Making the Most of Every Moment
JUST STOP FOR ONE MINUTE IN YOUR BUSY-NESS AND READ THESE WORDS:
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:15-16
There are a few things I need to be reminded of at least once a week. One of those things is the value and importance of the “little” moments and my use of time. Healthy people often say – NO. They acknowledge that they are human beings, with human limitations, and thus they MUST make choices with their TIME. Healthy people also realize that life is made of thousands upon thousands of little but very important moments.
Pastor and Author Paul Tripp writes this:
The fact of the matter is that the transforming work of grace is more of a mundane process than it is a series of a few dramatic events. Personal heart-and-life change is always a process. And where does that process take place? It takes place where you and I live everyday. And where do we live? Well, we all have the same address. Our lives don’t careen from big moment to big moment. No, we all live in the utterly mundane… the character of a life is not set in two or three dramatic moments, but in 10,000 little moments.
In Ephesians 5, Paul is arguing that we make the most of every opportunity. This is MORE than a pep talk. This is MORE than a Carpe Diem speech to rally us to write out some elaborate 2017 Resolutions. This is a dose of REALITY. Time is our greatest commodity. Use it wisely Paul says. Use it in light of eternity and for what will matter 150 years from now. Ruthlessly eliminate those things that don’t meet the eternity criteria. Enjoy the moments that you have been entrusted with. Whether your moments remaining in this life are many or few, seize each of them and make the most of them.
YOU (and I) have people (family, co-workers, neighbors, distant relatives) whose lives would literally change if YOU (and I) invested our time into them. What’s keeping you from doing that? Don’t allow the enemy of busy-ness, “striving for more”, and keeping up with a group of people who don’t really care about how cute (or not cute) your new kitchen is – to rob you (or me) of investing our time in the things that are of eternal significance.
The great Doc Brown in one of my all-time favorite movies Back to the Future told Marty McFly – “Your future is whatever you make it – so make it a good one.”
Amidst our challenges, struggles, hardships – let’s all pause and be amazed that God has given us breath (that alone is amazing)!
Be amazed by the moments and environments He puts us in – even the really hard ones. Let’s lean into Him in EACH of those moments – sensing His presence and being His presence to the people surrounding those wonderful moments.
Thankful for what God has YOU doing in the corner of the world He has you in. Press on. Be wise in each moment – even the “little” ones have a huge ripple effect!
God bless,
Ryan Snow
