Ready to do life?

 So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. (Ephesians 5:15-17)

How do we begin to make the most of the opportunities in front of us? It might just begin the moment we take time to think through our decisions. We all make flash decisions, but that should not be our primary way of living. We need the time to bring our day before the Lord and listen to what he says to us. In the church, this is called our quiet time, but in my life, I call it my planning time. Why? It is when I take my day to him, gaining his perspective on what should have priority and what should not. It includes time in his Word and sufficient time to actually think upon it. It involves prayer - discussion with God. Maybe the most important thing is the time I take to listen, so I don't go off my own way and do things without reason or outside of his timing.

We 'take care' in how we live when we put Christ first in our day. A fool has no time to get God's perspective, but plunges ahead without much thought. The more we learn to stop and just listen, the less we will make rash or foolish decisions. There will be less missed or bungled opportunities. Have you ever been outside of God's timing? No matter how well-intentioned you may have been, you bungled the opportunity because it wasn't the right timing. We don't overcome temptation in our lives without a plan to deal with it when it raises. Do you think God tells me HOW I will be tempted each day? No, but when I have committed the day to him and sought his will for my day, I stand a better chance of recognizing it when it comes. That point of recognition is important because it is the beginning of resisting it. 

We all get ahead of ourselves some of the time, but a pattern of living like this all of the time is not healthy for us emotionally and spiritually. We must learn to take care - allowing God to connect with us before we rush off to 'do life'. When we do, we will find our decisions are ordered and our actions yield better results. Just saying!