This is part two of the five-part series: Don’t Deny the Gospel.
Are you looking for relief from the stress of busyness?
Busyness can absolutely fry our minds, wear out our bodies, and damage our relationships. The allure of time management is that, through living a balanced life, we can find peace and serenity.
But that allure is a lie.
We get it wrong so often. I get it wrong so often.
As Christians, we lift up the gospel of Jesus Christ as the foundation that we build our lives upon. We sing hymns, we read books, and we witness to others.
Then we start reading a blog about time management and unwittingly throw the gospel right out the window.
If your pastor preaches a sermon on time stewardship, there’s one scripture passage you can pretty much guarantee is going to get mentioned: Ephesians 5:15-16. In fact, a phrase from that passage, redeeming the time, is a church buzz-phrase that’s mentioned probably more than the term time stewardship itself.
And for good reason!
Delegation is just common sense. It’s no surprise that it’s a common thread running through every time management strategy and system out there.
My time is limited, so of course I want to pack it full of high value tasks. Of course I want to work on tasks that only I can do and tasks that require my unique strengths.
But after making an effort to delegate as much as feasible, I began to see an unpleasant attitude developing in my heart. It stopped being about pursuing effectiveness and started being about my pride.
You may have heard of the Parable of the Persistent Widow or the Parable of the Sower. Ever heard of the Parable of the Good Samaritan? The Parable of the Prodigal Son?
Oh, you have? Ok, how about the Parable of the Minas?
… <cricket chirp>
…Parable of the what?
The Parable of the Minas is often missed simply because it’s so similar to the more well-known Parable of the Talents. To be honest, until about two years ago I didn’t even realize these were two different stories. Yet despite the similarities, there are noticeable and profound differences between the two parables. And in examining these differences, we get a unique perspective of God’s views on stewardship – straight from the mouth of Jesus Himself.
Have you ever watched professional billiard players on TV? It looks boringly easy for them.
They have an easy shot, and they make it.
They have another easy shot, and they make it.
They have another easy shot, and they make it.
I used to sit and scream at the TV, “They’re just getting easy shots! If I got shots that easy, I could make them too!” Why did I always have the tough shots and the so-called pros were just lucky enough to have all the gimme shots?
If you browse the aisles of your local bookstore, you’ll find anywhere between 3 and 20-bajillion books on time management. If you thought that was a lot of material, wait until you see all the blogs and internet sites on the subject.
So why do another blog? What’s different about Life of a Steward?
This blog is about Christian time management.
I can see you scratching your head and thinking to yourself, “Well, what’s ‘Christian’ about Christian time management. How is it different from just-plain-old-ordinary time management?”