“And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.” Colossians 3:17
Live by Schedule. Most people these days don’t have a schedule just let things happen. I believe God is a God of order and wants His children to live in order. The Devil is one for dis-order and confusion. When I first started college, one of my first classes was Orientation which involved leadership, time management, and motivation. One of the first things we learned was making our schedule. I got busy and divided the week and 24 hours on a grid and filled in my activities. Little did I know that schedule became my boss and my best friend during my college days and has helped me since. It helped me get projects, assignments, and complete my work and church activities very effectively and efficiently. I finished assignments quickly and was noted by the instructor and other students how I had time to study for tests during mid semester and for finals and received good grades while others procrastinated and struggled during tests and completing assignments. Others were interested in my grid method and so I helped them complete their schedules. To their hesitancy their time management improved and were also receiving good grades.
Live by Budget. My motto is what the Budget says Bud gets. This is not really sound advice as we have experience over the years. Most people including myself live pay check to paycheck. We have learned to stretch the budget and pinch the pennies, nickels, dimes, and all that very hard to make ends meet. If a person says that he/she is trusting God to meet their needs, then they need to be willing to live that way and being anxious for nothing and to be content whatever state they are in especially in poverty and wealth. We live in a capitalistic society which enables us to have our basic needs met without the frills. We get in debt when we use money we don’t have for frivolous things. We do tithe and try very hard to make this the first thing that honors the Lord in our finances. One should ascertain his/her income versus his/her outgo. When our outgo exceeds our income then we need to re-evaluate our budget. One thing we should strive to do and again I put myself here is to save something as part of our budget. Emergency do arise, special meetings do come, your neighbor may need some financial assistance. Don’t expect God to give you want you asking in finances when you are not being a good steward of what He has given you. Do first things first and He will bless.
Live like it will be your last day. We live in a hustle bustle society. We are living in a microwave mentality. We want things now. We want so much right now. What are we really willing to give up? More than likely the answer is not much There is a great cloud of witnesses in heaven according to Hebrews chapter 12. As a Christian living in today’s society we are being bombarded with a heavily liberal media and microscopic scrutiny from the world. We are not to be like the world but must have the mind set of Christ with unwavering commitment to the Word of God and being willing to share the hope that is within us at any given moment. As a Christian you may be the only Bible that someone is watching! Look up for your redemption draweth nigh.
Written by Doug Hutton
Counted Faithful 