Making the Most of Each Day

Shortly after the Feast of the Tabernacles this year, I gave a sermon in which I discussed God's reason for creation, God's reason for bringing mankind into existence. And we talked about the fact that that is a God-ordained purpose by which we were created. It's to be children in the family of God for eternity. That's why we're here. And it's to be the focus of our lives.

I also mentioned in that message the importance of not simply letting life happen to us. In other words, we're not to wake up every day and just sort of think, well, I wonder what's going to happen to me today. You know, there are random things sometimes it would seem that happen throughout life and things that affect the course of our day. But we're not to wake up in the morning and just sort of blank slate for the day and I wonder what today will hold. Because God has given us a purpose and each and every day we must determine that it will hold something for us, actually by our own plans and purposes, in response to God.

So again, we're not going to wake up each day as God's people, hopefully without a focus or in a direction. And hopefully we're not wandering through life aimlessly. Again, just sort of whatever happens to us is what's going to affect the direction of our life. Because if we do that, we're going to live in a rather haphazard way. We're going to live in a rather aimless way and in many cases just then simply we will be buffeted about by this world, by the happenings of life. And so today for the sermon I want to zero in a little more specifically on the day-to-day aspect of what our focus ought to be.

Because again, time is valuable. Time is incredibly valuable. It's one of those things you hold up by money, right? You either have time or money, but you rarely have both at the same time.

And like money, time is a valuable commodity that must be budgeted and is something that must be spent wisely. And time is a gift of God. You know, if you woke up this morning, you continued to receive that gift. A gift from God another day that we are to carry on and that we are to walk with a direction and a focus.

And so today's title is, Making the Most of Each Day. Making the Most of Each Day. What do we do with the time that God has given us? Is it something that just simply passes us by? Or is it something that we grab hold of and assign a purpose and a focus to our day? We need to understand the importance of making the most of each day.

Getting real value, significant value out of each and every day. As God's people, life should not simply, again, pass us by. And it should not be an unproductive string of days with no real accomplishment. Okay? Neither should life be kind of this maddening dash of overdrive. You know, going here, going there, darting back and forth to the point, you know, you get home at the end of the day and your head's about to explode.

And yet, what has really happened to value in your life? There's to be balance. There's to be order in the way that we live our lives as God's people. And it's something that is to be a part of really our character. And it takes effort. Because we're seeking to imitate God in this quality. To have value and balance to each and every day. Have you ever found yourself saying any of these terms about your day?

Have you ever found yourself saying, where did the time go? You know, where did the time go? I turned around and the day was gone. The time just flew by. I lost track of time. You know, I can think of times when I've said all of these things at one point or another. You know, on the flip side of the coin, maybe we've said something like, I'm just killing time. I'm just trying to pass the time. Or maybe even I've heard some say, I'm just living on borrowed time.

Living on borrowed time. And so as human beings, our lives was all about time, really. God's given us an allotted amount of time. And the question then becomes, what do we do with that time, which is a gift? We've received it from God. The Bible actually has a lot to say about time. Because you see, really in our lives, in our experience, time is a day linked to another day, linked to another day, right? The sun rises, sun sets, sun rises again, and there's periods of time between those points that it may could almost seem to be repetitive if you fall into just a cycle.

But it is our life that God has given us, and frankly, at the end, what we choose to do with the time we're given will determine the outcome of our lives. So the Bible does talk a lot about time, and specifically it speaks to how we should consider the time we've been given in this life. And it admonishes us, and quite strongly actually, to use it productively, to use it well. Not to be people who just sort of let the time pass, but people who grab hold of the time God has given them and put it to production and use it for a purpose.

Psalm chapter 90 is generally recognized as a Psalm of Moses. I'd like to begin there today.

Psalm chapter 90 is a very old psalm, possibly the only psalm, written by Moses. And this psalm appears actually to be in the context and against the backdrop of Israel's wanderings. Recall, they went right up to the brink of the Promised Land and refused to enter in. Out of a lack of faith, they turned back and God sentenced them to 40 years of wandering in the wilderness until that generation of adults who came out of Egypt who lacked faith and trust in God, they would die off in the wilderness. And their children then would go in and inherit that land. And yet, Psalm 90 is written with that backdrop. And it's interesting because it helps us to recognize there was a purpose for life, even for them, even those people out in the wilderness. Psalm 90, verse 1, says, Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.

It says, Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.

So Moses starts out here, the psalm, by acknowledging the eternal existence of God, that He is a being who always has been and He always will be. And yet, as we now then begin to reflect on our life by comparison, we understand the brevity of our life, but the immense magnitude of God. And yet, our brief life is given to us for a purpose. So it's against the backdrop, then, of this eternity that Moses brings up the concept of our time, our existence.

Verse 3, he says, You turn man to destruction, and you say, Return, O children of men. For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday, when it is passed, and like a watch in the night.

You know, you go to sleep at night, and if somebody's out standing guard, and they have maybe the watch in the middle of the night, I don't know whether that would be midnight to six, let's say. If you're sleeping, that's just, it passes in a blank. And that's what a thousand years are to God.

He says, You carry them away, verse 5, like a flood, they are like a sleep. In the morning, they are like grass, which grows up. Verse 6, In the morning it flourishes, and grows up, and in the evening it is cut down, and it withers. The passage of time and the existence of man's life within that time frame, again, is just a brief moment, especially in light of God.

You go to Solomon's writings, and he called it a vapor. You know, it's essentially our life. You go out on a cold winter morning, you breathe out in the air, and that vapor is just there for an instant, and it evaporates. And really, in comparison to God, that is the scope of our life, and not even that. So how do we use it? And again, what we use it for, that is what has the eternal consequences. Verse 7, it says, For we have been consumed by your anger, and by your wrath we are terrified. You have set our iniquities before you our secret sins in the light of your countenance.

For all our days have passed away in your wrath, we finish our years like a sigh.

It can almost seem depressing. Again, remember the backdrop. Remember the scope and what they're coming, and Moses in this case coming face to face with the reality of the sin of the people and the outcome, at least in the flesh. First, then it says, The days of our lives are seventy years, and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off and we fly away. For who knows the power of your anger? For as the fear of you, so is your wrath. And verse 12 is what I want to focus us in on today. Moses says, So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Moses says, In light of all these things, teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. That wisdom would be the outcome of focusing on each and every day. In other words, he says, Help us to use a limited time we've been given well. Show us how to make the most of each day, to capture each day, and to put it to use to your glory. Because again, day after day after day, you can just simply slip by, maybe in some cases, without our noticing, depending on what our routine is. Certainly, even in cases without our being productive in some manner, to the glory of God. And Moses is just saying, Help us to make the most of each day. Show us how. So we don't just fritter away this time you've given us on frivolous things. We build ourselves to your glory. Verse 13 says, Return, O Lord, how long, and have compassion on your servants, O satisfy us early with your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. It says, Make us glad according to the days in which you have afflicted us, the years in which we have seen evil. Again, this is written in the backdrop of Israel's wilderness wanderings. And there were lessons that they were to be learning, even in the course of those 40 years. Right? It wasn't a matter of, let's just go out in the wilderness and burn off 40 years. Just kill time somehow. All right, what did Clinton Black say? This killing time is killing me. You know, that's not the purpose. That's not the point. God actually had a plan and purpose for Israel and those adults as well. Those were still his covenant people. Those were still people he worked with the entirety of those 40 years. And frankly, their children as well were being brought up for a specific end. They were the ones that were going to inherit the Promised Land. They'd go in then and receive what it was their parents weren't willing to take hold of. Their days had to be numbered. And that's what Moses is saying. You know, in the face of these 40 years, teach us to number our days. You know, how much more for those that God has called out of this world today than is working unto salvation. Verse 16 says, let your work appear to your servants and your glory to their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us and establish the work of our hands for us. Yes, establish the work of our hands. And some things establish and endures for a time.

And you probably, especially if you go back east, driven by some pretty old farms, some pretty old places where you got this plaque, a memorial out front, you know, established 1725. You know, out west here there tend to be a little newer than that, but maybe you get established. I remember on my landscape route in Spokane, there was one I drove by and it was something, I think it was like established 1889 by a particular family. And it was still the same family, generations down now, that were keeping that farm and keeping the, keeping the name and keeping the memory going. But it was work that had been established and it remained, you know, for a fresh stretch of time. Moses says, establish the work of our hands. For us, what we do with our hands day by day, we want God to establish unto eternity so that this hair's breadth by scope compared to God is used well and that the reward and the glory might be to one day be a part of what he has determined, at least going forward, on into eternity. So today, I want to give us three points to consider for making the most of each day because God didn't design us for each day to just sort of slip by without a real purpose, without something really being accomplished. He's called us to be producers in one form or another. Three points to making the most of each day. And we can apply this to work, to our home life, to our relationship with God. But again, setting our life in order is essential day by day. So point number one to making the most of each day is set your priorities in order. Set your priorities in order. For the number of our days, we're to know what's going to happen each and every day, at least what we have purposed as priorities. And hopefully they're what God has purposed as priorities for us. But set your priorities in order. Don't just wake up and let the day happen. Come what may. Start by setting your priorities in order. In this life, there's lots of options for how we can use our time.

There's always places to go and people to see. There's invitations to go do this, or you could schedule, let's go do that. And there's opportunities all around us. As God's people, we need to learn to balance those things. And so we need to sit down and determine what are truly our highest priorities each and every day. Doesn't mean we can't have fun, enjoy life, have a good time with our family and friends, but there needs to be a structure and a priority. Sit down and determine what truly are your highest priorities each day. Write them out on a list.

You know, some of you may say, I've got 25 priorities for this day, and here's my problem, right? Not enough day for all the priority. Write them out on the list. Order them by order of importance. And once you've done that, focus on the top three or four things of the most importance.

Because we can be pretty good at doing three to four things a day and accomplishing something with those, what tends to scramble us up is if we try to do 20 things all at once, right? And in a lot of ways, as Americans, I think that's what our life has become. In some ways, if we allow it, we're running all different directions until at the end of the day we look back and we say, I was busy, but what did I really get done? This way, that way, the other. Line out your priorities, take your top three to four, and make those the focus of your day. Setting our priorities in order will help us to focus our energies on what is most important. Keep the top priorities at the top. That's how Jesus Christ lived his life. We see it all throughout the gospel accounts of what it is he went and he did. As he walked the earth, he lived with a clear understanding of the most important priority in his life. What it was, and maybe it fell from here's the top, and you had sub-priorities to that, but he never lost focus on what was most important day by day.

A reference for you, John 9, verse 4. John 9, verse 4, Jesus said, I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. It's like it is day, and obviously it was a period of time. You know, the light came into the world, and it is day. It is time to preach the gospel and do these things, but he says, I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming when no one can work. And so he understood the urgency of using the time that was available to him and using it well, and he says, you know, there's a time when this time passes and one cannot work, and these things will not be accomplished in the way that they are in the light.

He says, I must do those things. John 4, verse 34, Jesus said, My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to finish his work. So again, he knew why his father sent him and what his purpose was on the earth, and that's what sustained him day by day, doing the will of his father.

He had a fire and a zeal for that, and when he got up in the morning, I don't suppose Jesus Christ ever said, well, I wonder what's going to happen today. You know, he probably had a pretty good idea. He probably knew what he was going to preach about, where he was going to go. He probably had a pretty good idea who would confront him, who would like his teaching, and who wouldn't.

Okay, so he was, if I can use the word, a victim of things that happened in terms of people coming at him. He wasn't a victim in terms of out of control, but he was on the receiving end, what people would deal his way, but it wasn't something that buffeted him around, as in just blown about whatever course life would take him. His life had a purpose, and there were consequences to those that didn't like the truth, but he taught it anyway. But Jesus said, my food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to finish his work. So that was his purpose, and brethren, that needs to be our highest priority as well. God, his purpose, his will, what it is he would have us to fulfill in our lives today. Again, it can be so easy to get our life out of balance when it comes to our priorities, and so we need to order them in order of importance. Keep the top priorities at the top.

Put your primary focus on those. Also, it's important to put a time limit on each priority.

We tend to be extremists as human beings, and for me, this is sort of my problem. Here's the top priority, and I'll just get sucked into it, and I won't want to walk away for anything. You got priority 2-3-4. That's really important today, too, but I'm just, you know, I'm stuck on priority one, and when I find the end of the day, that's not very productive either. Sometimes I just need to get up and walk away from priority one, go to priority two and three, come back later or the next day, and it'll just fall in place. But if I spend hours banging my head against the wall for one priority, again, it makes me a pretty unproductive person. So, number one, rate these in importance, and as part of that, give yourself a time limit on your priorities, and when the time is up, move to the next priority. You can never let one priority overwhelm all the other priorities, nor can you let the less important priorities become elevated over the most important ones.

So there has to be an order. There has to be a structure in how we do these things.

So that was step number one. Set your priorities in order. Step number two is get rid of the time wasters that don't add real value to your day. Get rid of the time wasters. I'm not talking people, necessarily. There are things that eat up our time. Don't get rid of the time wasters, or do, that don't add value to your day. All right? And these things can add up rather quickly.

Multiple time tracking studies have shown, brethren, that on average Americans have approximately five hours a day of leisure time. You might say, well, whose life is that?

Five hours, right? So I say, this is average. So understand, there's more with way more leisure time than five hours a day, and there's others with less. If you work a demanding job, if you have young children in the home, it's a good idea to assume that you probably have less than five hours of leisure time a day. But let's work with the average here today. The average American, five hours of leisure time spread throughout, not just in one block, but throughout the entire course of the day. Multiple studies have found that if you have a problem accomplishing everything that's set before you to accomplish, we're talking life's basic needs, not all your wants, but the basic priorities. If you have difficulty accomplishing those priorities, it's likely your mindset, your behavior, and the use of the time that needs adjustment.

We all have 24 hours in a day, and frankly, we all figure some way to fill up the 24 hours, and it can be easy to fill up the 24 hours. But again, we have to consider what are the priorities, how are we using our time? And again, multiple time studies say it's likely your mindset, your behavior, or the use of your time, which may need adjustment if you're needing to reclaim time of your day to put it to something that is more important. We can all busy ourselves with many things, and we can finish the day and say, this was a busy day. But when we look back on it, how much of it was truly productive to a positive use, and how much of it was busy time, but busy time that really didn't accomplish much? The real questions become, what is needful, and what is productive versus what things are time-wasters, frankly, of our time? We need to be able to evaluate those things and address them. If you find your time is always lacking in the day, it's a good idea to take a real look at where your time went. Honestly, the question is, how are we spending it? If you're not sure, if it just, you know, time just flew by, or the time got away from me, and you're not even sure when you look back on the day, what did I get done? Keep a time journal, stop once an hour, just keep a notebook with you, and jot down. What did you do the last hour? How did you spend the time in the last hour? Be brutally honest with assessing its value, and it may be you can actually recover some time out of time that was lost, time that seemed to go to something that did not produce what you hoped it would. The Bible speaks to the importance of this, and it highlights the importance of buying back time from things that really don't matter, because the things that really do matter if we're ignoring them, that's a problem. Okay, so you need to buy back the time, and the Bible talks about this in a very direct way. Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 15.

Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 15, this is the writings of the Apostle Paul.

It always amazes me how many times I come to the prison of pistols. Where was Paul when he wrote Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, under guard, under chain. These were prison epistles, and you think, oh, the guy has all kinds of time on his hands. What in the world is he doing with himself? Writing books, being productive, preaching to God's people, saying, count it all joy, and remember where he's at. He's chained in prison. He's encouraging God's people. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 15, Paul says, See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Are the days evil, brethren? Are they getting more evil? Well, if they are, they need to redeem the time as getting more essential, as well. Redeeming the time because the days are evil. To redeem something means to buy it back.

Right? It means to rescue it from loss. That's what God did when he sent Jesus Christ to die as a sacrifice. He redeemed us from loss through the sacrifice of his Son. He put us into use in his service. And I'm not trying to make a comparison between Jesus Christ and our time, but we need to redeem time back from loss that may be slipping through our fingers. Dead time, and put it in useful service because numbering our days are the things that we do unto life. And time really is life if we use it well. You and I can't redeem yesterday. Yesterday's gone. We did whatever we did with yesterday, but we can redeem the time today, and we can redeem the time tomorrow. Sometimes that takes evaluation, consideration. It means that we walk circumspectly, which is an awareness of what's going on around us and how we ought to use our time. So again, Paul just said, verse 15, See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.

You see, on the flip side of the coin from being too busy, we're not called to fill our lives with dissipation either. Dissipation is essentially something that goes to nothingness. Okay?

Yesterday, we had this pile of sawdust because once you burned up all the firewood in the milllands, you left with this mound of sawdust, and I thought, I just want to get rid of this. And I threw it all in the fire pit and built this mound, and I built a fire over it. I hope it would burn all this sawdust up. And what do you get? You get smoke that comes up. And if you watch smoke, it rises into the air, and then what does it do? It dissipates. Right? It goes to nothing.

And that's what dissipation is. It is something that essentially goes to nothingness. And that's not what we're called to do. We're not called to live lives, if I could use the term, going up in smoke. You know? Busy ourselves. We build a fire. We do all these things, and yet what is produced just kind of goes up in the air and dissipates into nothingness. What did Paul call dissipation? Well, one thing he lined out here is drunkenness. Do not be drunk with wine, and which is dissipation? It's throwing your life into something that doesn't produce. It doesn't produce value. And there's a lot of things in our life that we could chalk up to that category. Drug use is another form of dissipation. Excessive stupor. Solomon talks about that. How about playing video games 20 hours a day? You know? A little bit of entertainment is fun, you know? Why not? But, you know, we got to keep these things in balance. I would say that is something that is dissipation unto your life. Same with the black hole of Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok. Disclaimer here, I made a record two posts on Facebook yesterday, so I'm not claiming to be completely immune from the pulls of these things. But how much of our time do we spend there? And how much does that time take away from what is of true value that could be building towards the things of God? Research shows that on average, again, average. So when I say average, we're not pointing at anybody particular because I like to think that's in the world, right? They're blowing the average, but is that always true? So we just consider these things. But research shows that on average, people spend about two and a half hours a day on various social media platforms. Two and a half hours. So you might say, well, maybe that's not too bad. Time slips by. Twenty minutes here, half an hour there. Has the week ever seemed short to you? Like, if I just had one more productive day of work in the week, I could get more accomplished.

What's seven times 2.5? You know, you add it together, it becomes a completely full day, at least of awake time, of what could be productive time that we spend on social media. And it's not all bad.

Again, I like social media. I'll cruise through Facebook every now and then. We stopped at the rest stop on the way here for four minutes, I think. Right? That's about what time we had. I got two and a half minutes on Facebook. So, you know, you do what you do, but you need to be aware of these things. You need to monitor these things. Because if these things are consuming major blocks of our time and taking us away from more important things, then they are a problem. And you and I live in an information age, and there's information everywhere. And we got to judge what is valuable information and what is not. You know, what are the Kardashians doing today isn't particularly in my book, all that valuable of information. And so we need to assess these things. We need to prioritize these things. Because it's at our fingertips wherever we turn. All we have to do is say, hey Google.

I was waiting to see who didn't turn their phone off.

My mother-in-law was on the webcast. A little device on top of our refrigerator probably just started talking. You know, hey Google, ask a question, get the answer. Alexa, ask the question, get the answer. Information is always there, and we seek after information. But, you know, information, certain types, can actually be the equivalent to empty junk food calories for the mind. You know, there's food you can consume that does nothing for you. It's just empty calories, and there's information as well that we could get sucked in into consuming because inquiring minds want to know. But there's no real value to some of those things. Not in terms of what God would have us to focus our lives on. Our lives, brethren, are about being rightly productive, not just busy. And I'll say that again because I chose those words specifically. Our lives are about being rightly productive, not just busy. And it's easy to confuse the two. You can have a very busy day without being rightly productive. The time will eventually come for all of us when our time is up, and there will come a time where we all will have to stand before God and give an account for how we use the time we were given. That's what the Bible calls stewardship. Have you been a good steward? Steward? He's been pretty good. Have you been a good steward of what God has given you? You know, have we used that time he has given us, that resource, well? So if you're struggling to make the most of each day, get rid of the time wasters that don't add real value to your day. Again, it takes discipline to redeem the time. It takes structure and organization, and it also takes scheduling. And that's my third point, scheduling. Schedule your time appropriately. If you and I are going to make the most of every day, we need to schedule our time.

Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and verse 1, we'll just touch base here quickly. Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verse 1. Some important points that are given to us by a very wise man, and I think he maybe had an idea how quickly time could pass on other things as well. Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and verse 1, Solomon says, to everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.

And he goes on, you know, a time to be born, a time to die, there's a time to plant a garden, right? There's a time to harvest. January 22nd isn't the time to plant a garden, is it, Dale?

It's the time to fix the farm equipment, isn't it? Because you're gearing up for the next season. But there's times and seasons that are the appropriate times to do things. For every time and purpose there is a season under heaven. If you go down to verse 13, pardon me, let me back it up. Verse 11, if you go to verse 11 it says, He, speaking of God, has made everything beautiful in its time. Again, in its time.

You're not going to go out today and go plant your tulip bulbs and expect flowers tomorrow. It's not the time, but God has made everything beautiful in its time. And so we need to recognize that there is a time for every purpose under heaven, but every purpose under heaven does not belong in the same time. Okay? There's a time for every purpose under heaven, but every purpose under heaven doesn't belong in the same time. And so we do need to schedule those things appropriately.

Scheduling is a godly attribute of organization. God is the author of scheduling. And when you think about it, go back to Genesis 1. I'm glad God was a good scheduler. He did not create man before the dry ground emerged from the water. Okay? So there's order, there's purpose, there's time and place for these things. Additionally, God is the one who has set mankind on a weekly schedule, and it's a schedule we need to be sure to pay very close attention to.

God says you're on a schedule, and here it is. Exodus 20, verse 8.

Exodus 20, verse 8. Again, a schedule is actually a very valuable thing.

Exodus 20, verse 8. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. The Sabbath day is one day out of the week, right? Day seven, set apart on what we would call the calendar, and it's marked out every week. We know what day that is. It is scheduled by God for a specific purpose. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work. He says neither you nor your son nor your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, your cattle, your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that's in them, and he rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Why are we here today? You know, there's plenty of things we could be doing today. We find oftentimes many things to fill the time. Why are we here today? Well, because God marked it on the calendar, and he says this is scheduled holy time, and you will appear before me. So that affects why we're here, why we got up in the morning, got dressed, knew where we were going, knew what we were doing, because God put this on the calendar for us. We came in response to his call. God in his wisdom revealed that this weekly schedule is essential, and he put it right in the midst of the fourth commandment. He says you live by it. You get used to the cycle. You get used to the routine. Six days you will work, day seven you will rest. And again, like I said, if you ever think that you could have actually used another day during the week to do something, go back and look at what's eating your time up. Don't think that you are losing out by running over into the Sabbath as a day of rest. The fact is, God's given this day to cease from what are less productive things truly in his sight and to focus on what is holy to him. The Sabbath day affects all the other days of the week, doesn't it? At least I know it does for me. It's always on the horizon. It's always there. Sabbath schedule affects Friday oftentimes. Maybe you're going to do clothes in advance. Maybe Friday's a preparation day. You got the clothes cleaned for church. You ironed the clothes. You fixed maybe a little extra food to lighten the work. You clean the house in preparation to have a nice environment on the Sabbath day. So simply having this day scheduled back up affects Friday. For me, having this day scheduled affects Wednesday. Because you know what? If I haven't started on my sermon or at least have an idea of where I'm going by Wednesday, Wednesday's a big day. It's like, get in gear, Paul. This is the day to determine what the sermon is going to be and get to work.

So, you know, the Sabbath, just this one day on the calendar, affects for me the rest of the week.

Imagine the benefit of having schedule built into our day each and every day. The value and the direction and the purpose that it can point us to. Seventh day is an excellent example of how the schedule adds structure to our week. And we can have structure to our day through scheduling as well. If you have trouble with your day slipping by without accomplishing much or maybe your day was full of activity, just bursting at the seams but you still didn't accomplish much of anything, it's maybe a good idea to sit down and to build a schedule and organize your day into designated blocks of purposeful time. And then stick to it. Because again, you have priorities, but when are you going to do the priorities? Getting up at two in the afternoon and saying, what are my priorities today really isn't a very good schedule. So we need to build these things in and they will be a benefit.

I've personally never found that waking up without a schedule is a very good strategy for my day.

I've never found getting up at noon to try to determine what I want to do before it gets dark at 4 30 is a very good strategy to my day either. I've never found staying in my pajamas until 1 pm because I work in my office is a good strategy. You know, there's certain routines we need to be on and we need to set up structure in our day and if we do, what we will find is it'll help us along in a productive way. Even though I work at home and my office is at home, guess what? I still set an alarm every day and that alarm with very very few exceptions still goes off at the same time depending no matter how late I stayed up the night before. That alarm still goes off at the same time. The workday still starts at the same time. I still comb my hair. I still shave. I still change out of my pajamas and I still dress as a member of Mr. Armstrong would say, dress for success.

I still dress up for the office at home. Why? Well, because it creates a mindset and a perspective and there's generally an attitude of mind that can go along if we're in our pajamas until 2 pm.

We need to get the day moving and accomplish. I understand that there are at times health issues, there are circumstances, so I'm not addressing specific circumstances that perhaps don't allow people to be up and productive in the way they would like to. At times the flesh is weak even if the spirit is willing, but for those God has given strength to to make something of our day, we need to do so. We need to be motivated and we need to make each day count because each day is counting towards His Kingdom. On calendar.com, Abby Miller wrote an article titled, 25 Benefits of Creating a Schedule for Your Tasks. I'm not going to go through all 25. I'll give you one, but I thought it was rather instructive just to kind of look through some of these listings of the benefits of scheduling. But under point number three, she says, a schedule preserves your most valuable resource time. And she goes on to say, quote, time, it is without a doubt your most valuable resource. After all, once it's gone, it can never come back. When you have a consistent schedule, you won't be able to add more hours to your day magically. She says you will, however, spend less time making decisions, planning and preparing. It also encourages you to stop wasting time on unproductive activities like getting sucked into social media. In turn, because you are more efficient with your time. And as a result, you'll have ample time for tackling your tasks. You may even have a little extra time to spare on the things that you enjoy doing, end quote.

So, you know, for me, if I get up and say tomorrow, I'd kind of like to do this, but I don't really set a plan, then the day seems to slip by and I really even haven't gotten to it or haven't hardly gotten started. So I got to say, all right, I need to be up by seven because I need to have breakfast, be out and start this project by eight. It's going to take this amount of time and I need to be somewhere in the afternoon. And at least for me, the way I'm going to get to where I need to be in the afternoon with accomplishing the morning is to put this on a structure and a schedule and stick to it.

God is our highest priority, once again, and we need to make the most of the day by involving Him. We need to take time each day, which means we build God into our schedule and He is number one.

You know, David wrote a number of psalms about being up before the dawn to pray, right? And Jesus Christ the same. In fact, there's an example in Mark 1.35. I won't turn there, but it describes Jesus getting out long before daylight to go to a solitary place to pray because, you know, when you're going around grabbing everyone's attention with miracles and doing healings, people are going to be showing up knocking on your door for help, you know, before the dawn. So Christ at times would have to slip out to find a quiet place, and that would be before dark in a solitary environment in order to pray to His Father. Personally, I've noticed the phone starts ringing at nine o'clock. I tell Darla, you know, the world comes alive at nine. If we get to do something, let's get it done before nine because the world comes alive, at least in terms of, you know, people wanting to extend your car warranty and buy your property and still somebody else's personal phone number to call you to get under the radar, it starts at nine. So schedule God early. Don't make God a haphazard event in your life that's easily disrupted and rearranged.

Schedule time for God and defend that time vigorously. It will be the best time you spend.

And again, like money, money is important to all of us, right? It makes the world go around. We all need money. So like money, give God His tithe of your time off the top. And you know what you're going to find if you give God what is His and do to Him? He's going to bless the rest of your tithe or the rest of your time, right? As a principle with tithing, I can't afford to tithe. Okay, well you give God His financial tithe and He's going to stretch the rest of your dollar in a way that's going to be a benefit. Maybe the washing machine didn't break down for another six months, right? So God gives us blessings by tithing to Him. Why not tithe our time right off the top and then receive the blessing and the benefit of that with the rest of our time throughout the day? Give it a try. Take the priorities you settled on in step one. Plug them into your schedule and make them your plan for the day and take each of them one at a time and take time for each one.

For many of us, working a job is a priority, okay? Unless you're retired or unless you have some other arrangement, working a job is a huge chunk of our day and it's a priority. We need to make a living and that is biblical. Our spouses are a priority. Our spouse, my spouse, no spouses about it, but our collective spouses, okay, our priorities build time into that relationship. Our children, our priorities build time into that relationship. They're a heritage from the Lord. They need to be clothed, fed, educated, and pointed to God. We need to take time to do those things and they are a priority. Our health also must be a priority, right? Take sufficient time for exercise, proper diet, and sleep. We are the temple of God. We're the reservoir for God's Spirit as he pours that out upon us and we need to be functional and alert, frankly, in order to interact with that Spirit.

As part of the severance of the dissipation of drunkenness, you don't want to dull your senses to the point that God's Spirit is cut off and we want to be on our game in whatever way we can contribute to as well in our health so that we are sharp in the interaction with God's Spirit, God's blessing unto us. If you find you have a lot of free time on your hands, because some people are blowing the average, right? Five hours of leisure time a day and if you say, I've got 30 minutes or an hour and somebody else has 10, okay, that's a blessing. Use it as a blessing. If you have leisure time, if you're retired and you have extra time, use it as a blessing. Plan to use that time well. Again, Moses, they're denied the promised land, right? That generation of Israel that he was leading. 40 years in the wilderness, it wasn't just let's burn the time until the 40 years is up, it's let's be productive, let's learn the lessons God has for us. Suggestions for using our free time constructively include serving those in need. Again, that's a biblical principle. James 1, 27, calls it pure and undefiled religion, that we serve those who are in need, widows, orphans, that we extend ourselves, and if time is a valuable asset that God has blessed you with, use it to the benefit of others. Read educational and inspiring books, books that better you as a person, that build your life into something that is productive for your character and that you can go share with others as well. Learn to play an instrument, and please come play special music.

That is a blessing to those who would receive those things. Engage in stimulating conversation with family and friends on worthwhile topics. Spend quality time with family and friends. Enjoy God's creation. Get out in nature. Grow a garden. Go hiking. Go skiing. Gaze at the stars. Develop a hobby. You know, let's again use the average. If we have five hours a day that would be labeled leisure time outside of job and other requirements, do something productive with that time to your benefit into the glory of God. Number your days. Make each day count. Recognize this is the day that God has given us. We will rejoice and be glad in it, and we will build our character unto his likeness day by day by day. Dale Carnegie mentioned in this quote, he says, today is life. Like, when's life going to happen? I'm waiting for life to happen. Well, that's today. Okay, today is life, he says. The only life you are sure of. He says, make the most of today. Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. I like that phrase. Shake yourself awake, because today is life. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby, he says. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto. Again, I really like the way he says, shake yourself awake. If you're stumbling through life in kind of a stupor, shake yourself awake. Make the most of today. And you know what? He didn't invent that. The Apostle Paul did. Okay, Romans chapter 13.

Romans chapter 13 will conclude here today. Let's not minimize the concept of shaking ourselves awake each and every day and living in God's service. Romans chapter 13 and verse 11, Paul says, and do this knowing the time. He says, do you know what time it is? I'm not talking about the clock, we're talking about the world in which we live. Do we know what time it is? I hope we do. Do this knowing the time. That now it is high time to awake out of sleep. He says, shake yourself awake.

This is the end of the age. God's kingdom is coming. Prepare yourself, be productive, grow and live today. Knowing the time, now it is time to awake out of sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. He says, the night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the day.

Not in revelry, not revelry, revelry, revelry, Stuart. This has been my day. Okay, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness, not in lust, not in strife and envy. He says, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust. He says, know what time it is.

Wake up, assess your life. And you know what? When we're talking about time and productivity, I'll bring this back into the focus of Passover. Examine yourself, not your spouse, not your neighbor. Let each of us examine ourselves and consider what we can do here. As the people of God who know the purpose for which we have been given life, we need to make the most of each and every day. And our lives must not simply be about what happens to us, but rather our lives must be about what we make of each and every day in our service to God. Because, you see, brethren, God has given us an incredible gift. More than one, actually. He's given us His Spirit. He's given us physical life and breath. And if you woke up this morning, He has given you the gift of life and time for another day. Brethren, let us do our part and let us use it well.