{"id":948,"date":"2018-10-15T13:38:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-15T13:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/?p=948"},"modified":"2018-10-20T16:55:28","modified_gmt":"2018-10-20T16:55:28","slug":"christian-time-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2018\/10\/christian-time-management.html","title":{"rendered":"Christian Time Management"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"alarm-clock-calendar-close-up-908298<\/a><\/p>\n

Today I found out about a very interesting function on my iPhone. If I go into Settings on my iPhone, and then click on Battery, I am able to see how I have used my phone in the last 24 hours (or the last week).\u00a0 For instance, in the last 24 hours, I used Spotify to listen to music for 3.1 hours (I had it playing while we had friends over for dinner last night).\u00a0 I spent 19 minutes on text messages, and I spent 10 minutes using my phone to read and respond to emails.<\/p>\n

Seeing this accounting of my time on my phone was interesting. It made me think, \u201cWhat would happen if I had that kind of accounting for all my time?\u201d\u00a0 For instance, what if I knew how much time I spend each day serving others?\u00a0 Or, what if I knew how much time I spend on negative thinking (being irritated with someone or worrying about a situation), or how much time I spend on prayer?\u00a0 How would that knowledge change how I operate each day?<\/p>\n

There is no greater reflection of who we are than how we spend our time. I can say that living a life in service to God is important to me.\u00a0 However, that is all talk, if my “time pie chart” shows that I spend 30% of my day gossiping.\u00a0 I am what I do.<\/p>\n

Now, we all fall into \u201ctime traps.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 For instance, worrying is a time trap.\u00a0 We can start out with a simple problem.\u00a0 Then, we mull it over for a while, and eventually we are obsessing about all the things that could go horribly wrong.\u00a0 Before we know it, we\u2019ve blown 30 minutes being upset about something that may or may never happen.<\/p>\n

We certainly can get into time traps with our electronic devices. It is easy to spend a great deal of our limited free time surfing the Internet, reading online news and communicating on social media.\u00a0 However, excessive amounts of time doing any of those things is not what God has called us to do on this earth.<\/p>\n

It is a worthwhile exercise for each of us to take stock of our time, and how we spend it. I will admit that I spend far too much time looking at the online news and listening to news podcasts.\u00a0 It is one thing to stay informed of current events, but I check the news at least every two hours.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 I don\u2019t have any control over the events that I read about, so why do I need to be so \u201cinformed?\u201d\u00a0 I don\u2019t.\u00a0 Reading the news once a day would be more than adequate.<\/p>\n

How would my time be better spent rather than being a news junkie? Well, I could pray a whole lot more, or I could take some quiet time to read my Bible.\u00a0 Or I could use that time to send other people notes of encouragement or thanks.\u00a0 There are a million better things that I could be doing with my time other than reading about current events.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, my “time pie chart\u201d would show that I am a person who prefers to read CNN.com and listen to the Bloomberg Law podcast rather than spend time with God. That is the stark reality of my time choices.\u00a0 My actions speak volumes.<\/p>\n

As Christians, how we spend our time matters. God has given us this beautiful gift called Life.\u00a0 And with that gift, we are given moments to enjoy ourselves, and the time to spend with the people we love.\u00a0 But God also has given us this time, in part, so that we can be a blessing on this earth.\u00a0 And we can\u2019t bless others if we are using large amounts of our time to engage in pointless activities.<\/p>\n

This week, consider your own time pie chart. Are you choosing to spend your time in ways that reflect your values?\u00a0 Or is your time being spent on things that don\u2019t actually matter to you.\u00a0 Stop wasting time.\u00a0 Spend your time wisely so that your life authentically reflects who you really are.<\/p>\n

(Photo Courtesy of Pexels)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today I found out about a very interesting function on my iPhone. 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