Page 44 - Faith-Based Workbook 8-27-18

TOPUCU Adult Faith-Based Workbook
"Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the
best use of time." — Colossians 4:5 (ESV)
the positive change I want to see in my life.
That’s the challenge!
Let’s take a look at it from a different angle.
Idle time is usually set in opposition to hard
work. And as we discussed in earlier lessons,
most people have set their minds to accept
the easy route because it feels good; it’s
pleasurable. When you think of pleasure,
one of the words that might come to mind
is “amusement.” Now, if we break down this
word into pieces there is a very powerful
symbolism about the dangers of idle time.
An Internet search for the word “muse” will
reveal numerous definitions, but several of
them point to the word “think.” You will also
find that if you do a search for the suffix
“ment” you’ll see that it means “action.” Lastly,
an examination of “a” as a prefix will reveal a
number of definitions that are synonymous
with another prefix: “un.” Simply put,
“amusement” is the “action of unthinking.”
Now this is not to say that you can’t have
time for amusement; but rather that you
have to plan time for amusement and do
it in reasonable moderation. You can’t just
hang out 4 or 5 nights a week. You can’t
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watch television for four hours every day.
Think about it: 4 hours a day is 28 hours
a week or one sixth of your entire life
spent doing a meaningless, nonproductive
activity. Remember, this program is about
transformation. You can’t be transformed
by giving one-sixth of your life away to
activities that don’t produce growth. This is
a great place to remind you of the lesson on
pain. Is it going to be painful transforming
the habit of how you spend your time into
doing things you don’t want to do? Yes, it is.
Hopefully, by now this program has taught
you that almost all change is painful, but
at the end comes the reward. The sacrifice
is worth it.
All of us have time that we waste. You will
learn in part 2 of this lesson that having
some amusement time is fine, but you
need to discipline yourself to limit that idle
time. You will also be taught some secrets
and tools champions use to take advantage
of every minute of the day and how they
get themselves to do what they don’t want
to do so they can become what they want
to become.
LESSON 6: PART 2
HOW DO YOU SPEND YOUR 168?
"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season
we will reap, if we do not give up." — Galatians 6:9 (ESV)
In part 1 of this lesson you learned the value
of time. You also learned that there are
only so many hours allotted to each of our
lives. In this part of the lesson you are going
to learn how to persist as you anxiously
anticipate your desired results. Then we’re
going to discuss a technique you can use
to manage your busy times and more
importantly maximize your down time.
Let’s get to it.
Whatever your habit change or goal is it
won’t happen overnight. And this Starter
Program never promised that it would. There
are no shortcuts or magic pills. Proverbs
14:23 says, “In all toil there is profit, but
mere talk tends only to poverty.” (ESV)
No matter what you’ve heard, no one is an
instant-success. No one wakes up in the
morning and says, “By the end of today, I’ll
be fit, in shape and have better eating habits,”
or, “By the end of the day, I’ll be a successful
famous person,” or, “By the end of the day I’ll
have dropped that bad habit.” It’s impractical
to believe any of that. But somehow, so many
of us believe that if success doesn’t come
instantly or in the timing we expect, then it’s
not meant to be.
We find ourselves hoping and wishing
for change to happen immediately and
sometimes we even act unreasonably in
hopes of hurrying things along. We talk
about God’s timing and waiting on Him and
being patient. And we read scriptures like
Isaiah 40:31 that says, “…but those who
Lesson 6: Part 2
hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will
run and not grow weary, they will walk and
not be faint.” (NIV) Yet we still sometimes
act hastily and end up missing the benefits
of laying out the plan and following through
on it. It’s like watching someone hit the
elevator button a dozen times thinking that
the elevator will get there any quicker.
The techniques and formulas you’re learning
through this Starter Program will help you
along the way, but the bottom line is: true
lasting transformation takes time. “And let
us not grow weary of doing good, for in due
season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
Galatians 6:9 (ESV)
Accepting that truth is an important step
to achieving success. The second step is
learning how to use time wisely. There
is a principle called Parkinson’s Law. The
definition is, “work expands so as to fill the
time available for its completion.” In other
words, it simply explains the difference
between an efficient life and an effective
life. Let’s take a look at an analogy. Imagine
a one-room apartment. It’s easy to take care
of. If you’re having company it doesn’t take
much time to prepare and afterwards clean-
up is fairly simple. Day in and day out life
goes on and you do what needs to be done.
It’s an efficient apartment. Most people live
an efficient life. But Parkinson’s Law explains
that you can live an effective life. We’ve all
had an effective day, haven’t we? Let’s say
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