“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.”
James 4:14
“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Philippians 1:21
Life is an allotment of time given to man by God for the purpose of obeying His commands. Some would call life a “gift”, I do not dare to be so naive. Life should be called a test instead of a gift. It is a gut check, a test of internal resolve and personal commitment. When men join the military they go through boot camp and are hit with all kinds of chaos from multiple angles. Some men “survive” and move on while others quit and go home. Some of these men go to advanced warfare training to become a special operations commando. Before they make it to special operations, they endure ridiculous amounts of discomfort. Only those who really want to endure can force themselves to continue.
Eventually these men realize that nothing can hurt them.
The training officers cannot hurt them.
Hours in ice cold water cannot hurt them.
Extreme lack of sleep cannot hurt them.
Physical exercise that puts the highest possible demands on the body cannot hurt them because the mind is stronger than anything material.
Physical training is the gut check for those Men.
Life acts as the gut check for regular men. For those soldiers, extreme difficulty is compressed into a few months. For the common, our difficulty is spread out over all the decades of our life and we never have to endure something so painful as a boot camp. Life is a long, slow war that demands the best from men. The only question is if men can endure all the way to the end of life.
Key: All of life simply is a long delayed gratification experiment.
Can we give up the pleasures we want now for the rewards we want later? Can we endure immediate discomfort for the sake of future enjoyment, or are we too weak?
God has issued commands that are painful to men. God’s commands cause immediate discomfort with the promise of a later reward. There is not a man of flesh on the earth who thinks that saving oneself for marriage is fun or enjoyable. Few men are not tempted by mind altering drugs that would take them away from the pain of the present life. We as men must choose this discomfort and curse the pleasure of sin (Hebrews 11:25).
You have been given a certain allotment of time to live your life. What are you doing with that time?
Are you wasting it for the immediate pleasure of life? Hebrews 11 states that Moses chose to endure affliction with the people of God rather than to enjoy the passing pleasure of sin. Most people point to this verse to show that sin does not bring lasting enjoyment. What most Christians deny is the fact that sin is enjoyable. Sin feels great. If it did not feel good then we would not do it. The only question is whether or not you will endure a similar affliction with the people of God or if you will give in to the sin.
The sin will be great immediately, but it will bite you in the end. Righteousness will be painful in the present, but bring enjoyment and satisfaction in the end. The small sins add up to affect your character negatively just as small acts of righteousness compound and reward you with a return on the investment.
You have to choose one of these paths. Not choosing a path is the same as choosing the path of evil – apathy is death. Apathy breeds stagnation. Stagnation breeds disease. Disease breeds death. Choose rather to be a Man and to progress.
Mantra
I am spending my time with frugality and wisdom.
Application
Treat the time you have been given the same as if you were given money. Would you waste all the money in your bank on nonsense or would you use it wisely? Invest your time today for the benefits that come tomorrow. Endure discomfort today knowing that you will be compensated for your sacrifice. Examine your life immediately and look at how you are spending your time.
Treat your time the same way you would treat your money and budget it. Write down the things you invest time into and see what you can cut out to replace with more beneficial and profitable investments. Half the work is budgeting the time, following through is easy when you determine in your mind what is worth spending time one.
Use your time budget to break down your spending habits and trim the fat from your days.
Write down what you are doing every waking hour.
Note how you are spending your time hour by hour and you will be shocked at how much time you are wasting.
Wasting too much time watching television? You likely are. Replace it with a profitable habit. Playing too many video games? You likely are. Find a way to make money instead, you will find it more rewarding over time.
Take a realistic inventory of your life: are you pleased with what you have done with your life? If not, take a good look in the mirror at the source of all your problems. Your life is nothing more than the accumulation of the effects of all your choices thus far.
Do not be discouraged if your life is a disgrace to all mankind, you still have time to change.
The intent to change is the catalyst for change, but intent alone will not bring about that transformation of the self. You must begin with intent then move to strategizing. Once you build your strategy for how you will spend your time, you must implement that strategy and be consistent with it, forcing yourself to spend your time wisely through tremendous discipline.
Do not waste the time you are given, there will be plenty of time to take it easy one life ends.
Armor your mind.
Discipline your body.
Obliterate the demon of stagnation and the spirit of laziness.
Change your life.
Conduct Yourselves
LIKE MEN
