Ignite Purpose Blog & Video Archives
Ignite Purpose is all about activating your faith, so you can live and love like Jesus. Each week, these practical messages are meant to encourage readers to act on what they’ve watched and read. Click here to learn more.
Clean Out the Closet
When you read the Scripture above and think that God prepared EACH day before you live them, doesn’t it make you want to be more intentional with your time? One thing I do, because I’ve had a fairly small closet for the last 6 years, is for every piece of clothing I buy…I need to get rid of something (to make room). What if we did the same thing with our time? I need to think hard when I buy a shirt, because I may NOT have a shirt In want to get rid of. We should do the same thing with our calendar! This week, think hard before you say YES to ONE more activity and even look hard at your current activities and make room in YOUR closet! If you do so, you will start to live, love and lead more and more like Jesus!
Only 24-Hours
Look at your weekly calendar and start to get practical. Grab some paper and list the major items. Then sort it by importance (not urgency). What’s most important to you? Most important to God? Now, begin to cut from the bottom, from what’s least important. Go up as far as you can. Cut what you can right now, and commit to phase out what you must, over time. If you cut out what is less important and focus on what God wants you to focus on, you’ll be able to live, love and lead like Jesus better in the future!
Build In Margin
How busy is your life? Is it filled with…Hurry? Worry? Stress? Read the verse above AGAIN and accept that you’re built for these “fruits of the Spirit,” built for margin? Now, can you make the practical decisions that’ll conform your life to God’s design, not the world’s? Commit today, to one concrete, measurable change.
Doing Too Many Things?
Start to recognize that “busyness” is the enemy of spiritual growth when it helps us avoid prioritizing. Rushing from task to task means that deeper questions can be avoided – so addressing underlying problems or doing things in new ways can be put off and side-lined. Rather than helping engage in reality, busyness often helps us deny reality. For me, being busy had become my “identity!” Sadly, being busy fulfills a dangerous need for significance, as we want to be seen as someone with major responsibilities, whose time is precious, whose life is full. Unless checked, our insecurities create an idol of being busy which we build our lives around. Our need for acceptance becomes more important than our relationship with God and with others.
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If you are too busy making “progress” instead of discovering God’s purpose for life. Ignite Purpose can help you experience what God has planned for you, from healthy relationships and strong families, to invigorating, meaningful work that taps into your skills, and passions!