Focus Your Effort. Here’s How: Karl Clauson

God through Moses said this, we would think wise people redeem time, right?

In fact, we probably told our kids that. Oh, wise people redeem time. No, Moses said people who redeemed time become wise. Teach us the number of days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Here's what's awesome. You want to grow in wisdom? Learn to redeem time. Welcome to Family Life Today, where we want to help you pursue the relationships that matter most. I'm Ann Wilson. And I'm Dave Wilson. And you can find us at familylifetoday.com or on the Family Life app.

This is Family Life Today. Okay, so I'm going to ask you, have you made any resolutions lately? Yeah. Oh, do I know about them? Yeah. Okay. No, I did make a resolution and that was to draw your heart out.

I don't know how I'm doing, but that was months ago. Oh, you know what? I've seen you do something and I thought you were going to say that you have decided to be more present in our house because I've seen you.

Almost the same thing. You haven't been on your phone as much. Like you are as much. Hey, we're taking baby steps here.

No, you really are. Even when we're with our kids, the grandkids, you're more present. And I thought, I wonder if you made a resolution. I want to know if you've made any resolutions. No, I don't usually make resolutions. You just live all out for Jesus. You just do.

You are never not sold out for Jesus. It's the greatest thing about you. I love it.

I probably do need to make resolutions. Well, you already heard this voice on the other side of the studio. Carl Claus is in the house. Good to be here, guys.

It's because we're just getting arguments right here on air. And obviously, Carl, you wrote a book called Several Resolutions. I'm going to make a resolution after this time together with Carl.

What is it? I don't know. I'm going to see where God takes me. Maybe resolve not to resolve again.

You know, the byline to this book is the most important, where self-help ends and God's power begins. Two weeks after January 1 of every year, studies say 85% of resolutions have been broken. Two weeks. Yep. I used to go to Lifetime and that parking lot revealed that. Yeah. I mean, you can't get in there. You can't get a spot.

January 20, there's all kinds of spots. Yeah. I remember I belonged to this place in Little Rock, Arkansas called Jim Bodine's. I remember asking these guys one time, and you got to say it like that. Jim Bodine's. I asked the manager one day, I said, how many memberships do you sell?

They sell like four times more than the club can handle because that's how many will never be used. Well, that's encouraging, isn't it? But here's the point. Most resolutions are made by putting ourself on the hook. I got to suck it up. I'm going to do better this time.

I'm going to get it. And here's all I'm saying. Resolutions are great if you're agreeing with God to let His power work in you.

They can change everything. But if you're just playing, I'm going to suck it up. I'm going to bootstrap this thing. You're going to play spiritual whack-a-mole because you may win in one area, but here comes a critter over here and it's going to eat your lunch.

And God wants more for you. Yeah, so we've walked through, you know, you've got seven. I think we've walked through at least four or five of those. You can pick any one you want us to hit on today.

Which one do you get a hit? Well, let's begin with why I'm even here. About 20 years ago, God allowed me to get a mission statement for my life. You've had it for 20 years. Twenty years.

Has it changed at all? Never. Wow.

It's been about two years because I started working it and honing it, working it and honing it. But I remember hearing a wise man say, you got to hone in on how God's designed you. And I started working that plan. So I exist to inspire a spiritual revolution within the church that reaches the world. So I'm a churchman at heart. My heart is the church. But here's what I've learned.

Some people have said, oh, man, you get this. Heart of an evangelist. I have a heart of an evangelist. But the thing that fires me up most is watching the church so on fire that it's doing what Paul said I'm supposed to do, equip the saints to do the work of ministry, that we're creating this movement, this cresting wave, if you will, of people that are out there reaching this world for Jesus. That fires me up. It gets me out of bed in the morning. When I talk about focusing effort, here's the beauty of this. Let's just get really practical.

When you know what you stand for, you know what to say no to. That's good. I went to a Waffle House with a friend in Little Rock. I'm big on Little Rock today, man. Jim Bo Deans to Waffle House in Little Rock. If you go to Waffle House, you got to then go to Jim Bo Deans. That's exactly right, because I walk in with him first time in. He goes, you ever ordered the hash browns here?

And I said, no, I haven't, man. And he's got one of these back in the day, the ball caps where like the sweat grease comes up about an inch above the rim there. And he goes, you're going to love these hash browns. So we sit down in the booth and the young lady walks over, says, can I help?

He goes, I'm going to order for him. Give us two orders of scattered, smothered, covered. And I'm like, what in the world is this? Scattered, smothered, covered. Scattered, smothered, covered. Well, I found out scattered is a bunch of hash browns on the grill. Scattered, smothered is onions. And covered is cheese that binds it all together. It actually sounds really good. It's also got another nickname.

Heart Attack is the other nickname. No, but scattered, smothered, covered. Here's why I get a kick out of that story. That's our life.

We're like Waffle House hash browns. And God wants us to clear this up. I'm rabid about this. This resolution of focus effort, I am rabid about and here's why.

I think the complexity of life in America today is more complex than even 2000 years ago. What do you mean by that? I'm saying just the phone alone has got multiple opportunities for spiritual compromise, for frittering away time.

You know, one of the greatest lines I ever heard was from a man named Gordon McDonald. He said it and he's right, unceased time flows to our weaknesses. But you can't begin to, and we might talk about redeemed time in a moment here, you can't begin to redeem time until you've got a focused life. And some people might freak out right now going, oh, I don't have a mission statement, more stuff I got to do. Every time I listen to Dave and Anne, I got more stuff I got to do.

No, slow the roll. Everything's good here. I will encourage you, though, when you were in your mama's womb, all the days that were marked out for you, God had penned them down. Everything. You were knit together in your mother's womb. There's a uniqueness to you. There's a unique design.

And then when Christ ascended, according to Ephesians 3, he took captives captive and he gave gifts to man. So you got this unique design. I'm made in mom's womb this way. I am the way I am.

That's great. I have certain passions. And by the way, Christian, could I just say this right now? Quit apologizing for the passions that God puts in your heart. Don't do that anymore. If God places it there and you've got good friends that you've chosen that are around you that are helping be guardrails, a wise counsel, go for it. But you combine the unique purpose and design that God's given you when you were designed in the womb with the spiritual gifting you've been given, and you begin to massage those things with a few key words, you get a mission statement.

Here's what's awesome. I don't do anything in my life. I don't do a job that I work at right now. I don't take meetings.

I guess I'll sometimes take a couple in a few months. I don't take appointments that are outside of my primary focus. I have a mission statement. I stick to it. And here's what's sweet. It shows me what to say yes to and no to. I get more joy. And actually, I am able to be a much better husband because I'm not out there scattered, smothered, covered like fries at Waffle House. Yeah, I remember when I first got in ministry, I thought we should develop our weaknesses.

That's what we should do. Oh, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? Yes.

And of course, there's some truth to that, but I realized over decades of ministry, no, no, no, no, no. God made you with strengths and gifts. Yeah. Milk them. Yeah. Use them.

Live in them. One of my first preaching classes ever in seminary, we had to do like a 10-minute little trial sermon, and the students then gave feedback, right? Yeah.

So I get up. Yeah, I've never spoken. I mean, I've spoken thinking I knew how to preach. I knew nothing about preaching. Which I have to say this because it's so crazy because I feel like you're one of the best preachers. Yeah, Dave Wilson is one of the finest communicators bar none. He is. And so we get married, and we're raising support, and Dave goes to speak at this church.

What are you bringing in support? And because it's just how God has transformed you. And my dad was sitting there, and he says to me, hey, just pulls me aside. My dad's not a believer, but he loved Dave and respected him. And he says, hey, you know, in the future, you probably shouldn't let Dave speak. He's not very good. No kidding?

Yeah. No wonder nobody gave us any money. I thought he was going to tell me the opposite.

No, no. No wonder he just took the accident in six months. He was like seminary. Well, in this first preaching class, I remember the first day after I came home.

We had no kids at the time. I came home and I said, I cannot believe I've ever gotten up in front of anybody and said anything. I had no idea what I'm doing.

And I was so excited. I'm like, I'm going to learn how to exegete scripture and then bring it to life and preach it. And how to present it. And so, you know, weeks later, they're like, okay, each student's going to get up and give a mini sermon.

So I get up and do my little deal. And I said, Dad, I'll never forget this. And so the teacher goes, okay, go ahead guys, guys and gals, tell Dave, you know, what you think. And they went through their little things and basically they said, you're a good storyteller. You're not very good teacher. Whoa. You know, you don't, you don't, things aren't clear.

You didn't link the stories to the text. And I'll never forget. I'm sitting there.

I'm sort of discouraged. And the teacher goes, so Dave, what'd you hear? And I said, I heard I shouldn't preach. He goes, Dave, you heard the wrong thing. I go, what should I have heard? He goes, you're a good storyteller. Milk it. Every sermon you give should have stories.

Make sure you have stories. Now, the other part, explaining Dada, you get better. You got to learn how to get better at that. But you are never going to preach a sermon without stories because that's what you're good at. Well, guess what?

Forty years later, he was right. That's, I always make sure stories are in there. And I had to get the other part better. But I think we live in this world where we think I got to make my weaknesses better. Yeah, of course you want to get better at that, but you want to live and thrive in what God's gifted you to do. That's what you're saying. Yeah, and I've got a young team, but it's really funny because when we get our staff together and they get in a room, the average age is about 28 until I walk in and then it goes to 49.

No joking. But here's what I love. And this is what being 62 does for you. You've lived enough where you go, OK, we've bumped along. And I did that. I went to him and I said, listen to me.

You guys have gone through this. You know your mission. Stay in your lane.

And here's for two reasons. One is excel at how God's designed you. Focus on that. Go after your strengths. Don't focus on your weaknesses so much. And here's the other reason. God puts someone else around you who's excellent at what you're weak at. Exactly.

That's called the body of Christ. Exactly. So, yes, focus effort. Get a mission statement. And that's one of my passions in this book.

I want to show people how to do that. I mean, I love it. And it's what you're saying out of Ephesians 2.

10. We are God's workmanship. Poema.

Where His poem, created in Christ Jesus to do what? Good works. Good works, but He's prepared beforehand. Yes. That is a mission statement. It's like, that's what I'm designed to do.

Specifically, what's it mean for me? That's what you're saying. But I think that's the key. I think in the church, and I know this happens with women, is we become jealous.

Yes. And then we become competitive. And we're like, oh, she has so many gifts, and I don't have any gifts. And then we get jealous of the gifts, and we try to become like someone else when there's enough air that we can all breathe it. And there's enough gifts that God's given us that we can all live in and really just grow in our giftedness and our passions. And I'll say to people, if you want to know why you are here, look at what you're passionate about. Look at what you're good at. But look also where your pain has been.

Big time. Because sometimes that pain can lead us into that gift. Yeah, so focus effort, mission statement. I just wrote mine. Oh, look at this. You wrote it while we're sitting here.

Well, I guess this is just kind of a small piece of it, because I would say we have one too as a couple. But I put, I exist to see Jesus set women free to live out their calling in life. Here's all I want to put the mustard to that with you, Juan, is you have a very unique leader gifting. You do. And so I would want to see you take the primary gifts that God's given you, some of those that you are really awesome at.

And my bride, she just loves you for them. Incorporate that somehow in words into that mission statement so that it identifies those gifts that are going to be leveraged. So I exist to inspire the spiritual revolution. Oh, write that down. You just capture those words that are you. And it's an awesome thing to behold. It really is. Wouldn't it be cool if all of us as listeners, like we had our mission statement because it helps us to focus.

Yeah. There's two areas. I've got this assessment that I had a team build that are really filled with brainiacs who understand things like algorithms and stuff. And they built something that takes these seven resolutions and lets you take this 40 question test.

And with about 99 percent accuracy, it identifies where your weakest, the weaker resolutions and the strongest ones so that you can start working on those weaker resolutions. And focus effort is one. People go, I'm scattered.

I'm doing everything under the sun, but I'm not dialed into what I know God wants for me. And so we aim to help. We really do. Good. How can people take that test? Go to familylifetoday.com and the link is up. I think your team got it there. So yeah, it'll be a huge win for them.

It's no cost to take the assessment. Go have fun with it. Enjoy it. Okay.

What's Redeemed Time mean? Ooh, this is one of my favorites. This is it for me.

Now I've always been a Franklin Covey planner dude. Okay. Yep. Ever since I read Seven Habits of Highly Effective People at 33,000 feet flying back from South Africa. Really? Yeah. True story. We think sometimes time redemption is something that Franklin Covey or Aug Mendino invented. No, no, no, no. Go back to Moses.

The only song he wrote, he wrote a song and he said, Oh God, teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Whoa. Well, here's a profound thing here. It gets me so giddy.

I feel like jumping up and down. God through Moses said this, we would think wise people redeem time, right? In fact, we probably told our kids that, oh, wise people redeem time. No, Moses said, people who redeemed time become wise. Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Here's what's awesome. You want to grow in wisdom? Learn to redeem time.

Gordon McDonald said it years ago in a book and he's right. Unseized time flows to our weaknesses. And the reason we have to seize the day today is that I've got distractions coming at me like I mean every which way.

It's like every angle they're coming at me. So we've got to be able to redeem time. Now I want to put a cautionary flag because my bride is in studio listening in right now and I can hear what she's thinking right now.

I want to be careful here. This is not about becoming a workaholic or getting crazy, just hyper-focused on, oh, is every moment redeemed? You can take a nap to the glory of God. You can take a grandkid to a ballpark and talk two-year-old to the glory of God. You can go on a date and the date could take longer than you had planned to the glory of God. All I'm saying is this, redeeming time is God's idea. And it's clear if you go to the book of Ephesians, the apostle Paul says, teach us, redeem the time. Paul says, redeem the time because the days are evil. You know what the context of that passage is? Sexual sin. I am absolutely convinced that what Paul's saying here is that unredeemed time, especially in men's lives, unceased time flows to the weaknesses of sexual temptation. King David.

It happened to him. Yes. Supposed to be at war. Yup. Sexual sin and he's wasting time and not using time the way God wanted him to do. And we do the same thing. You're right. Oh my goodness. So I used to drive myself crazy trying to be busy. God broke me and caused me to repent of that and he used my bride to do it in a sweet way.

But now I live to be led by the power of the Holy Spirit so that moments are redeemed, whether I'm working hard, playing hard, going on a date, an unexpected call that's going to glorify God. It maybe isn't by my day planner, but it's redeemed time. But, Carl, it sounds so exhausting because, no, I'm serious because some people are like, life is busy, our kids are in the house, we're exhausted. All I want to do at the end of the day is sit in front of the TV and watch Netflix.

Do I need to plan out every minute? No. But I will say this, did you know, I believe it could glorify God.

Some people are going to go, oh, my circuits are going to blow. It could very well glorify God that you sit down and watch a Netflix with your spouse. Oh, you're kidding. I thought that's the time that's just kind of totally unredeemed and God just kind of tolerates it when we do that.

No. God knows how we're wired. He designed us the way we are and sometimes God's great with those restorative moments and sometimes it's front of a flat screen and it's okay. Well, I mean, I'm thinking you're saying Redeemed Time also means Redeemed Sabbath. Sabbath is God's gift to man. He gave us a gift called rest. It's a Ten Commandments. And you know, even as a preacher, I preach the Ten Commandments and often not live that one.

Yeah, absolutely. It's like, oh, it's not really that important. No, Redeemed Time means there are times every week, one out of seven, he says, rest.

It may be it could be watch a TV show, it could be sit on by a beach, it could be sit with your Bible, but rest your soul. And we just think that one's not that important. Redeemed Time isn't just get busy, busy, busy and always be on mission.

The best way I'm going to be on mission, sometimes I need to recoup and refresh. There's no doubt. I got a Holy Spirit gut check here. You guys ready for this one?

Yes. Here we go. The statistics that I have about media usage and some of the raw numbers that I have about where people are at with their calendar in a day, we've got a lot of Unredeemed Time.

I did a seven-day challenge. I had a prof walk into our class, a pastoral minor class in my Bible college, and he said, gentlemen, never forget you. Gentlemen, I want you to be good pastors.

If you're going to be good pastors, you're going to redeem time. I'm like, yeah, because I was raised by a dad that worked his booty off. My dad knew how to work and he taught me how to work. So I knew how to work.

He says, here's the deal, man. I want you to take a challenge. I'm going to give you this calendar. Everyone take one home. It's filled out by a half an hour.

Now I don't want you getting too crazy on this one, but I want as best you can account for every half hour of a day. So when you wake up in the morning, just for one week, I just want you to do this, this Redeemed Time challenge. Who's up for it? I'm my hands first in the air.

Well, then peer pressure, everyone's hands in the air. Let me tell you something that happened to me. Here I am. I'm newly married.

We got a little boy. I'm a youth pastor making 450 bucks a month. I was bringing home the cheddar, man. And I'm building decks on the side and I'm a full-time student. That's a lot. So I start out on this Redeemed Time challenge. You guys might know where this is going. I start in first day, every half an hour filled, second day, every half an hour filled. But I'm starting to notice something. I've been knocking down the ducks so well, I'm starting to pull things from Wednesday into Tuesday.

Wednesday comes knocking down ducks pretty well, but Thursday starting to dry up. I'm starting to invent things, things that are taking 15 minutes. I'm saying I'm lying and I'm going, that took an hour. Friday comes, I'm like, Sabbath day rest, got to have a Sabbath. This is it. Saturday comes, I'm back on the treadmill.

Here's what happened. I found that even though I was a busy guy, there were some hours in my life that were yet unredeemed. And God doesn't want us busy. No, God doesn't want us busy. No way. But he wants us out of that squeezable hours that get frittered away.

Hmm. Especially on our phones. I can be on my phone for a long time scrolling.

You ready for this? National average, on phone, outside of work. National average, five hours.

I believe it. A day. A day. A day.

I wonder what our kids are, like high school kids. Wow. Redeemed time. You got a redeemed time.

Got a redeemed time. And that doesn't just happen. No, it doesn't just happen. But I love, Carl, that in that class you raised your hand like, yep, I'm going to do that. Even for our listeners, for us, to thank God, show us what that looks like.

Yeah. Let us look at our calendars and think, is there a better way that I could use that time for your kingdom, for my marriage, for my family? Show us. I'm willing to really see what God wants to do in our lives. To offer that, to offer my phone, for you to offer our phones, whew, that's a sacrifice.

I would love to see God transform. I'll tell you, this has gotten so convicting for me because I found myself, I got to be up early to do radio at 5 a.m. What time do you get up? Too early. Let's just say that.

Four-ish, 3.30-ish. But here's what I learned. I have to be to bed because I still need, I need seven and a half hours sleep. And I found myself taking a phone and being on it too late, and I'd go down a Twitter hole or something. And by the way, you go down a Twitter hole, all you do is get all kinds of muck all over you because it ain't good down there.

Especially before you go to bed. So I found two friends, and you know what they have? They have gone into my iPhone and they've gone into my settings that blocks my phone out.

You know what? My smartphone becomes a totally dumb phone every night at 7.30 p.m. Becomes totally dumb. There's no way to access the internet.

In fact, I had it blocked out so bad one night, I was driving home from an elder meeting with my bride. I didn't know how to get out of this neighborhood. I go to plug in my maps. My maps is shut down, so I'm having to go home the old fashioned way. What's this cross street?

What's that cross street? I mean, it was horrible, but man, it has served me well. Just having that accountability to redeem time to get to bed makes life so much better. You know, as I listened to you even the last few days, this is what hit me. How bad do you want it?

That's what just hit me. How bad do you want to walk with God? How bad do you want your life to change? How bad do you want to make a mark on eternity?

This is your moment to say, I want this, and I'm going to make the resolution and I'm going to get some accountability, choosing wise friends to help me do it, and my life's going to change by the power of God. Dallas Willard is one of the greatest authors on spiritual formation. He's gone on to his reward, but he said this, I was reading his book again, rereading one of his books, and he said this, our behavior always follows our belief. Dave, you're right. To the listener that's out there, I don't ask that you let your behavior start shifting. Get a belief boiling that there is a gap between where you are today and God's promises and go take hold of those things.

Go get them. You're listening to Dave and Ann Wilson with Carl Clausen on Family Life Today. We're going to hear from Carl again in just a second, but real quick, his book is called The Seven Resolutions, where self-help ends and God's power begins. We've got copies of Carl's book available at familylifetoday.com.

You can also order your copy by calling 800-358-6329. That's 800, F as in family, L as in life, and then the word today. We asked Carl Clausen his thoughts about this ministry, and here's how he enthusiastically responded. Hey, while I'm here, can I just say how much I love family life and how grateful I am for this program. Dave and Ann, you are both so genuine and honest, and this kind of authenticity is so rare, and yet you do it on a daily basis. It's so cool. I know this month there's a huge thing going on where every donation to this ministry gets matched dollar for dollar. That's awesome. That's phenomenal.

That's God at work. What an opportunity to bring real help and answers to hurting families. Here's my challenge. If you're not in a position to contribute right now, you're off the hook. Don't worry about that. That's okay.

No pressure. But if you can and the Spirit of God is prompting you, I want to say contribute with zeal and gusto. Let's invest in the gospel. The time is now, and investing in the lives of families is critical. I can't think of a better place this month to give than locking arms with family life and making a generous gift.

Would you do that? You will be making a difference. Thanks so much, Carl. And right now, when you do give any amount, we're going to send you, as our thank you, four copies of Bob Lapine's book called The Four Emotions of Christmas. Four copies, one to keep for yourself and three to give away to a neighbor, a friend, or a family member. It's our thank you to you when you give today. And again, thanks to some generous ministry partners, any gift that you give will be matched dollar for dollar until we hit $2 million. That's for a one-time gift, or if you become a monthly partner.

Right now, your monthly gifts will be doubled for the next 12 months. You can give today at familylifetoday.com, or again, you can give us a call at 800-358-6329. That's 800 F as in family, L as in life, and then the word today. You ever find yourself having a tough time relating to people in conversation?

Every introvert went, uh, yes. Well tomorrow on Family Life Today, David and Wilson are joined with their guest Heather Holliman to give actionable items for greater connections. On behalf of David and Wilson, I'm Shelby Abbott. We'll see you back next time for another edition of Family Life Today. Family Life Today is a production of Family Life, a crew ministry helping you pursue the relationships that matter most.