datethewordtest

Tag: Priorities

  • Verse to DATE the Word on September 25 (9/25) is Luke 9:25

    “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, 
    and is himself destroyed or lost?” – Luke 9:25
    Weigh carefully your priorities!  BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

    As Jesus lived on the earth, He taught numerous ETERNAL truths!   In teaching He many times would present a question that got straight to the point.  Luke 9:25 is one of those penetrating questions that stop us in our tracks.  Read it again.  “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?”   

    How do you answer this question?  Maybe by rephrasing it.  THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO PROFIT – NO VALUE – in gaining all that the WORLD HAS TO OFFER – being the richest – wisest – most famous – most powerful – most attractive – by being the greatest of all time (GOAT) in a sport, or in anything, AND LOSE MY SOUL for all eternity.  

    With this short devotional, I remind you that Luke 12:20b is in your future where “your soul will be required of you;”  I remind you that Hebrews 9:27 is in your future.  It says, “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.”   I remind you that if you are a believer 1 Corinthians 3:13 will be a part of your future and 2 Corinthians 5:10 is in your future as “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

    This earthly life is not all there is!  Please hear what God’s Word says. This earthly life is not all there is! There is eternal life and one’s eternal life will be lived in only one of two places, heaven or hell.

    Begin with the end in mind, my friends.  A personal decision has to be made to spend eternity in heaven.  You must trust Jesus Christ for your salvation.  There is no other name given under heaven whereby you may be saved.  Have you trusted Jesus for salvation?  If not, what are you waiting on?  

    If you are already a believer you need to Begin With the End in Mind regarding standing one day at the Bema seat.  Make decisions today to live completely for Christ.   

    Toby Mac wrote Lose my Soul in 2007/08.  Here are just a few of the powerful words of that song.
    I don’t wanna gain the whole world, and lose my soul,
    Don’t wanna walk away, and all those people say
    I don’t wanna gain the whole world, and lose my soul,
    Don’t wanna lose, I don’t wanna lose my soul.
    Lord forgive us when we get consumed by the things of this world,
    That fight for our love, and our passion,
    As our eyes are open wide and on You.
    Grant us the privilege of Your world view,
    And may Your kingdom be what wakes us up and lays us down.
    Don’t wanna lose our soul, No, don’t wanna lose my soul.

    Verse to DATE the Word on September 25 (9/25) is Luke 9:25.  It says, “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?”

    “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Jim Elliott

    Continue Strong with the right priorities!   
    And remember to DATE THE WORD!

  • Verse to DATE the Word on June 4 (6/4) is Acts 6:4

    “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.” – Acts 6:4
    ESTABLISHING PRIORITIES

    Acts 6:4 offers several vital lessons regarding the best use of our TIME.  The context of Acts 6:4 finds the disciples being drawn into disputes that, well, distracted them from their main purpose.  While the concerns expressed by the Hellenistic widows were valid (Acts 6:1) the disciples had to decide whether they should handle getting food to them or could this be something delegated.  They had to consider what was their top priority.  They had to determine what they were going to be giving their time to.  In doing so they realized that they needed to give themselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the Word. 

    What are you giving yourself to?  I will tell you that this question is not a one-time question.  It is a question that needs to be asked occasionally.  My management of time calls for me to schedule a time to schedule my time.  In earlier days I attended several seminars on time management and read several books and listened to several lessons from Dr. John C. Maxwell.   One of the earliest lessons stressed the importance of Beginning with the End in Mind.  This helped me to think about WHAT I WAS GIVING MYSELF TO base not on a day or a week or a month or a year or even 5 years but rather on ETERNITY. Because I wanted to be found faithful and hear Jesus say well done my good and faithful servant, I had a filter for how I would use my time.  The usage of my time needed to be for eternal purposes, not temporal purposes.   

    Knowing what my top priority was helped me to decide what to do with the seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years.  I determined that to be found faithful I would need to be growing in my relationship with God.  I was to be seeking Him first!  In order to make Him known I needed to know Him.   For me this meant that first thing in the morning I would find “my chair” and there give worship to Him, get wisdom from Him, and then and only then go to work for Him.   

    In determining my priorities, I understood clearly from Scripture that after the Lord came my relationship with my wife.  Once I said, “I do” and heard the pronouncement “you are husband” I knew I had a new role filled with new responsibilities.  To be found faithful meant being a responsible husband.  A little over two years of marriage brought the blessings of being a father. Having read the roles and responsibilities of a father in the Bible I determined to be found faithful meant fulfilling those responsibilities and decisions were made for both quality and quantity time to be spent with each of our four children.  

    Then came my work.  And work is essential as it helps to fulfill the responsibility of taking care of one’s family and hopefully, the work you are doing is a work for the Lord, that is your work is according to the will of God.  What must be prioritized with work though is how much it demand of us to neglect our relationship with God and our responsibilities with family.  This then is where evaluating our priorities occasionally becomes a necessity.  I can’t tell you how often you do this, but it has to be done more than once a year.   

    So, what are you giving yourself to?   What ADJUSTMENTS need to be made so that first things will be first and the main thing stays the main thing?  I can tell you that you can’t do everything, and God has not called you to do everything.  Like the disciples in Acts 6, you must decide what is the best use of your time!

    Verse to DATE the Word on June 4 (6/4) is Acts 6:4. It says, “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.”

    Continue Strong with Established Priorities,
    And remember to DATE the Word