30 seconds…
We were 30 seconds late.
I can hear you saying…
“Thirty seconds? Who cares?”
How long is 30 seconds?
Count to thirty seconds.
One-thousand-one…
One-thousand-two…
(Keep Counting!)
Longer than you thought?
Why was I worried about being 30 seconds late?
I worked in television news and we were 30 seconds late starting the newscast.
30 seconds is a big deal on television.
But it’s not just TV people who are obsessed with time…
A business guru offers 2 pieces of advice to increase your productivity …
1. Throw away all your clothes except for a few shirts and a few pair of pants; make sure everything goes with everything else. You’ll never have to waste time picking out what you wear. You will save 3 minutes a day.
2. Make every 2 minutes count. If something you scheduled for 4 minutes lasts 6 minutes …your whole day will be ruined. Every minute matters!
We have to be busy every minute.
We are addicted to busy.
We are also addicted to noise.
Don’t believe me?
Try the 30 second experiment again.
But this time…
Close your eyes…
Sit in silence…
Don’t count off the time.
Just sit quietly.
Have a friend call out to you in thirty seconds…
Were you surprised how long thirty seconds seems when you sit in silence?
We are not used to thirty seconds of silence…
We are used to noise…
Noise from the TV…
Noise from our cell phone…
Noise from a computer…
Noise from a radio…
We are addicted to noise…
We have no time to listen to anything but the noise.
Not even to God…
Because listening to God means being quiet…
“Be still, and know that I am God…” Psalm 46:10
Listening to God means giving Him our time…waiting for Him to speak…
For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence… Psalm 62:5
Two big time wasters from the world’s perspective…
1. Be still
2. Wait for God
Yet if we do not wait and listen for God…
How will we know what He wants us to do?
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. Proverbs 19:21
Where will we find the power to follow His will?
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13
Two different sets of advice for living a life of productivity :
1. Wear matching clothes and make every two minutes count
2. Be still and wait for God
Which offers a life of lasting productivity ?
Which will we choose?
