Consistency

As you can probably tell by now, one of my biggest struggles in life is being consistent.  I do not consistently give my time, effort, or trust to the Lord.  Today, I am starting something that is long overdue.  I am going to wake up an hour before I usually do to devote to the Lord.  I have tried in the past and always seem to come up short, but this time I want you (my readers/friends) to hold me accountable.  

Time is a very precious thing that most of us do not care enough about.  I waste time on facebook, watching tv, and playing xbox.  While all of these things are not bad things, the amount of time that I invest in these things are probably bad.  I could be using this time more efficiently by reading and studying the Word of God, investing in friendships, making new friendships, helping those in need, etc.  I encourage all of you to begin praying about how you could better use your time.  I propose that we start focusing on our eternal lives rather than trying to selfishly satisfy our earthly lives.  

My wife would be the first one to tell you that I also struggle with the idea of giving effort.  Sure, give me a basketball or a deck of cards, and I will put everything I have into what I'm doing, but when it comes to actions that I do not particularly want to do, words like "lazy" and "poor effort" come to mind.  I think that I am most guilty of this in my everyday conversations.  I do not put hardly any effort into talking with my friends and family.  During conversations, I typically do not ask questions or remember details.  This tells me that I am not putting any effort into the conversations.  I need to change!

This last point is a mystery to me.  I find it discouraging why it seems so hard to trust the Lord.  The Bible is full of promises that are given to Christians, but how many of us trust these promises?  God says to test him in tithing and see if He will not bless you, but how many of us struggle with tithing?  The Bible says to daily meditate on the Word and everything we do will prosper, but how many of us follow through with this?  Do we not want blessings and prosperity? I don't think thats the case.  I think we don't fully trust these words.  

My prayer is that we all begin to be consistent in these three categories of our lives; time, effort and trust.  As Christians, we need to encourage each other to do better!