Is What I’m Doing the Best Use of My Life?

In Ephesians 5:15-17 it says, “Be very careful how you live. Do not live like those who are not wise. Live wisely. I mean that you should use every chance you have for doing good, because these are evil times. So do not be foolish with your lives. But learn what the Lord wants you to do.” (ICB)

If I want to make an impact with my life, I’ve got to get control of my time. My time is my life. If I don’t learn to manage my time, I’ll limit the legacy of my life.

Ephesians 5:15-17 says, “Be very careful how you live. Do not live like those who are not wise. Live wisely. I mean that you should use every chance you have for doing good, because these are evil times. So do not be foolish with your lives. But learn what the Lord wants you to do” (ICB).

We all have the same amount of time every week: 168 hours. It’s what I do with it that counts! If I waste time, I’m wasting my life because my time is my life. I have to stop and consider, “Is this the best use of my time? Is this the best use of my life?”

I don’t have time for everything. But the good news is that God doesn’t expect me to do everything. So I shouldn’t feel guilty about it! There are only a few things worth doing in the first place.

Effective people figure out what’s essential in life and what’s trivial, and they spend more time doing the essential things and less time doing the trivial things. While I can’t eliminate everything that’s trivial in your life, I can reduce it.

This may sound simple, but it’s often difficult to choose between what’s best for my life and what’s easiest for it—especially when I’m tired. When I’m tired, I don’t want to do the best thing. I would rather do what’s easy. That’s why, if I’m really going to make something of my life, I have to learn to get some rest. If I’m not rested, I won’t have the mental, emotional, and physical strength to say, “I’m going to do the right thing instead of the easiest thing.”

So I shouldn’t waste this life. I shouldn’t settle for second best. Don’t go through life just existing. I was not created to just coast. God made me for a mission and a purpose. That starts by asking, “Is what I’m doing the best use of my life?

In summary, I need to be very careful in how I live. Live wisely and use every chance for doing good. Don't be foolish with my time, but learn what God wants me to do. There is a sense of urgency to this. I need to keep my standards high, act wisely and do good whenever possible. To help, I can use the investment test. Is this the best use of my time? Time is far more important than money. I can get more money, but I can't get more time. Once it's past, it's gone. So I need to figure out what is essential and what's trivial. Learn to choose what is best and spend my life on the mission that God has sent me here to fulfill. I have a choice, so figure out what is God's best and spend my life on it.  

Using My Words to Build Others Up

In Ephesians 4:29 it says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” (NIV)

Sometimes my words are like a sledgehammer. I swing away without thinking, and suddenly I look around and realize a pile of relational rubble surrounds me. When I thoughtlessly sling my words around and tear people down, my relationships are going to suffer.

But God wants me to use my words to build others up. Ephesians 4:29 says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (NIV).

One reason I’m not effective with my words is that I don’t realize how my mouth and words are powerful, God-given tools. I say things without thinking. And people remember them.

I can still remember certain things people said to me in a careless way—even as far back as grade school. That’s how powerful words are. So when it comes to the words I say, think of them as a power tool and be extremely careful.

How can I use my mouth more carefully, so I am using it to build relationships and not to tear people down?

1. Stop making excuses. Stop saying, “I didn’t really mean to say that” or “That’s just how I am before my first cup of coffee.” Realize that what I say impacts everybody around me. 

2. Talk less. We often get in trouble because we just don’t know when to stop talking. If it’s a power tool, I shouldn’t have to use it as much, right?

3. Listen more. If I listen more, I can better understand people’s needs.

4. Start building. Let my first thoughts be, “What does this person need?” “How can I use a word of encouragement to build them up?” “What can I say to make a difference in their life?”

Consider making this part of my morning prayers: “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer” (Psalm 19:14 NIV). 

The World Does Not Revolve Around Me

In Philippians 2:4 it says, “Look out for one another’s interests, not just for your own.” (GNT)

Everything in our society conditions us to think of ourselves first. But God’s Word says, “Look out for one another’s interests, not just for your own” (Philippians 2:4 GNT).

That is such a countercultural verse. I don’t naturally think about other people’s needs. That’s something I have to learn to do. I more naturally think about my needs, desires, goals, and ambitions. As a result, myself and millions of others are disconnected because we're thinking of ourselves and not anyone else’s needs.

I’m learning two very basic truths about life. 

First, the world does not revolve around me. You’re incredibly special in God’s eyes, and I was created for a purpose—but the world does not revolve around me.

The second truth is this: God has promised that when I focus on meeting the needs of others, he will meet my needs. Why? Because he wants me to learn to be unselfish. He wants me to learn to be loving and generous like he is.

When I’m considerate of other people’s needs, I won’t expect them to be perfect. God’s Word says, “Make allowance for each other’s faults” (Colossians 3:13 NLT). I’m not perfect, so why should I demand it of anybody else?

Proverbs 17:9 says, “Love forgets mistakes” (TLB). When I’m trying to make a connection with someone, I don’t have to remain blind to that person’s faults. I can just choose to overlook their imperfections.

Great friends are good forgetters. Instead of dwelling on someone’s mistakes or faults, a good friend considers the other person’s needs. 

The Best Investment I’ll Ever Make

In 1 Timothy 6:18-19 it says, “Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give happily to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them. By doing this they will be storing up real treasure for themselves in heaven—it is the only safe investment for eternity! And they will be living a fruitful Christian life down here as well.” (TLB)

Generosity is an investment. Luke 16:9 says, “Use your worldly resources to benefit others” (NLT). In the end I can’t take it with me. This was pointed out to me recently. Did you know that mortuaries sell burial suits? They’re for people who want to be buried in a suit but don’t have one. Do you know what the difference is between a burial suit and a regular suit? There are no pockets in a burial suit. It’s true! You don’t need them, because you can’t take it with you. But you can send it ahead.

How can you and I do that? By investing in people who are going there. 

The Bible says in 1 Timothy 6:18-19, “Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give happily to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them. By doing this they will be storing up real treasure for themselves in heaven—it is the only safe investment for eternity! And they will be living a fruitful Christian life down here as well” (TLB).

Every time I’m generous with the poor, a friend, or a neighbor, God says I’m storing up treasure in the bank of heaven. My time on Earth is only about 80 or at the most 100 years. But I’ll spend trillions of years in eternity. So where do I need to have my biggest account? 

There’s no greater investment than the Kingdom of God. When I help other people with my time, money, resources—whatever I’ve got—I’m actually making an investment in heaven.

My investment is protected in heaven. It pays good rates. It’s proven. There are great dividends and no risks.

I’m not going to get that kind of investment anywhere else! 

How God Responds to My Generosity

In 2 Corinthians 9:8 it says, “God is able to make it up to you by giving you everything you need and more so that there will not only be enough for your own needs but plenty left over to give joyfully to others.” (TLB)

I heard a story about a man who took his son to McDonald’s and bought him super-size French fries. On the way home, he reached over and took one little French fry and ate it. His son got upset and said, “Dad, you can’t have that. These are my fries!” The dad immediately had three thoughts: 

“First, my child has forgotten that I am the source of all fries. I took him to McDonald’s, I paid for the order, I gave them to him, and I’m driving him back home. The only reason he got any fries was because of me, the Great Fry Giver! 

“Second, my child doesn’t realize I could take the fries away in a second if I wanted to. Or I could buy him an entire truckload of fries if I wanted to, because I have the power to do either.

“Third, I didn’t need his fries. I could easily get my own. I could buy myself a hundred cartons of them if I wanted to. I just wanted him to learn to be unselfish.”

Those three lessons are the same ones God wants me to learn so that I can be generous with others. First, God wants me to remember that he is the source of everything I’ve have. I would have nothing—I wouldn’t even be alive!—if it weren’t for God. Second, God could take it all away from me in an instant, or he could double it, because he’s got the power. Third, God doesn’t need my money. He just wants me to learn to be unselfish and develop my faith. 

2 Corinthians tells me what will happen when I start becoming a more generous person, “God is able to make it up to you by giving you everything you need and more so that there will not only be enough for your own needs but plenty left over to give joyfully to others” (2 Corinthians 9:8 TLB).

If I practice generosity, God will give me everything I need plus more so I’ll have enough to share with others. He’s looking for a channel like a straw, and when he finds it—someone who’s willing to say, “God, use me to be a blessing to other people”—he just starts pouring blessing straight through it. 

If I learn to be generous, God will bless me more than I can imagine! 

What Will I Serve: God or Money?

In Matthew 6:24 it says, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (NIV)

We live in a culture of materialism. The goal is to get more and more and more. And just about the time we catch up with the Joneses, they refinance or file bankruptcy. And just about the time I think you’ve got it all, the Black Friday advertisements come out, and they tell me about all kinds of things I didn’t know you couldn’t live without. 

It’s tough keeping my priorities right when I live in a society that’s all about “getting.” The one with the most toys wins, right? No! The one with the most toys still dies, whether or not I’ve got toys.

There is only one antidote to materialism: generosity. Every time I’m generous, I have a spiritual victory in my heart. Every time I’m generous, my heart grows. Every time I’m generous, I break the grip of materialism in life. Why? Because materialism is all about getting—get, get, get, get! It is my nature to get and to hold on.

But every time I’m generous, I’m breaking that grip and defeating materialism in life. 

This is why, as a parent, I need to make sure my kids and grandchildren see me giving. They need to see me being generous because they’re not going to learn it anywhere else. I need to make sure they see me model generosity so that they can learn it too.

The Bible says in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (NIV). Notice it doesn’t say I “should not.” It says I “cannot.” It’s impossible. I can’t have two number ones in my life. 

I need to choose what’s going to have first place in my heart. Choosing generosity will transform my relationships with others and my relationship with God. It will change me from the inside out as I learn to be generous like God is generous with me.

I need to be careful that any focus on money / wealth does not take first place in my life. I need to use what God has given me wisely and I need to be generous with both the money I’m entrusted with and my time.