I was excited to hear Matt Perman was releasing a new book entitled How to Get Unstuck.
I’m a huge fan of Perman’s – I enjoyed his first book and have had the chance to speak with him on my podcast. There aren’t many people who write on productivity from a specifically Christian perspective, so naturally we were kindred spirits.
So when I had the opportunity to get an advance review copy of How to Get Unstuck, of course I was going to jump on that!
A warning from J.C. Ryle in Thoughts for Young Men:
Tomorrow is the devil’s day, but today is God’s. Satan cares not how spiritual your intentions may be, and how holy your resolutions, if only they are fixed for tomorrow. Oh, give not place to the devil in this matter! Answer him, “No, Satan! It shall be today, today.”
When the Bible speaks of the second coming of Christ, we’re not just told that it will happen – but we’re told how we are to respond right now because of it.
For Christians, the second coming brings us hope.
Not a cross-your-fingers hope. Or a warm, gushy feeling hope.
The second coming of Christ creates an active hope.
When we see our time management through the lens of scripture, we realize that we’ve got the Holy Spirit to empower us.
Imagine the good that could come in our life through the Spirit’s power. Imagine the Holy Spirit’s activity doing away with procrastination, overcommitment, sloth, frantic busyness, misplaced priorities, and guilt from wasted time.
What a breath of fresh air that would be.
But perhaps some of the reasons you’re frustrated with your time stewardship is because you’re trying to use God instead of allowing him to use you.
Have you ever read a stewardship parable (like the Parable of the Minas) and it made you feel guilty? Instead of identifying with the good stewards, you found yourself having more in common with the bad ones – you know, the ones that were called wicked and were punished severely.
Sometimes the bar can just seem so high. And we fail again and again. And again. And again.
We’re stressed. We’re worried. We’re proud. We’re self-sufficient. We’re lazy. We’re too busy.
And we may start to think we’ll never change. What’s the point in trying?
I haven’t really shared this anywhere, but my wife and I are just getting out of a difficult season in our marriage. We weren’t in major trouble or on the brink of divorce, but we were going through one of those valleys in our relationship where we both needed to step up and work on our marriage.
So for the last year or so, I’ve put a lot of effort into trying to be a good husband – the husband that God calls me to be.
What a great and holy desire, right?
But it wasn’t, in my case.
I went about it the wrong way. And the mistake I made is a great illustration for how we can get off-course in attempting to be good stewards of our time.
So you failed today. Maybe you lost your temper. Maybe you blew your diet. Maybe you procrastinated for a while and left your to-do list virtually unchanged.
To get back up, you’ve got to forgive yourself. But make sure you do that in the right way.
Give yourself grace – not tolerance.
When the way you planned to run your day, or the way you planned to live your life is cut off or slowed down, the unbelief of impatience tempts you in two directions, depending partly on your personality, partly on circumstances:
It’s a great thing, of course, to have goals and aspirations. New Year’s Resolutions even.
But there are many wrong ways to do this. Many ways which leave out God, some unintentionally.
And in his mercy, God will frustrate your plans. Just like he did with the Tower of Babel.
You undoubtedly struggle with procrastination. It seems as common to the human condition as breathing.
Scripture tells us it’s foolish, time management experts tell us it’s wasteful, and even our own common sense tells us it’s something to be avoided. But yet we still scratch that procrastination itch.
We don’t need more guilt trips. We don’t need more motivational posters. We need real solutions.
That’s why I’m excited today to announce the release of my new (and free) ebook, Your Procrastination Solution.