CAN YOU MANAGE IT?

How would I keep everything organized? A couple of days ago I was running errands for my daughter and son-in-law, exchanging gifts they had received for Christmas and purchasing some things they needed for their new baby. The holiday inventory in the stores had been depleted for weeks, so most of the gifts ended up having to be returned rather than exchanged. I had never seen so many gift cards, but I had also never asked for so many refunds without receipts. I stacked the cards in a Ziploc bag and made a desperate attempt to remember the balances on each one so I could turn around and use them to buy the items needed for my grandson.

I am notoriously unorganized. Normally I chunk gift card refunds into my purse, where they are forgotten until a random search for keys or a lipstick make them surface like a surprise windfall. But these cards were different. They belonged to someone else. And I had been placed in charge of them.

As I opened my new calendar today, I vowed to handle the next 12 months with the same kind of efficiency and care that had guided my gift card transactions. For days during my Bible reading I have focused on words from a parable Jesus told to His disciples:

And the unjust steward's lord commended him because he had done wisely. For the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.
(Luke 16:8)

In the parable, a man had been placed in charge of things and he had been wasteful. His boss was coming to take an account, and the man was afraid of losing his job. So, he cut his own commission and made some deals that enabled him to save some of his boss’s money. When his boss heard about the man’s shrewdness, he commended him. And there the point is made: As Christians, we should be as astute in spiritual matters as nonbelievers are in wordly matters.

What makes me so lazy, so wasteful, and so irresponsible in my spiritual life? Perhaps I forget who I am. I am not the boss. I am simply in charge of things my Creator has placed in my care. And I will give an account of how I have managed what I have been given.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or bad. (2 Corinthians 5:10)

I have saved old calendars for years. Not long ago I glanced through one from the busiest time of my life, when two daughters were in high school and one was in middle school. My husband Mike was working in Singapore so I was a single parent for much of the year. As I flipped the well-worn pages, I was amazed by the whirlwind of soccer games, cheerleading practices, youth activities, Bible studies, birthday parties and doctor appointments that crowded our days. Instantly, I asked myself this question: how much of all that activity made a difference for eternity?

So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen; for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18)

An effective CEO has a plan that involves production, quality control, management, public relations, operations, and vision. He must manage time, money and people effectively. I need to manage my days with the same zeal I would use if I knew millions of dollars were at stake. In all honesty, there is much more at stake.

But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I may gain Christ (Philippians 3:6-8)

I want to manage my time more effectively. I want to awaken each day asking God to reveal to me the end of my life and the number of my days. Let me know how transitory I am. (Psa 39:4) I want to live my life with urgency,with a constant awareness that I am not guaranteed tomorrow. Instead of just carving time out every day to read God’s Word, pray, and spend time in His presence, I want to get out and make Him known to people around me. When I flip the last page of my calendar this year, I want the things I have done to make a difference for eternity, not just for a moment in 2008.

I want to manage my money with care. Okay, my husband’s money. We are far too wasteful. A life of simplicity would allow us to save more money that could be used to spread the gospel farther around the world.

You cannot be the slave of two masters. You will like one more than the other or be more loyal to one than to the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Luke 16:13)

I want to manage my relationships better. I was created to be my husband’s helpmate, and I can be a better helper, just as there are husbands who might want to do a better job of loving their wives. I can be a mom who listens better. I can be a neighbor who does a better job of reaching out. And I can do a better job of pointing others to Christ in every situation.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ; certain that God is appealing through us, we plead on Christ's behalf, "Be reconciled to God." (2 Corinthians 5:20)

If the Lord doesn’t come back in 2008, we will each flip our calendar a dozen times this year. One day very single one of us will give an account of how we spent the days that stretch in front of us. As my daughter’s pastor said on Sunday morning, “This year make sure you take the opportunity to turn a page in your life, not just on your calendar.”