Are you running it, or is it running you?

Allocating our time to match our priorities

If you were to record, for one week, where you spend your time, and if you were to show that to me what would I say you value the most? There has always been a direct correlation between where we spend our time and what we value. Naturally, our jobs dictate that they receive a large portion of our time in exchange for our rate of pay. However, I wonder if we’ve been hiding behind this for too long, Hangarmen. Let’s not over-complicate this.

We have more time, outside of our employment, than we are willing to admit.

This is more about inspiration than it is accountability. Let me encourage you to take an assessment of your weekly cycle. How do you do that? As you look at your week, ask these questions about each day:

• How much time do I spend in the evenings looking at a screen & what do I have to show for it?
• Where am I helping people that aren’t in my territory?
• What appointments did I keep this week that I now understand weren’t necessary?
• Am I running my schedule, or is my schedule running me?
• What are the three things I could give up before next month?

These are just a few questions to get you started. In fact, when you begin to look at your time this way, you will come up with your own set of questions. The key here is to look at your life with a sense of intentionality. We are not passive participants in our own lives, Hangarmen. One of the best steps we can take toward manning our territory is to manage our time well — to manage our lives well.

Your going to invest the most time in the things you value the most.

Here’s the trick: you may be spending a tremendous amount of time on something you really don’t value. It’s an accidental allocation. I get it. But, even if this is the case, the message to the hearts and minds in your territory is the same. Abandoned. It’s strong language, but we really no longer have time, men, to walk around a point without addressing it.

The hearts and minds in your territory deserve your time. They crave your time way more than they crave your money. God has given you a territory. God has given you the gift of caring for and initiating hearts.

What are you doing with this gift? How much more rich would the lives in your territory be if you took the steps necessary to be intentional with your time?

Before you go…

Think on this verse. It’s a great place to start when thinking about your time. Then, listen to this week’s podcast and learn more about being who God has called you to be for the hearts and minds that are in your care.

But more than anything else, put God’s work first and do what he wants. Then the other things will be yours as well. // Matthew 6:33