Regardless of how time was used before, becoming a follower of Jesus means we use our time differently. We are probably used to spending time on ourselves, but we now want to now make time for two new activities:
First, Christians are called to devote Time for God
Yes, God is present everywhere, all the time, but we want to have specific time laid aside for God. Jesus did this himself:
Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone… (Matthew 14:22-23 ESV)
This isn’t the only example, there are many examples like it. Today, people focus time on God by reading his Word, the Bible. A key part of our community is that we base all our teaching on the Bible, and encourage you to read daily. Secondly, focus on God in prayer. We encouraged you to start this in our Becoming like Family series, but don’t forget!
Second, Christians are called to devote Time for others
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:36-38 ESV)
Jesus dedicated enormous amounts of time to serving the needs of hurting people around him. Following Jesus means we are meant to focus our lives outward as well.
If all this sounds really busy, you are probably thinking we have to add these to our schedules. These are not additions, but are meant to replace, refresh, renew, or as we have named this series, reset our use of time. Some of the things we used to do were wasting time, and now we are invited to redeem that lost time.
What will you let go? Budget your time. Think of it as a limited resource, sine we can’t create time, and can only manage it.
Challenge: Watch your schedule next week. Write down how much time you spent on each activity, then categorize it as me, God or others. What’s out of balance?
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Hi, welcome to Redeem the Commute. I'm Ryan your host of the Daily Challenges. Here we are in nature. And that's because this week we're studying how following Jesus resets our views of society’s divisions. We’ve seen from the Bible that followers of Jesus are meant to see ourselves as one with other Christians, regardless of the world’s usual boundaries.
There are a number of reasons for this in the big story of God and his universe. First, look at God the Father, who was creator of all humans. Then look at Adam, the first human, from whom all others came. We’re all meant to be part of God’s family, with many brothers and sisters, even though humanity’s sin has distorted that plan.
Then look at Christ. He gave his life for all of humanity. Finally we can look at God’s kingdom. One description in the Bible points out all nations will be gathered together there.
Overall we get a big picture where diversity within the Christian church is rather important. But is that what church looks like today?
Many church communities are very segregated – sometimes it’s just the reality of a place that only one culture dominates, but that can’t be the case in the GTA. We should look like our surrounding community, with a cross-section of ages, classes and genders.
For Redeem the Commute, becoming Redeemer Church, we need to consider how we can become a church that brings every culture, gender and class into fellowship?
It often starts with fellowship, simply enjoying a meal, talking, learning, becoming friends, based on a common heritage as Christ’s children, before it becomes more than that.
Challenge: Have a cross-cultural experience today. Eat in a restaurant, drop into a store, meet a neighbour, whatever it takes. Ask some questions – what does that mean, what’s this called, etc.
When our computers get bogged down and unmanageable, we know to hit a reset button to simply start over. Wouldn't a reset button be great in life? We know it would be complicated, with all our responsibilities and routines to consider, but imagine the freedom and refreshment of a new start in life! What would you do differently? What would you pay more attention to, and what would you ignore? How would you avoid getting bogged down and broken again?
The great news is, in coming to earth as Jesus Christ, God has begun to "reset" our universe, our world, and even us. We're invited to start over with him, in what he calls his kingdom. We're invited to start a new life with a clean slate.
What gets wiped clean, and lived differently, when God resets our lives? We'll explore how God resets these key areas of our lives:
Reset: Goals
Reset: Time
Reset: Money
Reset: Work
Reset: Body & Food
Reset: Sex & Marriage
Reset: Family
Reset: Compassion
Reset: Nature
Reset: Society
Reset: Death
Join us for the next several weeks, and invite God to reset your life.
