Strategic Eternal Living

Currently I am writing my way through Judges sharing glimpses of God's heart and character for a weekday devotional. To check out the entire series so far head on over the the Judges Devotional.  And if you are a blogger, come on over on tomorrow for a blog link up.  

Do you know what you're striving for? How will you know if you reach it? And when you do what then? Our young Levite priest who we've been following through Judges didn't know what he was striving for and therefore was pulled by whatever happen to come along. He wasted his life on his own pleasure and had no direction or desire to be a good steward with what the Lord gave him.
   

"Then the five men who had gone to scout out the country of Laish said to their brothers, "Do you know that in these houses there are an ephod, household gods, a carved image, and a metal image? Now therefore consider what you will do... And the five men who had gone to scout out the land went up and entered and took the carved image, the ephod, the household gods, and the metal image, while the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the 600 men armed with weapons of war. And when these went into Micah's house and took the carved image, the ephod, the household gods, and the metal image, the priest said to them, "What are you doing?" And they said to him, "Keep quiet; put your hand on your mouth and come with us and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and clan in Israel?" And the priest's heart was glad. He took the ephod and the household gods and the carved image and went along with the people." 
Judges 18:14, 17-20 

There just doesn't seem to be limits of how far our hearts can go when we are set on pleasing the flesh. Micah had given young Levite a place to live and an income for his "service". But when a better opportunity came along young Levite just threw in the towel. And not only did he pick up and leave but he dishonored the man who treated him like family and stole from him. When something seemingly better was throw at young Levite, it was irrisistable because his heart was fixed on himself and how to get what he wanted instead of set on pleasing the Lord. 

Opportunites will come for us. Not all good and some good but not best. Without a clear picture of specifically what God has called us to and how we are going to go about being good stewards of what He has given us, the bigger and better or path of least resistance will be our guide, leading us to a wasted life. It will never bring satisfaction but a continual longing for more.

Without a thought through plan, the tyranny of the urgent will be our make shift holy spirit. Stewardship takes effort. First you have to take inventory; what do you really have? Then you have to explore options of what you could invest in. And finally you have to decide which is the best fit for you to bring about the most increase of what you've been given.

Have you set aside time to purposely prepare to invest and steward the strengths and abilities Lord has given you?I created The Life Purpose Plan; discovering how your uniqueness, current reality and the mission fit together for the glory of God to help you do this. I am giving it away free for the people who subscribe.  (On the side bar at the top)

And here is another helpful tool (below). Once you've taken inventory (using The Life Purpose Plan) then set up a Strategic Plan. This can be a very Holy Spirit led activity. Just ask Him to lead your thinking and align your heart to His.

It is things like this that will help you know what to say yes to and what to say no too. It will help you determine the good from the best. And did you know that 95% of 90 year olds said they wished they would have reflected more, risked more and did more to outlive them.? Learn from those who've gone before us and set aside time to plan to be strategic eternal investors.

Have a happy planning day!

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