me because He loves all of me. I section off pieces of me for my own goals or my own needs for control or to keep distractions around so I don’t have to give up everything. That is not me loving me. He gave up everything for me. Jesus took all of my pain, all of my shame, all of my sins and He bore them so I wouldn’t have to. Why can’t I give Him me? I keep writing these messages about turning to Jesus, focusing on God and finding joy in the Lord because I need that message. Every single day and every single moment I need that message repeated until it finally and truly sinks in and I make Him my all. What do you do to keep Jesus in your heart? How can you bring Him in to all the aspects of your life? Do you talk to Him when you’re cooking? Do you feel the presence of the Holy Spirit when you’re playing games with your family? Do you laugh with God when you see a funny meme on Facebook? How can you make these moments happen? Invite Him into your everyday moments by turning your eyes upon Jesus. |
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