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Redeeming The Time in 2024
Redeeming one’s soul should be the top priority. There is nothing more important than the soul, the spirit side of our identity- the ONE that makes us eternal and transcendent species.
Jesus wondered and asked: “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” (Matthew 16: 26)
However, TODAY, my focus isn’t on redeeming and restoring our souls, though these are some of the focus areas of our ministry…
This blog aims to remind all of us to make redeeming time one of our top priorities while we’re still in the first month of 2024.
Apostle Paul warned Ephesians by emphasizing: “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15-16)
Next to redeeming our souls, we should give prime attention to redeeming our time.
Therefore, let’s redeem the time while we’re in the very early days of the New Year. It is not too late, if in case you’ve not yet, to:
- Think,
- Strategize,
- Prioritize, and
- Plan on how to redeem the time we lost in 2024.
One of the decisions I made at the early stage of the ministry, which I kept it to this day, is living with a sense of urgency.
Jesus shared a parable on what happens to a servant who doesn’t anticipate the coming of his master unexpectedly (Luke 12:47). He also talked about the 5 foolish virgins who weren’t with a sense of urgency and how they ended up paying a dire price for their negligence. (Matthew 25:1-4)
Since having a sense of urgency is one of my top 3 core values, I make sure to redeem the time on a daily basis. I make myself accountable. I remind myself constantly that this day could be my last.
Every day, I try my best and make sure that I commit significant time, energy, and resources toward the most important tasks that advance my assignment in life on a daily basis.
- Whether I’m tired/sick or not;
- Whether I feel like it or not;
- Whether I’m interested in it or not; there are certain tasks I must do on a daily and weekly basis…
Let me be honest:
- Do I succeed in staying with a sense of urgency every day? No!
- Do I get distracted, at least, for a portion of a given day? Yes.
- Do some urgent matters stop me from doing some of the daily routine? Yes.
I’m human like you. My goal isn’t to be perfect and act like a robot. I also don’t live on an island. I’ve family members, friends, colleagues, and clients, some of whom may need me urgently once in a while, and I must stop whatever I’m doing to meet their needs.
However, I try my best, at least before the world wakes up, to accomplish the most important tasks of the day first. If I get lucky, I get to keep my plan that day. If not, at least I took care of the most important tasks of the day.
Unfortunately, I’ve witnessed many giving less attention to redeeming their time. As a result, they take the risk of not fulfilling the assignment they were given when they joined this universe.
What is the use of redeeming our souls unless we use time wisely and allow the soul to fulfill its earthly journey successfully? This physical universe is trapped with time and space, and both are not eternal and indefinite. We all have limited time on earth and must redeem it consistently…
The devil may not be able to stop or cheat all of us from redeeming our souls, but he has been very lucky to distract many of us.
A quick disclaimer: Many of us are not wasting time. The challenge many of us good people have is that we’re actually too busy, like Martha, for some seemingly justifiable reasons with GOOD INTENTIONS.
Indeed, we are very busy and restless. But:
- Where are we spending our precious time?
- Do we prioritize?
- Do we have a schedule that we protect?
- Do we use technology and platforms to assist us in managing time well?
- Are we like Mary, Martha’s sister, whom Jesus complimented for spending her time on what mattered the most?
“Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered and anxious about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41-42)
The Apostle Paul in the scripture above warned us that we shouldn’t be FOOLS by failing to redeem our time… “not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time…” (Ephesians 5:15-16)
This is time to redeem what we lost in the previous year (s).
What are some of the things you should do to redeem the time you lost in 2023, and use the upcoming time wisely in 2024 and beyond?
If you have any questions or would like to partner with us, reach out to our team at [email protected]
Who Should Worry About Money as Their Lord?
Some people think that the devil is in the same class as God. They wrongly assume that the two compete.
God never competed with the devil and never shown any worry that the devil may replace him in the hearts of His people.
The reason is simple. God believes that His people can easily recognize that the devil is a creation, and everything he got came from its Source, God, who is our Father!
Sadly, however, there are a few who, knowingly or unknowingly, chose to serve the inferior lord. These people decided to serve the devil and allow him to lord over them. Sad!!!
Then you may ask if the devil is not a competitor, who else is there to compete with God?
Well, let’s hear from the master. In Matthew 6:24, Jesus said: “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”.
As you can see, the devil isn’t in the equation. Jesus didn’t say ‘You cannot serve both God and money.’
This clearly shows that money is more powerful than the devil…
You may not agree with me on this one. Many people shouldn’t worry about money becoming their lord.
The reason is simple: They don’t have enough money that can alter their thoughts, decisions, and take their focus from God to money.
For that matter, what is happening is that many spiritual people are worried too much about money and stressed out to pay their bills that they don’t have enough time to fellowship with God and serve Him and His purpose in their lives and in their generation. Unfortunate!
These precious people don’t worship money, but they need money to survive. If they don’t survive, they can’t even have a roof over their heads that allow them to sit down and pray and worship God.
If you ask me, who should be worried about money becoming their lord are those who have MONEY! Rich people may wrongly decide to worship money because it gives them temporary self worth and security, get what they want, get away with so many jams, and do what they want to do.
If someone is poor or average, they shouldn’t worry about money lording over them. What they need to worry about is why they’re not yet using their God given talent, His guidance, and favor, to make money so that they can serve God, His People, and meet the needs of the poor.
I’ve witnessed many spiritual teachers watering down their messages and getting manipulated because they were highly dependent on some members of their congregation to fund their mission. Rather than talk, behave, and do the way they truly believe and as they are instructed by the Lord, they lower their bar and conform to appease donors.
It is better to have enough money these servants of God need to fund their mission and worry about whether they worship money or not rather than being hostages because they don’t have enough money.
Part of the problem is that many believers are afraid of making money because of some scriptures that talk about money that have been taken out of context. Scriptures like “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” (1 Timothy 6:10)
This scripture doesn’t talk about money as evil. It is the LOVE of money. Money that doesn’t ‘err you from the faith and pierce you through with many sorrows’ isn’t evil.
These the same people who misunderstand what Paul was saying in the above scripture also, somehow, escaped or neglected to read scriptures like this: “But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth.” (Deuteronomy 8:18).
Here, Moses was not talking about rich, he was actually talking about WEALTH! From this scripture, you can clearly see that God doesn’t have a problem if you and I become wealthy.
For that matter, when you look back in history, many of God’s servants were wealthy. Think of Abraham, David, and Solomon.
Even in the New Testament, Jesus never lacked money. He was so wealthy that he needed an accountant. Not just any ordinary and ethical accountant. An accountant that stole from Him. What was impressive? Even if He had such a thief accountant, He never lacked money.
I know some people will be alarmed by what I just stated above above Jesus because they know another scripture which says: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9).
Compared to His glory and richness in the Heavenlies- before He took our flesh and came here on earth- yes, He looked poor during His earthly years. Otherwise, money never had been an issue and came in the way of affecting Jesus’ lifestyle and the way He ministered His people.
By the way, I’m not here in this blog inspiring you to seek money or wealth. I just want you to stop and reflect to evaluate and see if in case you are afraid of money and wealth in vain- if not consciously, unconsciously- because you don’t have the full context why God doesn’t want you to be porr so that you proof Him that you love Him and He is your LORD.
If in case there is any trace of worry God may disown you if you get wealthy, I’m here to ask you what kind of wealthy father desires his kids to be poor?
Our wealthy Father desires us to have all-around wealth, not just rich in money. We bear His image, and we represent Him better when we have abundance than scarcity.
Of course, God will never disown poor people. He wants us to help the poor…
Nonetheless, do you know that if you happen to be poor, God doesn’t want you to feel poor. It is written in Joel 3:10: “Let the weak say I am strong and the poor say I am rich.”
It seems paradoxical. But that is the way we should live our lives. We shouldn’t be afraid of getting wealthy. When we have abundance:
- We have freedom.
- We can choose and decide godly.
- We don’t allow the lack of money to stress and lord over us.
- We can make money serve God’s purpose in our lives.
Not only should we believe that we should strive to be wealthy by using the unlimited potential, talent, and gifts He gave us, but we shouldn’t say, behave, and act as if we’re poor even if we may not have a lot of money in the NOW.
- Let’s be honest:
- There is no glory in being poor.
- The overwhelming majority of believers shouldn’t worry about money being their lords. They don’t have enough money yet.
- Having a lot of money doesn’t instantly or by default make you worship and make money your lord.
Let’s be real. For example, most middle-class people in any country can’t send their kids to good schools, and of course, unless they get scholarships. While in this position, they should be far away from fearing money becoming their lord…
Actually, people who don’t have money are susceptible to allowing money to lord over them. They may:
- Say,
- Behave, and
- Do things that are not godly because of money so that they may survive!
Spiritual people can only gain their freedom by getting more money through proper channels, taking out the lack of money out of the equation. When they have neough money, they can focus on God, and spend enough time and resources to serve God and His people.
In closing, who should worry about money being one’s lord? People who have millions and billions of dollars. They may become susceptible to the lordship of money.
But we know so many wealthy people who:
- Didn’t allow money to lord over them.
- Created jobs.
- Help countless needy people.,
- Also live a godly lifestyle.
You want to be like them to transfer the wealth God has for you in store to those who need financial help. The least, you shouldn’t resent and judge wealthy people. Most importantly you shouldn’t scared of becoming wealthy as if money owns your soul authomatically and by default. It does’t; unless you allow it…
Therefore, this concern of spiritual people who don’t even have enough money to pay their bills and people who are not even leading a comfortable life to worry about money becoming their lord, is unnecessary, to say the least.
If you share our mission, don’t hesitate to reach out via [email protected] and/or [email protected] We would like to hear how you would like to contribute your share. We always look for those who would like to join our:
- Board of Directors
- Accountability Board
- Leaders
- Volunteers
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