Your Spare Time

Recently, I read a quote that said, “you are as wealthy as you use your spare time.” This really got through to me. The truth is, you can tell the future of a man by what he does in his spare time.

Most of the wealthy/financially independent people known in our world today worked a lot during their spare time before they got where they are and many of them still do.

Think about it, you can do the same thing every average person does and expect to get more than average but it’s never going to happen. Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Immediately I read the quote, what came to my mind was self-denial, denying oneself short-term pleasure for long-term pleasure. The Bible in Proverbs 22:29 (MSG) says, “Observe people who are good at their work-skilled workers are always in demand and admired; they don’t take a back seat to anyone.”

We’re in a time where people, especially the youths are easily carried away by immediate pleasure/satisfaction and ‘fun’ things like the movies, TV, video games, social networking and so on.

My message is not that people should not have a good time, but that too many “good times” is not the way to success or wealth.

Don’t let different activities just fill your spare time, decide what happens in your spare time.

Value Your Spare Time!!

Fasting

Many of us are familiar with this word but the focus of this article is Christian Fasting.

When I was little, I learned fasting meant skipping breakfast and that it pleases God. 

Growing up, I also learned that there were other fast like “tv-fast”, “video-game fast”, “internet-fast” and also learned that fasting could mean skipping not only breakfast but lunch too or even all the meals in a day.

One thing all these fasts have in common is denying oneself pleasure.

Before I go on, let me say this, fasting doesn’t move God, it enables you instead. Anything God hasn’t given you already, fasting or anything would make him give you.

The fasting many Christians practice today has its focus on saying NO to the flesh. Romans 8:5 talks about saying YES to the Spirit. Saying NO to the flesh is good but more importantly is Saying YES to the Spirit, and that should be our focus.

So when we fast we should make conscious efforts to say YES to the Spirit.

Say YES to the Spirit!!

Self-Discipline and Character 2

When you have discipline and character, people know the things you believe in, stand for and that you won’t change no matter the position it puts you in.

Just like God, we know Him through His Word and His results are always consistent with the Word though the means might vary.

Obviously, there’s good character and bad character.

We all ought to be disciplined and possess good character.

We should be known as hardworking, well-dressed, punctual, reliable, disciplined and so on.

The good news is that it’s never too late to develop self-discipline and character.

Self-discipline is resolving to choose the disciplined way continuously and when you fail, you get back up with greater determination. Very soon, it becomes a habit and bam! It’s part of your character.

Choose Discipline! Choose Character!!

Self-Discipline and Character 1

Discipline is the ability to look past all feelings, circumstances, excuses and do what has to be done when it should be done.

Character is the guarantee that a person would do the same thing no matter how bad or good things are. To have character is to be fixed.

It’s hard to talk about either of these two without the other.

When I was much younger, I thought it was cool to be unpredictable and people never knowing what sort of results to expect from you. As I grew and learned more, I found that there’s nothing cool about being unpredictable.

When people deal with you, over time, they should come to learn that they can always expect some certain things from you. To be reliable or dependable is for people to have an assurance that if things are in your care they will be properly attended to.

As uncool as it might sound, being predictable is the key to greatness.