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Key Bible Verse: Don't pursue your own interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight ( Isaiah 58:13 ). Bonus Reading: Isaiah 58:13-14

The Bible's solution for time scarcity is an act I call time-yielding. We offer up our time to its rightful owner.

For years I stuffed the Sabbath as full as the other days of the week. As I studied the Bible, however, I became persuaded that "keep the Sabbath" was more than just a synonym for "get some rest." Reluctantly at first, but out of conviction, I began to keep it. Asking me to set apart a day each week was God's way of laying claim to all of it. I'm planting a "sold" sign right in the middle of my days.

I've also adopted the habit of beginning each day by yielding it back to its Maker. My first conscious thought, as I wake to the predawn light, is most often, "Lord, You've given me another day in which to enjoy and serve You. I offer it back to You; lead me in how You'd have me use it."

The act of yielding is repeated throughout the day: driving to work, between appointments, over lunch, returning home, entering into the evening. Interruptions used to drive me buggy, mucking up my picture of the way I thought my life should look.

Now (for the most part) I have a different view: I've already given my time back to God, so it's His to use (or disrupt) however He sees fit.

—David Henderson in Discipleship Journal

My Response: How can I give God the right to determine my time use?

Thought to Apply: Life is too short for us to do everything we want to do; but it is long enough for us to do everything God wants us to do.—SOURCE UNKNOWN

Adapted from Discipleship Journal (1-2/05) by permission.

Copyright © 2006 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Tell me clearly what to do, and show me which way to turn.

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