You Can Spend It Any Way You Wish, But You Can Only Spend It Once.
Take a moment and reread the title to this article. Think it over. As you are today, quickly review what you are doing with and how you are spending your valuable time. Yesterday is over. Tomorrow hasn’t begun yet. And now, today, is quickly slipping away never to be retrieved and used over again.
Are you investing your time, energy, and resources wisely or are you squandering them away and wasting them on frivolous activities or accomplishments?
Leaders all know that you only have one life to live. That you only have about 75 years on this earth to discover, learn how to use , and then serve your fellow man while passionately pursuing the completion of God’s Will for your own life. When you are 25 years old, 75 years seems the same as an eternity. When your experience and perspective change, say at age 65, then becoming 75 years old does not seem very far away at all.
Don’t waste your youth! Your level of excitement, level of energy, and ability to stay on the job will never be higher than it is today. Don’t throw away those precious todays. Use them. Respect them. Value them.
God Almighty has this to say regarding the use of the one life He has given you. He wrote it in the Book of James, Chapter 4, verses 13–17 ESV:
Boasting About Tomorrow
(13) “Come now, you who say, ‘today or tomorrow we will go
into such and such a town and spend a year there and
trade and make a profit’—
(14) Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is
your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time
and then vanishes.
(15) Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live
and do this or that.’
(16) As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
(17) So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it,
for him it is sin.”
There are always so very many possibilities in life. So many twists and turns, changes and reversals, highs and lows…They can almost drive one to their wits end if one is always trying to control his own situation or circumstances. Get the facts right. Relax, calm down, cool it! God owns everything! God is in total control of all events, and all circumstances. Nothing happens in life but for God permitting it to happen. Now that actually means that nothing happens in your life that hasn’t already come across God’s desk and received God’s stamp of approval. Even if it is not good.
God’s ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not as our thoughts. God is greater, higher, and wiser than us…whether we like it or not,…whether we agree with it or not. We live in a fallen world, and have lived in one since the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden. Sin abounds in this world all around us. There is always going to be some collateral damage (some ugly things happening) from this rampant world of the flesh. Be ready for it. Expect ugly things to happen and be ready to handle them when they do. Arm and protect yourself with the full armor of God, the Holy Word of God, and then walk in total faith and belief in God. Always remember the promise of God made to us in the Book of Romans, Chapter 8, verse 28. ESV:
(28) “And we know that for those who love God all things work
together for good, for those who are called according to His
purpose.”
The average person lives for approximately 72 years. Baring unforeseen accidents or catastrophes and with the aid of modern medicine, you have good assurance that seven to eight decades of life will be given to you from birth to death.
You can choose to spend and invest those precious hours and days seeking and finding God’s Will for your life and then spending your days passionately pursuing His Will for you, or….you can waste those valuable hours, weeks, and years. It is totally your own decision. Just remember, you only get one chance to use your life on this earth….one chance, and then, it is over!
Leaders of other people are privileged to add one more aspect to their life’s journey. They get to learn how to lead and then participate in helping and assisting other of God’s creation to succeed and achieve their own heart’s desire. If you have chosen to become a leader, never forget that all success has a price tag. Sacrifice is one of the building blocks of all successful people. Inconvenience is the watchword of those who decide to be leaders.
As Americans, we are free people. Our personal and economic freedom has been bought and paid for by and with human blood on the various battlefields of the world. Always respect and be grateful for the ultimate sacrifice some have made so that you and I can be free.
A story please…The time: World War II…The place: The Burma jungle.
This story was written about by author, Ernest Gordon, in his book entitled “The Miracle on the River Kwai.” It was also made into a highly acclaimed and controversial movie entitled “The Bridge on the River Kwai.” The story tells how Scottish soldiers of the Allied Forces were forced by their Japanese captors to work on the construction of a jungle railroad. The men worked in deplorable conditions, under the barbarous Japanese guards. Starvation, torture, disease, and death accompanied them every day.
One day, during a regular inspection made everyday after their work was completed, a hand shovel was declared to be missing. The Japanese officer in charge became enraged, demanding that the missing shovel be produced or accounted for or else this officer would kill all of the men. The infuriated officer pulled out his side-arm handgun and began brandishing it. It was obvious he meant what he said.
After several very tense moments, a man finally stepped forward from the ranks. The officer put his gun back into his holster, picked up a shovel, and proceeded to beat the man to death right in front of the other prisoners. The remaining prisoners were allowed only to pick up his bloody corpse and carry it with them to a second tool check inspection site. At this second inspection site, all the work tools were recounted,…and all of the shovels were accurately accounted for–there had never been a missing shovel. There simply had been a miscount at the first check point.
Word of the incident quickly spread through the entire prison camp. An innocent man had been willing to die to save the others. The incident had a profound effect, binding the prisoners together in deep loyalty. It was that very loyalty, in part, that gave the men strength to survive until they were, at last, liberated from the heavy brutal hand of the Japanese army.
Personal sacrifice is inspiring to others. It brings hope and encouragement to weary souls. It produces growth and maturity among the ranks of followers.
There is no true leadership without some kind of sacrifice.
Leaders Gotta Lead………….