Bearing Fruit    

TIME WASTERS

"Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12  NRSV

The lack of goals, priorities, and plans contributes to a loss of time. There are other time wasters, such as procrastination, excess television and/or computers, wrong priorities, and never saying "no." All of these habits steal time and keep us from pursuing the best God has for us.

What are we doing with our time? We are often less productive than we want to be because we are trapped in the "emergencies" of the moment. Possibly one of our biggest problems with controlling our time is letting the urgent crowd out the important, which has been termed the "tyranny of the urgent." Those things that confront us the most loudly are likely not the most important. ...

Having our goals and priorities in place will help us not to get bogged down in the urgent and less important things. When we fail to prioritize, we are deciding not to make needed decisions as to what is important and what is not. Proverbs 25:28 reads, "Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control." Self-control allows us to stay focused and on track, able to accomplish the important things. Self-discipline helps us keep our priorities straight. If we are too busy to attend church or pray or too preoccupied to read God's Word, we need to take another look at our priorities. The primary consideration in the use of time is to do the will of God and to live in harmony with God's plan for us.

Prayer:    Dear heavenly Father, from your hands I graciously receive all things. Give me wisdom to use the time you've given me wisely. Teach me to seek your guidance in all my choices. In your precious name I pray. Amen.