We’re recently started a new series called “reset”.  In the first week, we talked about how Jesus makes it possible to reset all of life, giving us a fresh start in life that impacts every key area.  We’re going to look at many of these in depth, and this week we see how Jesus resets our use of time.

There was a time in my life when I prided myself on never needing a day planner.  I remembered everything I signed up for, and never double booked.  That was high school.  Ever since, I’ve found my time needed to be managed.

Through university, I started to rely on a day planner, an old fashioned spiral bound book.  I got progressively busier, but could still say yes to pretty much anything I wanted.  I would stay up all night getting things done if I needed to.  I was young.

By the time I started working, I had to start making choices.  I can only be in one meeting, one event, or one place at a time.  When I first pastored a church, I was still working as a paramedic on the side, until I finally realized I simply didn’t have the time to do both things well.  And still today, I find myself constantly choosing between demands on my time.  It’s only escalated since having children.

I can go on.  You probably can, too.  Bottom line, unless we’re still kids, time is all about choices.  It’s a limited resource – we can’t create it, we can only choose how to use it.

The Future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.  ~C.S. Lewis

But what if you could reset your clock?

That used to be easy – whenever I’ve started a new job, I feel like it’s a chance to structure my time differently, within the constraints of set tasks, family and personal responsibilities.

But even then, it’s never clear what’s best.  Read one thing that says “say yes to every invitation, you never know who you’ll meet” but then I’ll read something else that says I should learn to say “no” to more invitations to protect my sanity and family.  Which is it?

With an extra hour, I don’t know whether I should work more, play with my kids, read the Bible, exercise, fix things around the house, or what.  Someone will advocate that each one is most important.  Time marches on.

Closely connected with goals, last week’s topic.

Question: What would you do with an extra hour in the day?  Why?  What would be your goal?

Reminder: The best way to grow spiritually this year is to join our Christianity 101 in the Cafe Course. Register for you and a friend today and come Wednesday night!

Read the Bible in Sync Today

Ryan Sim - June 19, 2013

Wednesday - Change It - The Golden Rule

Sermon on the Mount

Jesus always has the Pharisees, or religious lawyers, in mind as he teaches. Pharisees were essentially seeking a checklist of laws they can work through. Jesus says that wasn’t the point of the law. Look back to the beatitudes, the content that we started this series with. Jesus was always expanding the law to look at our motivations, not just outward actions we can check off our do/don't do list. It's a good thing, because we know life isn’t like that. Life throws stituations at all of us that we never anticipated, and could never have listed in advance. Jesus describes keeping God’s law with this line: So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. He goes on to recognize, this is no checklist, this is very difficult: narrow gate to pass through. Baggage doesn’t fit. All your religious background, credentials, money, power, etc. all get left behind if you want to go through this gate. Every human can go through this door if we are willing to let go of all the sin baggage that keeps us from God. The narrow path – or the cramped path – does not allow us to take with us the things we can carry on the broad path. What are those things? Our failure to live this way, to go through Jesus’ narrow door, is due to our self-centeredness. We are instinctively self-centered, self-loving. Fall. 40% of millenials say that "being self-promoting, narcissistic, overconfident, and attention-seeking is helpful for succeeding in a competitive world." Almost 80% say that their friends use social media for those reasons. So Jesus uses that against us. Uses our self-love to love others. He redeems our self-love. Self-love is powerful. Usually our guide – now Jesus says it’s for others, too. Jesus calls us to an awareness of others as God’s beloved children, too. We’re not the only ones. Prevents need for endless rules for every situation. Put self in other’s shoes. Question: Describe the most self-centered person you know. What do you have in common with them? What characteristics do you share? Why is this so hard to admit?

From Series: "Sermon on the Mount"

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