When Making a Decision, Use the Investment Test
By Rick Warren 

“So be very careful how you live. Do not live like those who are not wise. Live wisely. I mean that you should use every chance you have for doing good, because these are evil times. So do not be foolish with your lives. But learn what the Lord wants you to do” (Ephesians 5:15-17 ICB).

If you want to make the best use of your life, you’ve got to get control of your time. Your time is your life. If you don’t learn to manage your time, you won’t go very far in life.

So when you’re making a decision, use the Investment Test: Is this the best use of my time?

We all have the same amount of time every week: 168 hours. Time is far more important in your life than money. You can get more money, but you can’t get more time.

You’ve only been allotted a certain number of days in this world. If you blow them, you’ve blown it! If you waste time, you’re wasting your life.

You don’t have time for everything. And the good news is this: God doesn’t expect you to do everything. In fact, there are only a few things worth doing in the first place.

Effective people figure out what’s essential and what’s trivial. And they spend more time doing the essential things and less time on the trivial.

That may sound easy, but, frankly, it’s quite hard. It’s difficult to choose what’s best over what’s easiest.

As I’ve matured, I’ve had to choose not to do many activities. It’s not because those activities have been bad. It’s because I want to maximize my time. I want to choose the best. I want to spend my life on the mission God has sent me here to fulfill.

Did you know you’re here for a reason, too? You were not put on this planet to drift. God made you for a mission.

If you know what that mission is, start clearing out the clutter in your life so you can spend your life on your mission.

Are you unsure what your mission is? First, stop doing some of the trivial things that take up so much space in your life. Then ask God what your mission is. With the trivial stuff cleared out, you’ll have more time to hear his answer.

You have a choice. Don’t settle for second best. Figure out what is God’s best for you and spend your life on that.

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This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

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