Hey, podcast listeners. Thanks for streaming today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. Our mission is to pierce the darkness with the light of God's word through the most effective media available, like this podcast. To support Pathway to Victory, go to ptv.org slash podcast and click the donate button or follow the link in our show notes. Now here's today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. Thanks to the horrific attack on Israel. I've written a brand new book called Are We Litting in the End Times?
Go to ptv.org to order your copy. You know, regrets about time can be especially painful because we can never regain time that we've lost. We talk about saving time, making time, borrowing time, but none of those things is really possible. And that's what we're going to talk about today, how we ought to spend our time. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. Have you ever become so engrossed in a task that you lose track of time? If we're not careful, those hours can turn into days and weeks and months and even years.
And then we're left wondering, where did all that time go? Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress shares how to make the most of the time that we've been given. Now here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.
Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David. And welcome again to Pathway to Victory.
I'm no different than you are. I too carry a mobile device with me. But when it comes to reading devotional materials, I rarely use my iPhone.
I prefer something tangible, not digital. Well, this is one of the many reasons we decided to publish Pathway Magazine for you. Printed in a convenient size, Pathway Magazine is your daily companion. It's filled with devotional pieces and articles on Christian living. When you get in touch with us today, I'd be pleased to send you a complimentary edition of Pathway Magazine.
All the details for receiving Pathway Magazine are found at ptv.org. And then before Friday of this week, you're invited to request my bestselling book, Say Goodbye to Regret. The subtitle is Living Beyond the Would-Haves, Could-Haves, and Should-Haves. Far too many people have sunk into a pit of disappointment. Maybe it's regretting a broken relationship. Perhaps it's regretting the lack of time you invested in your family. Well, how should we handle these personal regrets?
Does God punish us for these past shortcomings? These are the questions I answer in my book, Say Goodbye to Regret. While there's still time remaining, I'd be happy to send you a copy.
It's yours when you give a generous gift to support the growing ministry of Pathway to Victory. Get ready to jot down our contact information later in today's program. But right now, let's tackle another common regret. I've titled today's message, Say Goodbye to Time Regrets.
Benjamin Franklin once asked, Does thou love life? If so, do not squander time, for time is the stuff life is made of. You know, it's interesting when we talk about regrets, how many people's regrets center around the use or misuse of their time. Too much time spent watching television, not enough time building my relationship with God.
Too much time worrying, too much time in an unfulfilling relationship, not enough time with my children. If regrets about time are a major source of regrets in all areas of life, then it seems like we need to talk about what the Bible says is the best way to use our time. We're going to look at the biblical principles for using our time wisely. But before we do that, I want us to look at three overarching biblical principles about time you find in the scripture.
First of all, write this down. Time is limited. Time is limited.
We forget that sometimes. It takes the departure of a child to college or the death of a loved one or just a brief look in the mirror to remind us that time is quickly passing by. So what's to be our response to the passing of time? Panic?
Worry? No, listen to what Moses says in Psalm 90, verse 12. So then, teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are. Help us to spend them as we should. And that's what we're going to talk about today, how we ought to spend our time to value the time God has given us. There's a second truth, and that is we're responsible for the use of our time. God wants us to master our time. In Matthew 25, Jesus said in one of the parables that one day we're going to be judged. Remember the parable of the talents?
We're going to be judged according to the treasures, to the opportunities, and according to the time that God has given each one of us. And then thirdly, a biblical principle, and this is so important, is it's possible to redeem time. It's possible to redeem time. Now, that's the paradox. You can never reclaim time that's been lost.
It's gone forever, but you can redeem. You can make good use of the time you have left, and in some inexplicable way, it can even make up for the time you have lost. How do you redeem the time God has given you? Let me suggest to you five biblical principles. Number one, and this is so foundational, learn the lesson of the big rocks. Learn the lesson of the big rocks. Stephen Covey, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know he was a Mormon.
Okay, don't send me any emails. Even a broken clock can be right twice a day. Stephen Covey's a bestselling author, and he tells a great story about an associate of his who went to a time management seminar, and in the middle of this lecture, the instructor pulled out from the shelf underneath him a big gallon jar that was empty. And then he pulled out a bucket of big rocks. He asked the audience, how many rocks do you think are in this bucket?
How many of them do you think I can fit into this empty jar? They said three, four, five, so he took one by one. He got four rocks in there, and he said, how many of you think this jar is now full?
Everybody raised their hand. He said, let me show you why you're wrong. He then picked up a bucket filled with gravel, and he poured the gravel into that jar. And the gravel went down and filled in the empty spaces left by the big rocks. He said, now how many of you would say this jar is full?
Half of the people raised their hand. He said, let me show you again why you're wrong. He then picked up a bucket of fine sand, and he poured that fine sand in, and it filled in spaces left by the big rocks and the gravel. He said, now how many of you would say this jar is full?
Nobody raised their hand. He said, you're right, and let me show you why. He then picked up a container of water and was able to get nearly a quart of water in that jar. He said, now what lesson about time management does this illustration teach you?
And one student raised his hand and said, it means no matter how full your schedule is, you can always squeeze something else into it. The instructor said, no, that's not the lesson. The lesson is, had I not put the big rocks in first, I never would have been able to put them in later. Put the big rocks in first. That is the key to managing your time wisely, to discover what the big rocks, the important things of your life are that you want to devote your time to. Now those big rocks can be different for different people. Let me help you focus on what your big rocks may be. If you could ask God to give you any four things, what would you ask Him to give you in your life? Now don't give a Miss America answer, world peace, end of starvation, love for my fellow man.
No. What would you really say? For some people it might be a fulfilling marriage. That's a big rock for me.
For some people it may be a successful career. Some people might say an intimate relationship with God. Figure out what the big rocks are in your life. Secondly, turn your dreams or your big rocks into goals. You know, a dream without a plan is only a wish. We need a way to take those dreams, those big rocks, what we really want from God, and turn them into a goal. By the way, a goal is a specific accomplishment that can be measured by time and date. You know, let's take to have a more intimate relationship with God. That may be a great objective, but it's not a goal.
You have to be able to measure it. What does it mean to have a more intimate relationship with God? Well, maybe you would say, well, what that takes is time, time spent with God. So here's my goal. I want to spend 15 minutes a day reading my Bible and praying beginning tomorrow.
I want to spend 15 minutes a day, perhaps you say five days a week, reading my Bible and praying to the Lord beginning tomorrow. Now that's a very specific goal. Maybe some of you would say my goal, one of my goals is to have a successful retirement, a fulfilling retirement. What does that look like for you?
Be specific. We need to turn our dreams into goals, and that leads to a third step for using your time wisely. Make your goals a part of your daily schedule.
Now this is where the rubber meets the road. You've got to actually take those plans, those dreams, and integrate them into your daily schedule. Your daily schedule ought to be informed by what the big rocks are in your life. Now, realistically, you can't spend 100% of your time working on your big rocks.
You've got other responsibilities at work and with your family, but at least 60% of your time ought to be spent on what you've identified as the big rocks for your life. For example, take spending time with God. If you're going to read your Bible 15 minutes a day and pray, there may be some things you need to do to make that happen.
First of all, you may need an alarm clock to get up in the morning. You may want a new Bible. Maybe you'd like a paraphrase or a different version of the Bible that would speak to you in a fresh way. Maybe you'd get a prayer journal to record your request to God and God's answers. Take those objectives, those goals, and make your list of things to do based on those objectives. Now, there are several ways to do this, and I know I'm getting into the weeds here. But again, we're trying to discover how to use your time wisely, as the Bible says to do. One is a daily to-do list.
Now, this is a simple concept. Many of you do it. Before you go to bed the night before, make a list of all the things you need to do the next day. A variation of that is make a list of the five most important things you can do the next day.
Even if you don't get through the list, at least you've done the most important things first. Now, that's a good way to manage your time, but there's a problem with it, and sometimes the things we do aren't the most important things we could be doing. And so, another way to manage your day is what some people call the eat the big frog first principle. That is, start your day doing the hardest, most distasteful thing you have to do, and get it out of the way so you can go on to other things.
Now, here's the problem with that idea. Many times the most distasteful and hardest thing you have to do is not the most important thing. For example, a salesman wakes up on Monday morning, he's all energized, ready to go out and make sales calls, but he remembers he's got to turn in that report from last month to his supervisor, and he hates filling out reports.
Well, he spends the morning trying to summon up the strength to fill out that report, when really the most important thing he could be out doing is selling. I think the best way to manage your daily task is using that big rocks principle that I talked about just moments ago. Letting the big rocks of your life dictate your weekly schedule.
Let me show you what I mean by that. Now, again, this is very detailed, but I'm trying to be helpful to you so that you can make the most of your time. On Friday afternoon, sometimes Saturdays, every week I look at the next week what I've got to do, and I make a little simple grid like this. I go from Sunday through Saturday, and I list Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then I do two horizontal lines that divide each day into three segments, morning, afternoon, and evening.
Now, after I've got my grid made, I go to my calendar and I say, what are the things that I have to do that are already scheduled for me? Once I have those things in, I then look at the big rocks to make sure I've scheduled time for the big rocks, spending time with my family, spending time with God. For me as pastor, the biggest rock I have is preparing the message every week, and so I save my prime time. For me, it's the morning hours. I block it off to work on the sermon.
Some people say you need to block off more time, but that's something else we'll talk about later. But I put that time under the big rocks, time with God, sermon preparation. Once I have those things in place and know I've allotted the time for it, then I fill in the rest of the schedule with sand and gravel, the things I have to do, the things you have to do, but they don't require my best thinking and my best hours.
I can fill in appointments and other signing birthday cards and things like that through the rest of the day. And when I finish, I know that I've got the big rocks in. And somebody calls me and says, pastor, could you come by and say a prayer at the women's auxiliary meeting at 10 a.m. Wednesday morning? I'd say, oh, I would love to do that, but I already have a commitment.
I don't have to tell them what the commitment is, but that's one of my big rocks. At 10 a.m., I'm busy on the sermon, so I'm not free to do that. Do you know what most people's problem is with their time? Their calendars aren't full enough.
You say, what do you mean? You ought to look at my calendar. It's filled. It may be filled with sand and gravel. Most people's calendars are not filled enough with their big rocks, the things that they really believe God wants for them in their life. So put the big rocks in your daily calendar first.
Then let the sand and gravel come in. Now, some of you are saying, pastor, again, is this really biblical, what you're talking about? Listen to Ephesians chapter 5, verses 15 and 16, coming from the Phillips paraphrase. Live life then with a due sense of responsibility, not as men who don't know the meaning and purpose of life, but as those who do. Make the best use of your time, despite all the difficulties of these days.
That's what we're talking about. Fourth, how do you use your time wisely? Be realistic in your time management goals.
We all know what it's like at the beginning of summer, you have that humiliating experience of trying on your swimsuit for the first time of the season. And you're horrified at what you see in the mirror, so you make a resolve. You're going to go on a diet, no more sweets, no more sugar. You're going to quit eating supper for the rest of your life. And you go on this diet and it lasts all of a month, a week, or 24 hours. And then you give up. Because it's not realistic.
People who talk about diet know you need to set a standard that is measurable. It's the same way in our time to say, I'm just going to fill up my calendar with big rocks. I'm never watching television again. I'm never doing anything I like to again. I'm going to work, work right.
That's unrealistic. You need to plan your schedule in a realistic way. For example, your schedule should allow for times of relaxation. That's God's idea, by the way. Remember in our study on the Ten Commandments, we saw in Exodus 20 verses 8 to 11, more space is given to the command, remember the Sabbath and keep it holy than any other command.
Why? Because it's necessary for our physical and spiritual well-being. There needs to be, God says, one day a week we focus on our spiritual and our physical refreshment and relaxation. I think that principle needs to be applied to every day. There ought to be a time of the day when you say, enough. It might be six in the evening, it might be eight in the evening. It's not that I've cleaned every dish that needs to be cleaned or made every phone call, but I've done everything I need to do today and it's time to do something else. Ecclesiastes 2.24, Solomon said, There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good.
God meant for us to enjoy life, not just endure it. Secondly, your schedule ought to be flexible enough to handle bad days. You all know what I mean when I talk about bad days.
It's when sickness or fatigue or depression or interruptions, when they just sabotage what you had planned to do. I know for me a particular bad day that I can actually schedule every year is the day I get back from vacation. I know not to schedule anything heavy the day after a vacation. I go through my mail, I return phone calls.
I do things that don't require a lot of activity. Just be sure that you allow for bad days. And thirdly, leave enough cushion in your schedule to plan for interruptions.
Maybe a drop-in visit, an emergency that you had not scheduled. You know, many times interruptions are God's way of redirecting our lives. I think about the passage in James 4, 13 through 15. Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we'll go to such and such a city and spend a year and make a profit. You don't know what will happen tomorrow.
You're just like a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, If the Lord wills, we will do this or that. Now James isn't saying don't make plans, don't fill out your boulder grid schedule. He's simply saying realize God may have a different plan and be ready for that. I one time attended a time management seminar led by the late Ted Engstrom, the president of World Vision. He made an insightful comment when he said, Most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year, but they underestimate what they can accomplish in five years. Be realistic in your time management. And finally, to use your time wisely, and this is so key, refuse to be paralyzed by the past.
Refuse to be paralyzed by the past. You know, because of Israel's disobedience to God, God said through the prophet Joel that he were going to send the locusts to the land of Israel to destroy all of their crops. But God looked beyond that judgment to a day Israel would turn back to God and God would bless them again.
Listen to what he says about that future restoration. Then I will make up to you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the creeping locust, the stripping locust, and the gnawing locust, my great army, which I sent among you. You shall then have plenty to eat and be satisfied. And praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. Then my people will never again be put to shame. Although Israel's loss was real and in some ways irreversible, God said in some inexplicable way he would make up for what they lost and reward them in the future.
Maybe you can identify with that. As you look over the past years, decades, you would say the locusts of slothfulness, of indecision, of purposelessness have robbed you of years and even decades of your life. You can't make up for that in the past, but you can reclaim your time for your future. If that's true of you, if you regret the wasted time you've had in your life, confess those mistakes to God. Receive his forgiveness, but then start to redeem the time God has given you by putting the principles into effect we've talked about today. Once you've done that, you'll find you're well on the way to the road to saying goodbye to regrets about your time. When I originally presented today's message to the Congregation of First Baptist Church in Dallas, I gave teaching points that we couldn't fit into this half-hour program.
But those teaching points and illustrations are contained on the audio CVs and video DVDs we've prepared for you. In just a moment, David will explain how you can receive the entire unedited collection of the series we call Say Goodbye to Regret. All of us carry a measure of regret. In my bestselling book, Say Goodbye to Regret, I explain the biblical cure for this malady.
In fact, I address 10 specific sources of regret and how to conquer them. And when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, I'm going to say thanks by sending a copy to your home. But please respond right away because this time-limited offer ends Thursday. Now in closing, I'd like to add my profound thanks to our Pathway partners. As a monthly giver, you're part of a loyal family of friends that are becoming the financial backbone of Pathway to Victory.
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David? Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. Our goal is to reach 1,200 Pathway partners during the month of January. And you can help us achieve that goal when you follow the easy steps to sign up online at ptv.org. Now when you give your first monthly gift or when you give a one-time gift to support Pathway to Victory, we're going to say thanks by sending you Say Goodbye to Regret. It's the best-selling book by Dr. Jeffress.
And when your gift is $75 or more, you'll receive not only the book, but also the complete collection of audio and video discs for the brand new Say Goodbye to Regret teaching series. Call us at 866-999-2965. One more time, 866-999-2965 or give online at ptv.org. Now you can also write to us if you'd like at P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222.
Again, that's P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins.
Join us again next time for the message, Say Goodbye to Career Regrets. That's coming up Tuesday on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. In response to the alarming war in the Middle East, Dr. Robert Jeffress has written a brand new book for you. It answers pressing questions like, are we living in the end times? In this time-sensitive book, Dr. Jeffress answers seven questions about the future, such as what are the major events of the end times? Request a copy right now by going to ptv.org.
It's called Are We Living in the End Times? To receive your pre-release copy, go to ptv.org. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a Pathway partner. Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in His Word. To become a Pathway partner, go to ptv.org slash podcast and click on the donate button or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.
