Redeeming the Time, Part 4

Hearing God’s Voice

Cathy and I recently returned from a vacation with our kids and grandkids. Wow! All day long we were engulfed by their clatter and their chatter, their cries and their sighs. How do parents of young children find any time to hear God speak?

Jesus made quiet time with his Father a priority. After a strenuous day of ministry that lasted into the night, very early the next morning, while it was still dark, he left the house and went to a solitary place to pray. Jesus knew what was coming. He knew that the daily racket of people’s needs could muffle the voice of His Father. So he began his day early, quietly speaking to his Father.

Much of the noise is generated by our fretful minds. . . “I’ve got to get the car in for new tires." "I haven’t done my taxes yet." "I haven’t visited Mom in over a week." "Our water heater is on its last leg." "I’ve got to get a doctor to look at my aching shoulder." "My lawn needs mowing." "I need to get to the gym." "I haven’t started my Book Club book." "The bathroom faucet is leaking." "I’ve got to do something about those ancient curtains in the living room.” As John Ortberg has written: “Hurry is not just a disordered schedule. Hurry is a disordered heart.”

We will never hear God speak until we make time to come into his presence and allow Him to calm and order our own anxious hearts: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything . . . let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4)

How can we find time to be alone with God? As a senior citizen, it isn’t difficult for me to find quiet time in my daily schedule. But if you struggle to find time for God, look carefully at your habit patterns. Could you get up 15 minutes earlier? Could you put off checking your e-mail until you have had some time to read your Bible? Could you use your break time at work for a few minutes of prayer? Could you find one time each week to have a more in-depth time with God? If you want to hear God’s voice you MUST reduce the noise. If the decibels are not turned down, trying to hear God’s voice is like trying to converse with a friend at a very loud rock concert.

Learning to discern God’s voice takes time and diligence. A five minute daily devotional may be the place to start, but you shouldn't end there. How well would you know your mate’s desires if you only spent five minutes a day communicating?! As with a marriage, so it is with God—there must be extended times of quiet interaction to be able to hear His voice. Would you plan to take some extra time this week to be alone with your Father? He is waiting to talk with you.
 

Redeeming Time, Part 3

Focus On Key Relationships

Have you ever tallied the people you regularly rub shoulders with? My partial list includes: my wife, my kids, my grandkids, my neighbors, my students, members of my church, extended family,  business associates, athletic friends, men from a morning Bible study. But that isn’t all. Modern technology allows me to have regular contact with former students & classmates, missionaries in the Ukraine, Turkey and Israel, friends who formerly lived in Sioux Falls, couples I taught at a summer camp, and on and on.

William Powers “likens our digital age to a gigantic room” with more than 1 billion people who are instantly available to each other. Powers explains: “At any moment someone may come up and tap us on the shoulder – a text, a hit, a comment, a tweet, a post, a message. . . We enjoy the room immensely. But eventually we grow tired of the constant noise. . . . So we decide to take a vacation. But no one else seems interested in leaving. In fact, they all seem put off that you might not want to stay.” How true! We grumble and complain when someone doesn’t respond to our text within 10-15 minutes: “Where are you?!”

The result is that many of us feel like we are drowning in a crowded sea of relationships. This isn’t the way it used to be: “A century ago, social relationships were largely confined to the distance of an easy walk. Most were conducted in person, within small communities: family, neighbors, townspeople. Yes, the horse and carriage made longer trips possible, but even a trip of thirty miles could take all day. And if someone moved from the community, relationships were likely to end.”

Now obviously, people are very important—the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. But that doesn’t mean that I am obligated to develop a relationship with every person who drifts through my life. In descending order, Jesus spent the most time with his closest friends (Peter, James and John), next the Twelve, then a committed group of 72 disciples, then the larger body of disciples, and finally, the masses.

Many of us feel harried because we are trying to keep up with too many relationships. Thus, relationships—which are designed to be renewing—suck the life out on us. When I flit from one shallow relationship to another, who knows when I am tempted? when I am hurting? when I need encouragement?

 

When I spread myself too broadly, I don’t have time for the most important relationships. Who begs me to spend 15 minutes reading with my kids at bedtime? Who exhorts me to spend quiet time with God? Who twists my arm to date my wife? In Deuteronomy, Moses explained that a newly married husband was freed from work and military duties for one year so he could "bring happiness" to his bride. Wow! A 52 week honeymoon!

God wants us to give priority to our most significant relationships. We can’t do this unless we say “No” to many, many other relationships.

Redeeming Time, Part 2

"On a Mission to Everywhere"

Busy. Busy. Busy. Most of us are caught up in a frenzy of activity that leaves us exhausted and edgy. What is the source of our frenzy? We hear sermons or read books or listen to testimonies which convict us that we aren’t praying enough or giving enough or evangelizing enough or volunteering enough.  As a result, we become disappointed with ourselves while our opportunities begin to feel more like obligations.

 

But in spite of the crush of human need, Jesus never appeared to be in a hurry. Why not? A day from early in his ministry (Mark 1) is revealing. Jesus spent the day teaching and healing in Capernaum -- a day which didn’t end until well after sunset. Very early the next morning, Jesus retreated to a solitary place, where he prayed. When his irritated disciples finally found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” What an opportunity—doors flung wide open for ministry. Why not rent a public building and have nightly meetings for the next 30 days? Imagine what Jesus could do in a month—there wouldn’t be a broken bone or a broken marriage in the entire city.

But astoundingly (to the Twelve) Jesus declined the invitation: “Let us go somewhere else so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” Jesus knew his purpose. He knew what God had called him to do. That made it possible to decline such a tempting offer.

Mark Buchanan in Your God Is Too Safe, has observed that “at the heart of Jesus’ ministry was a holy must. He must go through Samaria. He must go to Jerusalem. He must suffer. Everything he did or refused to do centered around that.” This must brought “wonderful clarity” to Jesus’ choices.

Many of us have no God-inflamed purpose which drives and directs our choices: “There is activity. There is opinion. There is busyness. But there is nothing ... to convert selfish ambition into holy purpose.” We are like Jerry Sittser who lamented his inability to say “no”: “I am like a man on a mission to everywhere.”

Jesus didn’t heal every sick person or preach in every synagogue or accept every invitation. But he did accomplish every task the Father assigned to him. Many of us let fear or friends, pride or pastors, rather than God, fix our agendas. We need to respond to significant requests of our time by praying: "Lord, is this how you want me to use my time and gifts?"

Redeeming Time, Part 1

Does this sound familiar?

 

Goodbye, sir, excuse me, I haven’t time.
I’ll come back, I can’t wait, I haven’t time.
I must end this letter—I haven’t time.
I can’t accept, having no time.
I can’t think, I can’t read, I’m swamped, I haven’t time.
I’d like to pray, but I haven’t time...

You understand, Lord, we simply haven’t the time....
Lord, you must have made a mistake in your calculations.
There is a big mistake somewhere.
the hours are too short,
The days are too short,
Our lives are too short....              
                              Michael Quoist

Hurrying has become such a way of life that we feel harried even when there is nothing truly urgent on our schedule.” We feel compelled to complete even trivial tasks. This past weekend I was feeling anxious and when I took the time to uncover the source of my anguish, I discovered that I was worried about getting my new tulip bulbs in the ground before winter. Really?! Would it be a tragedy if I didn’t get them planted?

The speed of life has even assaulted children’s bedtime reading. The One-Minute Bedtime Story was designed “to help parents deal with time-consuming tots.” The classic fairy tales “were condensed into sixty-second sound bites.” How do children feel about it? Carl Honore‘s three-year-old son wants long stories that are read at a meandering pace. When Honore tries to “steer him towards the shortest books and read them quickly, his son complains: ‘You’re going too fast.’” Honore confesses: “Part of me feels horribly selfish when I accelerate the bedtime ritual, but another part simply cannot resist the itch to hurry on to the next thing on my agenda. Taking a long, languid stroll through the world of Dr. Seuss is not an option.”

What has happened? Why is everyone out of breath? How have we become such time paupers when so many modern inventions have made tasks easier and quicker? Kevin DeYoung reported that in 1967, “experts claimed that by 1985 the average workweek would be just 22 hours. Instead, Americans today lead the industrialized world in annual work hours.” Those inventions did save time--but we simply transferred and added time to other tasks.

Our ancestors, who had to haul their daily water and produce their own food and sew their own clothing, seemed to have time for what is truly important. But we don’t. 

If we stop someone on the street and ask, “Do you have a free hour or two to converse about the best things in life, about wisdom and virtue, about truth and goodness?” we should expect to hear a ready “yes” more than any of our ancestors could. Yet, of course, the situation is exactly the opposite. It is much less likely today than at any time in the past that anyone will have a free hour for the most important things in life.                      Peter Kreeft

God created ample time for each of us to accomplish all that he calls us to do. But how can we do this? Over the next several blogs I will explore the issues related to our pace of life and how we can organize our lives so that we have time for the truly important.

The Seasons of Harvest

Late summer is watermelon time in Texas. The young Allen Lacy's passion for watermelon caused him to ask his granddaddy why they couldn't eat it all year round. This elderly man's wise reply was: 

We have watermelons because the Good Lord saw fit to give us watermelons. It was one of the better things He did, and special things need special times and seasons. God gave Texas a little more heat than most places just so that our watermelons would be the best on earth. It's a blessing, but the last thing in the world we need here in Texas is a few more months of heat, just for the sake of more watermelon.

Unfortunately, most grocers are not bound by "times and seasons"—I can buy peaches any month of the year. But how does a January peach taste? It was picked green in South America, trucked to a port, shipped to a U.S. port, trucked to a warehouse and, finally, delivered to my grocery store. The result? What do you think?! It is either stone hard or mushy soft. After many, many  disappointments, this fool is learning to resist the false hope of non-seasonal fruit. I now spend my money on fall apples, winter citrus, spring asparagus, summer peaches.

The challenge in life, too, is to enjoy seasonal fruit. Solomon claimed: There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven. (Eccl.3:1) Are you a parent of young children? Then enjoy the sweet taste of morning snuggling and bedtime reading, of candid conversations and corkscrewed reasoning, of trusting spirits and untrustworthy emotions. That delicate fruit will soon be gone. Don't crave a child who uses the toilet and sleeps through the night and carries on a rational discussion (which won't happen until they are 40!).

South Dakotans joke that we have two seasons—winter and road repair! Both provide abundant ammunition for complainers. A number of years ago Cathy and I recognized that we were habitually crabbing about our long, bleak winters. "Why does it have to be so cold?" "I don't think spring will ever come." "These icy roads are horrible!" "I'm so tired of being cold; I can't wait to be hot." "Why would anyone choose to live here?!"

Stabbed by prisoner Paul's claim that he could be content in any and every situation, we sought to enjoy the season of winter. We bought cross-country skis. We put a wood-burning fireplace in our new home. We fellowship with others more frequently. We bundle up most winter days—if the snowdrifts aren't too high or the wind-chill too low—and hike outdoors. We try to embrace the slower pace of winter. While the garden and other warm-weather activities lie dormant, we have more time to read, reflect, converse, and write.

Are you entering your senior years?  Do you find yourself in poverty? Have you recently become empty-nesters?  When our boys were young it was a challenge to get them to taste new food. "Com'n. Try a little. You'll like it." Maybe our heavenly Father is coaxing his kids in the same way. "Com'n. This season's fruit is superb. Won't you try a bite?"

The Expectations of the Harvest

One seed catalog described several varieties of the same vegetable: "adds zest to salads," "most astonishing," "outstanding tenderness," "bursting with flavor and nutrition," "distinctive flavor." Which exotic vegetable were they describing? The green bean! All these tinseled descriptions make it difficult to know what a mature garden looks or tastes like.

Many of us are no less ignorant of the flavor of a mature relationship. Mildred Walker's novel, “Winter Wheat”, tells the story of Ellen Webb—the only child of her American father and her Russian mother. While attending college, Ellen fell in love with Gil, a young man who came to her farm home for a summer visit. But after a shortened stay, he bolted home. When mom tried to comfort Ellen, Ellen exploded, blaming her parents’ marriage for her Gil’s departure:

"I'm not like you, Mom, so I'd do anything to get a man to marry me!” Mom looked at me so blankly it made me all the angrier.

“Don't look as though you didn't know what I was talking about. I know how you tricked Dad. I overheard you the night after Gil left. I know he married you and took you to America because you told him you were pregnant. And when he knew you weren't going to have a child it was too late. He was married to you, and he was too honorable to go away and leave you." I couldn't seem to stop. I watched my words fall like blows on Mom's face.

"And you've gone on all these years hating each other. Gil felt that hate. He could tell just being here. That's one of the things that drove him away from here, from me." I almost choked on my own words. I guess I was crying. Mom was still so long I looked up at her. All the color had gone out of her face, except in her eyes. She shook her head. "You don't know anything, Yelena. In our church if baby is not christened we say she go blind in next world. I think you go blind in this world—blind dumb! She stopped and then went on slowly. "No, Yelena, I never hate Ben `an Ben don't hate me. I love him here so all these years!" Mom touched her breast and her face broke into life. He eyes were softer, "Me hate Ben"! She laughed.

Mom explained that she had deceived her father. But it was only because she was seventeen, in love, and had already lost all of her family during World War I. Though Ben was upset by her deception, his love wouldn't allow him to hold a grudge. Mom looked at Ellen and sighed: “Yolochka, you don't know how love is yet."

What does a healthy marriage look like? a healthy friendship? Many of us hold a ripe friendship in our hands but don't recognize it because it has a few blemishes. As Jesus agonized over his date with the cross, he confessed to his disciples, Peter, James and John: "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death." As he strained to obey the Father's will, he implored his friends to keep watch and pray. But his friends promptly fell asleep--not once, not twice, but three times! How many of us would hang onto friends who snored through the crisis of our lives? Though certainly disappointed, Jesus knew his friends' hearts: "The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." All mature relationships have frequent failings.

Measuring the Harvest, Part 2

Some harvest measurements can deceive us. When a church's pews are full, the church should not assume that it is mature. When a psychologist claims that 90% of a child's personality is established by the age of 4, a parent must not infer that his school-aged child doesn’t need him. When most of my students rate me favorably, I must not conclude that my teaching has no need for improvement. When a motivational speaker promises that a habit is formed by 21 days of consecutive action, we should not believe that only three weeks of sowing will reap a lifetime of discipline.

Early students of human behavior coined the phrase the "social sciences." They believed (and many still believe) there are precise laws of human behavior, like the laws of physical science, that can be monitored and measured. As Neil Postman has written, these "psychologists, sociologists, and economists will have numbers to tell them the truth or they will have nothing." But human behavior is too unpredictable to know with certainty what people will do in any given situation.

Measuring the harvest is also tricky because we observe people who sow evil, but reap good -- demagogic politicians who are respected and re-elected; depraved filmmakers who win fame and fortune; cheating students who receive accolades and awards. Like the Jews of Malachi's day we may become discouraged: "It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements? . . . Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape." (3:14f)

When evil prospers, a moral fog blankets the earth. But occasionally the fog lifts -- a politician is caught lying; a professional athlete is suspended for using performance enhancing drugs; a religious leader is caught stealing church funds. But one day the veil will completely and permanently lift when we "will again see the distinction between those who serve God and those who do not. Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire." (3:18 - 4:1). All the wicked -- even the most celebrated fools -- will simply be stubble, the refuse from God's harvest. They won't survive his fiery judgment.