In a world full of distractions and endless ways to spend our time and energy, how do we use the time that we have each day? And even more importantly, how do we feel at the end of a day? Do we find ourselves fulfilled from ALL of our engagements? We touch so many people throughout a single day that we don’t always realize how we are impacting others. Colossians 3:23-24 points out that whatever we are doing, we are to do it “heartily” or with our entire heart. We are to be pouring out ourselves into what we do. And the amazing thing is that if we are doing this, God gives us the knowledge and understanding that we need to accomplish our tasks. But the important caveat is that we do it with our entire heart. If we half-heartedly approach every day, our jobs, people, anything really, how can we be fulfilled? How can we fill up others if we are half-hearted? How can we serve joyfully? Ephesians 6:6-8 admonishes us to serve “from the heart”—with good will. There is no room for back-biting, hate, ill-will, or anything negative.

How hard is it though to not complain when things go wrong? When we think that things should be different than what they are? When we think we are being treated unfairly or unkindly? How do we react? We would do better to keep in mind the words Solomon wrote down for us in Ecclesiastes 7:20-22. We must be careful with the attitudes and the thoughts that we allow ourselves to have. We must come to rely on God more and more for wisdom and understanding in ALL matters.

James 4:7-9 gives us the right ideas in this regard. We need to be submitting ourselves to God to fully understand how we can fulfill our days in the right ways. In verses 13-17, James goes on to admonish us that in the scheme of things, our lives are over so quickly. All our strivings and goals are in vain if they are not rightly ordained by God. He indeed sets our courses. When we go wrong and need adjustment, He makes corrections, as long as we are willing to accept them and get back on the right track.

So let us ask ourselves these questions:

How fulfilled do we find ourselves at the end of each day?

How willing are we to seek God and allow Him to lead?

As we approach the Passover, what can we take away from this short time we have left in examining ourselves? Ephesians 5:16 tells us that we should be “redeeming the time” by making the BEST use of our time, “because the days are evil.”

David had the right approach in Psalm 127:2. Even though our work may be heavy and burdensome, when we do it with God’s Will in mind, seeking what He wants, then we can go to bed at the end of the day and feel fulfilled because God will give us good rest. And He will recharge us for our continual fight each and every day. Psalm 90:12 says: “So teach us to number our days That we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Let us allow Godly wisdom and understanding fill us up each day so that we may feel fulfilled and others may see that and be encouraged to follow our example.

We recently had the lottery here in the United States. The jackpot got up to 1.5 billion dollars.  While this is a lot of money for most of us, it is hard to imagine that 65% of lottery winners are bankrupt within 15 years.

As one winner declared: “I tried to get too much, too fast.” This attitude of “get” is so prevalent in our current society; and yet, when those who do “get” it, they end up losing most of what they had, even to the point of going backwards, losing family, friends and in some cases wanting to commit suicide. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that this attitude has permeated the very depths of our society. Take a look at the US National Debt Clock and you can watch the depressing amount of numbers continually streaming away. This is our nation crumbling before us. Will Durant’s quote stands in stark contrast: “A nation is born stoic and dies epicurean.”  No longer are people willing to stand up for conscience and truth, but they rather look for the easy way out.

How many times have we in some way wished to win something? How many times have we wished that things would go more easily for us? Maybe our faith has been tested in areas of money, time and patience. Do we immediately lose hope? Do we wish it was instantly better? Or do we look to God and the Bible to start finding the answers that we need? James 1:2-4 plainly states that this is the right attitude that we need to be engaged in.

This time in our lives is our testing and proving ground. We are supposed to learn to be stoic, reliant, steadfast and unmovable with the Word of God as our rock. Look at Luke 21:19; Hebrews 6:12 ; and 1 Peter 1:7. How many times do we read biblical passages like these, think that they are great Scriptures and then walk away and forget what we just read?

As this nation and the rest of the world continue their crumbling decline, away from God and any and all morals, where does that leave us? Christ’s stark words were that the “world hates you” (John 15:18-19). Is this true for us? Do we stand out at times as sore thumbs because we hold fast to the truth? Or do we, for the sake of attempting to fit in, try and become a part of the world?

Our choices are daily. They are in the small things that we choose to do or not do–in the way in which we spend our precious hours. Now is the time to stop kidding ourselves, thinking that we have still much time to overcome, to become more acceptable to God. No, now is the time for deep self-examination, based on the Word of God. Truly, we have been given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be the first in line for God’s soon-coming Kingdom.

How are we treating this? Hopefully not as those who go bankrupt after winning the lottery because they do not know how to use wisely what they have been given. It just came too fast for them. God is testing us NOW to see how we handle our responsibility, learning to make right choices, so that we can make good decisions when we become God beings.

There is a theory that was promoted in the early 1960s, called the “Expectancy Theory.” In short, it is about the mental process around choice or choosing. It helps to explain the processes that an individual goes through in order to make choices. It also supposes that individuals will behave in a certain way, because they are motivated to choose a specific behavior over another, due to what they expect the result of their selected behavior to be. To put it another way, their actions are guided by what they hold to be true and by their expectation that the outcome(s) of their choice(s) will directly have impacts on them. They become motivated by their choices and the outcomes of those choices.

While this is a theory, in part it should hold true for us in our Christian lives. Look at Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians in Ephesians 3:14-21. He held that people who had been called would be rooted in the truth and experience true Godly love in their lives. They could expect these things because they made choices that were motivated by God’s promises.

Look at the trial of Stephen in Acts 7. He gave example after example of the fathers of old who had this same expectancy of God, doing exactly as He had promised them. And yet, the religious leaders of that time were not making the correct choices. In fact, Stephen calls them out on the carpet in verses 51-53: “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”

In Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23, we have the parable of the sower. And we read that while people have choices, often times they make the wrong ones because they have not fully invested in and truly caught the true picture. Yet, we also read of those who do get it. Their labor is great and their harvest is also great. Those are the choices that we should be making every day. So many times we are warned, exhorted and encouraged by the apostle Paul to be steadfast in the way that we have chosen to live (compare 1 Thessalonians 5:6-26). Note how Paul encourages the entire church in this regard. It’s not a one man effort. Yes, each is responsible for their own actions (and thereby the outcome), but as Paul is pointing out, there is a dire need for each person to be strengthening each other as well as praying for each other.

As we are growing in Christ’s grace and knowledge, we should become more and more motivated and captivated that this is the right Way of Life. There should be no doubt in our minds as to whether or not this is the true Way. In so doing, our actions and hearts will be motivated, as we read in 1 John 3:18-24. This has to be our motivation and truly what we should strive to do.