168, No more, no lessShembull

Day #5 Stay flexible

When I converted, I was a student living with my parents. I had a lot of free time, and I devoted that time to seeking Him as well as learning more about the Lord. I also had time for my friends. I was very involved in my church. When I met Sylvie, who was to become my wife, I started spending several hours a day on the phone talking with her. Naturally, the time I spent with my friends decreased drastically. When we got married, the responsibilities of the household took up more time but I was still a student in the first year of our marriage. The following year, I started working full time, so my job took longer. We then served the Lord for several years before we had children. We now have five and my free time has melted like snow in the sun.

When the Lord showed me this vision with the marbles, He showed me that according to the seasons of my life, the number of pots of marbles varied and that their capacity changed with time. This vision was like God's perspective on the management of my time.

Here is what I would like you to understand today: God knows exactly what season you are in and His expectations of you are fully adjusted to your present responsibilities. The religious spirit would have you believe that you must maintain the same rhythm of life until your death in the name of “consecration".

God wants you to be flexible. You must constantly adapt your schedule to your responsibilities. What was consecration yesterday, can become religious foolishness today, if you don't have the right perspective. That is why the psalmist said:

"Teach us to count our days well, that our hearts may come to wisdom! "Psalms 90:12 (SG21)

Consecration without wisdom can be harmful.

Being faithful does not mean keeping the same agenda, but doing what God expects of us in the season we are in. (Psalms 1:3)

There is a big difference between God's changing expectations of you and the changing needs, opportunities, or expectations of the people around you.

If you wait until the needs fade, to take care of your family, then this will never happen.

If you do things with all your heart, then you are likely to bear fruit and people will think you are irreplaceable. But the only place you are irreplaceable is in the responsibilities God has given you in your relationship and family.

So remember that God always has a substitute.

Finally, be careful not to choose pleasurable activities to escape your responsibilities.

God is the one who opens the doors, but the enemy also knows how to create opportunities to distract you and divert you from your responsibilities. As you grow in spiritual maturity, you must increasingly learn to refuse opportunities or solicitations in order to stay focused on what God really wants from you.

While some may be disappointed in you, the most important thing is to have God's approval and not disappoint Him.

David Théry

Practical teachings to experience God