One Week at a Time
How many hours do spend each week getting ready for and then traveling to your job, working, and getting home? 40? Probably more. Most of the guys I talk with spend 50 to 70 hours per week in things related to their job. Some guys aren’t working. Maybe you’re in this group. If so, think about how many hours you spend looking for employment, getting ready for interviews, revising your resume, meeting with prospective employers, driving around town, and, and, and . . . .
What about sleep? How many hours do you spend in bed each week? Again, most guys I talk with say they get about 7 hours of sleep a night – that’s 49 hours a week.
Do you watch television? How many hours?
Add up those three groups and see what your total comes to. That’s YOUR number. Now, take your number and subtract it from 168. The number you get is the number of hours you have to do everything else in your life: spend time with your wife and children, eat supper, be involved in church services (Sunday am, Wednesday pm, care group, Celebrate Recovery, Guys get-togethers, . . . ), work on your list of honey-do’s (work on the house and in the yard, repair the kids’ toys, maintain the cars, . . . ), serve others, study, pray, sports / entertainment, and the list keeps going on because we all have those “other things” that we do or are involved in. List out those other things so you can see just how thin you may be spread.
Feeling overwhelmed? Maybe so – maybe not. The important thing here is to realize that you have only 168 hours every week to do whatever it is you need to do. The next question, though, is: how many weeks do you have left?
The Dash
“ 48 What man can live and not see death, or save himself from the power of the grave?” Psalm 89:48 (NIV)
Scripture is clear: we will die. We just don’t know when. We’ll each get a headstone with our name on it and two dates separated by a dash. The first date announces our birth, the second declares our death, and everything we did in life – our triumphs and defeats, our successes and our failures, our joys, disappointments, our sins, our services, every moment we drew breath, every beat of our heart – is represented by that dash: a non-descript, short, little thin line connecting our start and finish.
“ 12 Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12 (NIV)
“ 14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field;” Psalm 103:14-15
“ 5 You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath.” Psalm 39:5 (NIV)
You have time. The question is: how much?
About Tomorrow
Most of us make plans for tomorrow or next week, the upcoming weekend, our vacation days, or what our children will do during their summer break. However, scripture says,
“13Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." 16As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 17Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.” James 4:13-17 (NIV)
Most of us (all of us?) have a list tucked away in our head somewhere of the things we ought to be doing but aren’t. Take a few minutes and write out two lists: what you’re doing versus what you desire to be doing. We need to work on our lists . . . today. So do what you can. Don’t try to do it all right now or else you’ll find out what it’s like when a dog that’s running suddenly gets to the end of his chain. It’s quite painful (I suspect).
IS COMMITMENT A FOUR-LETTER WORD?
Some people say men are afraid of commitment. Nope. Not at all. In fact, most men actually look for commitment – they expect it. Think about it: when guys buy tools, they look for a warranty (a commitment from the company that what they’re buying is solid, dependable); when guys buy something, they want a guarantee that they’ll like it (another commitment from the company that it will do what they say it’ll do); guys want faithfulness from their spouses and dependability from their bosses (getting paid for what they work). If you’re a teacher or coach, you expect commitment from your students or members of your team. If you’re a Christian, don’t you expect Christ to fulfill His promise of your salvation when you die? Of course you do. You expect it because you believe Christ to be trustworthy.
As guys, we want other people – and God – to keep their promises to us. Well, let’s turn it around: are we keeping the promises we’ve made? If you’re married, you made a whole slew of promises to your wife even before you married her (the marriage is really her agreement to accept your promises). If you’re a dad (even if the kids aren’t sleeping in your house at night), you have commitments to your children. Do you have a job? Belong to a group or organization? Involved in a church? Do you have any friends? What are you doing to fulfill your commitments to them? One way to answer these questions is to see how many of your 168 hours you are giving to each of them.
YOUR CALL
15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve . . . . But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." Joshua 24:15 (NIV)
You have a choice to make. Whom will you serve? Work? Sports? Entertainment? Family? Career?
God? Know that by your choice, you will be setting the example for your sons and daughters to follow.
Nathan Hale, American soldier and Revolutionary officer, was caught spying on the British and was hanged for it. His famous quote, ”I only regret I have but one life to give for my country,” indicates his commitment to his new country.
Now make Hale’s quote your own: I regret that I have but one life to … how would you fill in the blank?
………share with my wife?
………love and teach my children?
………enjoy my family?
………serve God?
………reach the lost?
Go back to your 168 hours. Do you need to make some changes? You can’t do it all at once. See where you can begin. Start small –
|
commit to it – and be willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that your dash isn’t wasted. Think about how you could change the way you use your 168 hours. What could you do so that you could be available to help someone else? By changing how you spend your time, you may find that you handle your money differently and that you could help others who are in need and support ministries that reach people you’ll never meet. By re-arranging your 168 hours, you might (should) get more time to study God’s Word and hide it in your heart so that you will have an answer for someone who needs encouragement or direction or counsel – or wants to know how they can be saved.
We’re Guys. Guys help each other. Let me (us) know what you need. Unfortunately, I can’t give you any of my 168 hours, but I’d be more than willing to share them with you if it will help you do more of what you ought to be doing.
Troy