Devotions Whom Do I Serve with my Time and Resources

Read: Matthew 6:19-24

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. --Matthew 6:21 (KJV)

Work! Work! Work! We strive to earn an extra dollar or to pay for that new car (when the other one might hold up for a few more years), for a new, larger, house (when, with some creative planning, the present one would serve), for that vacation (when did vacations become a “right” or a “need” rather than a “want?”) All those hours, all those wish lists end up with bottomless debt.

There are all sorts of rationalizations for spending long hours working, reasons for leaving children in the care of a nanny or in other child care--adding to the expenses that need to be paid. All in the pursuit of some nebulous “dream.”

Some work simply to pay bills, living paycheck to paycheck. Many have no idea what their income or expenses even are. Yet, often expenses--such as expensive cars, eating out, etc.-- are not necessary and could be cut to meet income.

If we were satisfied with fewer and less expensive clothes, shoes, gifts, travel and entertainment, less expensive housing and transportation, we could manage on far less income. If we cut back our lifestyles, we’d have more time for our family. Maybe then, we’d also have more time for God.

In our busy schedules, how often do we stop, relax, take time to ask for God’s direction before charging ahead with our own plans, expecting God to fall in with and bless our plans?

He won’t. He doesn’t bless when we’re more concerned with career or volunteer work that siphons time away from family (however noble). He doesn't bless when we're more interested in buying “things,” than in investing time and effort in people, especially with our own families. (Do I really need to go shopping--again?)

Such pursuits are self-centered, not God or other-centered, and do not help our witness or further God’s kingdom. They also further shred our relationships with spouse, kids, family, and friends.

How often do I warm a pew a Sunday, feeling smug that I never miss church with my family, while ignoring my family and their needs the rest of the week? Maybe it is time to prune my lifestyle, commit to a budget, and make sure I give my best, not just leftovers to those closest to me.

Help me, Lord, to begin putting You first in my life and my home. Help me listen to You, reading Your Word, not only alone but also with my family. Help me get my spending habits under control and make sure to have my priorities in order. Amen.

Meditations:
Monday: Matthew 6:33; Ephesians 4:24-32
Tuesday: Philippians 2:3-13
Wednesday: Titus 2:1-8
Thursday: I Peter 3:5-9Friday: Psalm 63
Saturday: Romans 12

(C) 2016, 2021 Carolyn R Scheidies
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From Listen! Who Me?

Poetry The Timepiece of Life

See then that you walk circumspectly [carefully], not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. —Ephesians 5:15-16

The timepiece
Ticks away time,
Tells us when to go where,
Faster and faster
We race its seemingly
slow hands,
And wonder
why it
Wins!

Lord, help me use the time you've given me to honor you in my home, my church, and in society.
(C) 2016, 2020 Carolyn R Scheidies
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From Journey of Faith 

Poetry Time—A Wink, A Blink and a Nod

Where has this week gone?
Each moment a wink.
Each day a nod.
And the week disappears in a blink.

Gone childhood where time
Stretched forward endlessly day by day.
When even the afternoon, tomorrow
Seemed a forever delay.

We grow, mature and time quickens.
Days slide one into another in an uninvited race.
Faster, faster time flies.
We age, children grow
Until we are frantic to slow life’s pace.

Hair grays. Wrinkles show.
Time zips on, yet I am comforted to know
I need not worry the speed of my journey,
For my life is more than here below.

However long or short, fast or slow life’s ride,
I trust in Christ, secure He has a plan
That today, tomorrow and forever
I rest safely in His hands.

© 2020 Carolyn R Scheidies
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