1. LIFE IS SHORT. I'm sure you already know this. But do you really know it? When you're still young, you think you understand that life is short, but because you've lived so little and still have so much life ahead of you, you can't fully understand just how fast time goes by. ARE YOU MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR TIME? OR ARE YOU WASTING IT? We are all guilty of wasting time. There are a lot of "entertainment" outlets such as watching tv/movies, playing video games, scrolling through social media or the internet, texting/snapchatting, working out/sports, music, the list goes on. Those things aren't bad in and of themselves, but when you let any of those things take over large chunks of your time regularly, ask yourself: "HOW IS ________ BENEFITING ME?" which leads me to my second point.
2. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME. Once you've asked yourself how the things you spend large amounts of time on are benefiting you, be honest with yourself. If the answer is they don't, or it is purely to entertain yourself, ask yourself this next question: HOW IMPORTANT IS MY ENTERTAINMENT TO ME? Evaluate this in light of the fact that God has an incredible plan and purpose for your life. He desires for you to know him more. For you to grow. And guess what? God is a great entertainer. Spending time with Him is more fulfilling and "entertaining" than the best movie. If you don't think so, put it to the test. Ask Him to show himself to be more fulfilling than any other "drug" we waste our time on.
3. JESUS LOVES YOU. Do you know that? Do you REALLY know that? Well He does. He loves you so much that nothing you do could ever change that. He is our PERFECT heavenly Father. Many people don't have a good idea of this because of trouble with earthly fathers. Here's what I want you to do. Think of what you would want your earthly Father to do and be like. Any area you wish he would change. Picture him being the best version of his self. Even if you think he would need to change EVERYTHING about himself, picture what he would look like if he was a perfect Father. Now, everything you could imagine your earthly Father being, God is INFINITELY BETTER than that! You think your dad is forgiving? God forgives EVERYTHING! Even if you commit the worst sin you could ever possibly think of, He embraces you with open arms. Your dad is fun? God has the best sense of humor and brings such joy and laughter and fun you couldn't imagine it. Your dad is wise? God's got the best advice. You should go to Him to ask for it. because He will never withhold any good thing from you. (Luke 11:9-13) Ask yourself: "DO I HAVE A CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH THIS HEAVENLY FATHER?" if not, ask Him. Spend time with Him. He wants to spend time with you.
4. MAKE GOALS, WORK TOWARDS THEM. Prov. 29:18 says that where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained. And in KJV it says the people perish. Without vision for what you want to do in the future, you end up going wherever the wind blows. Without a goal to work toward, where is the motivation to get anything done? The end is never in sight because you don't have an "end" planned. Obviously we need to always be willing to move wherever the Lord says, but we also need to plan accordingly. If the Lord says, "Move to this city and plant a church." and you do that, but you don't have any goals or direction for the church you are trying to plant, you will struggle with going anywhere. Because if a ship sets off sailing to no particular destination, it will float around aimlessly and the people will die aboard without ever making it to land because they weren't headed to a specific place. Ask yourself: "DO I HAVE ANY GOALS TO WORK TOWARD?" If not, make some.
5. BE ACCOUNTABLE TO SOMEONE. We've heard before to have accountability partners, but the problem is that we have to be very intentional about that relationship. It is easy to say, "I'm accountable to so-and-so" but it is much harder to plan regularly sitting down with that person and sharing your struggles. We get stuck when we think that we can handle our struggles ourselves. It is a lie from the enemy. That is how strong leaders in ministry end up falling. Because they are so high up on the influence ladder that they don't feel they can be vulnerable with others or else they will be judged since they are supposed to be in leadership. The enemy also convinces us that we are alone in our struggle and no one else will understand. But often the very thing we struggle with, everyone else does too, we are all just feeling the same way. Ask yourself: "DO I HAVE AN ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER?" Don't just say yes because you have a close friend you tell a lot of things to. You need to be INTENTIONAL! Tell them you want them to hold you accountable.
Take some time reflect on these five areas. I wish I had done this before. Share it with someone else too! Maybe they are going through the same thing and need encouragement.
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