Managing Your Life—PART 3

By Reverend William R. Cunningham
October 17, 1999

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 4

This lesson will concern itself with the tools that Christians have available to effectively manage our lives. Thus far we have defined effective life management in lesson one and we have discussed God’s WAY in lesson two. What are the tools that a Christian has to use for effective life management? I have group the tools available into three categories. Each category has a vast amount of tools (resources) available for you to use to effectively manage your life. These categories are:

1. Valid Information
2. A Sound Mind
3. The Holy Spirit

Effective life management, in my opinion, involves the use of the three categories in the above list. We need information in order to make sound decisions. We need a sound mind (conscience) in order to make sound decisions. We also need the Holy Spirit so that are decisions are not only sound, but also in accordance with the WAY of God.

Life management consists primarily of a series of decisions.  These decisions take us from one point to another in our lives and also affects those around us in some cases.  Tools are the things (resources, and objects) that we use in the decision making process and thus the management process.  For example, there are certain tools that are required to build a house and to manage the finances of a company.  Not all tools are tangible in the sense that they are physical objects.  Some tools are protocols, ideals, or standards that can be used to make decisions.

As I am sure that you are aware, certain tools are suited for a particular job.  For example, you wouldn't use a hammer to tenderize your steak.  You would use a screw driver to pound in a nail.  Therefore, we should be careful about what tools we use or the various decisions that we have to make in our lives.

Knowing which tools to use come from understanding and experience (of yourself or others).  First you become aware of what tools are available.  This is knowledge.  After that, you understand how the tool works and the tools purpose.  After that you begin to use the tool and/or question others on its use (operation).  From this last stage you become more proficient at using the tool and it becomes a normal and perhaps integral part of your life management.

We have identified three tools that the Christian can use for life management, namely the Bible, a sound mind, and the Holy Spirit.  It becomes necessary to know when to use what tool for a particular situation.  Sometimes you will need all three and sometimes you will need only one.  However, keep in mind that the Holy Spirit is always in operation as far as your life is concerned.  Knowing what tool to use in what situation is a matter of discernment, which we will discuss in a later lesson.

You cannot make an effective decision without information. Decisions made without information rely totally on chance or a wish to come true. A decision made with sound information is a well-informed decision at the very least. The quality of that information is also extremely important. A decision made with inaccurate information is no better than one made with no information. As a matter of fact the former may be worse because the inaccurate information is thought to be accurate and all of your activities are committed to this decision based on the faulty information.

What are the sources of valid (accurate or sound) information? Above all, the information that you use should be true if it is to lead to an effective decision and therefore effective life management. Let me give you what I think are three primary sources of valid information.

1. The Bible
2. Valid Resources
3. Experience

Let’s discuss these three now.

The Bible is an extremely important source of valid information for the Christian to use to manage his or her life. The Bible contains a vast of information that we can use to govern our lives according to the WAY of God. In it contains the "mind" of God and examples that we can use in our own situations. What type of information does the Bible give? Consider the following seemingly simple scripture.

This one bit of information can be used in all types of decisions. I used this when I owned a commercial cleaning business. I helped my employees in any way that I could when I was able to do it. We are indeed resources for each other and should use whatever we have to help those who honestly need our help whenever we have the power to do so. If you are careful you will notice that there are other biblical teachings that go along with the principle revealed by the previous scripture. You must trust God to provide for YOU because if not you will be afraid to give up what you have to help someone else. It also shows that we have to be willing to share and not hoard what we have for ourselves selfishly. This doesn’t mean that you will always just give up what you have. It does show that you can be more willing to help whenever you can instead of thinking that your gift now may mean lack in the future. My study on "Tithes, Giving, Sowing and Reaping" goes a lot more into this topic, which is beyond the scope of this lesson.

Consider another example of the wealth of information that the Bible has to offer.

There is a wealth of information that can be gotten from these verses, which illustrate a situation that we all deal with in one way or another. First you see the good old principle of "just say no" with a reason for his statement. Joseph was trusted and he intended on remaining trustworthy. Having sex with Potiphar’s wife (Joseph’s master) would have caused him to be distrusted by Potiphar.

The next verse shows what Joseph did when confronted with the same temptation (opportunity) in a slightly different situation. He ran. He said no by not being there. This brings to my mind the following scripture.

The evil in Joseph’s case was to have sex with Potiphar’s wife. He said no before so why couldn’t he just say no. The environment may have significantly influenced Joseph’s actions. There was no one around. That in itself is a dangerous situation, which Joseph still got in trouble for. However, he ran because he didn’t want to have sex with this woman for moral and loyal reasons. I believe that perhaps his flesh did want to have sex with her. Therefore, he ran. Doing the right thing may not produce the desired results. Doing the right thing may also require drastic actions. These are but two of the lessons that we can learn from these scriptures (actually the entire event as described in the Bible from Genesis 39:11-20. Reading more of this story will give us more information that we can also use to help us manage our life.

The Bible is full of principles, examples, and instruction that can help us manage our lives according to the WAY of God. Therefore, Christians should read the Bible and learn from it in order to experience and practice effective life management.

There are other resources that we use besides the Bible to obtain information for life management. One thing that you must realize is that everything is not a "spiritual" thing. Prayer works but many times work works. We have to take the initiative and find the information that can help us make an informed decision for effective life management. Valid resources can be any number of things depending on what you are attempting to accomplish. Valid resources may be:

1. Articles on the topic in question
2. People who have either studied or experienced the topic in question
3. Educational resources (Ex.: books, classes, seminars) pertaining to the topic in question

It is very important to realize that it is going to take effort on your part to use these resources because they are not just going to land at your feet. You will have to seek the information that you need for your situation. Of course God will be with you but you still have to do the work.

This area is where some people break down. Many times people do things solely on what others have said or on their blind belief in a church doctrine or family tradition. They don’t take the time to do some work to get first hand information. We don’t take the time to research the situation at hand so that we can speak from our own knowledge and not solely on someone else’s experience, belief, or knowledge. People do things because their pastor said that they should or they do things because of a religious (non-biblical) principle that they were taught. People also base their actions on many things less than the truth or actual facts.

We must seek valid resources so that we can make informed decisions and effectively manage our life. Recall that life management is a process. Therefore, the more we practice using this process the more efficient we will get at using it. The more resource minded you become the more sound your decisions can be and the more sure your stances will be.

Let me briefly mention that another source of information that we can use for effective life management are the experiences of others and yourself. Experience can help give us the proper perspective of how things operate and to help put reality into the things we are trying to accomplish. This is the area where testimonies come into play. We listen to people’s testimonies and see how God operates in our lives. We look at these same testimonies and see that God is indeed always with us.

Experience necessitates fellowship. When we fellowship with each other we can share our knowledge and experiences with each other. This is an invaluable tool that we have available to us at all times. Consider what may happen if you want to remodel your kitchen. One thing you will definitely do (or at least you should do) is consulting someone that you know personally for his or her insight of your goal. Their experience in that area can prove to be a major blessing to your remodeling project. I also find that many people run out and purchase things without consulting anyone.

The phrase "sound mind" means to have self-control or discipline. Having discipline is very important when decisions are involved. For example, without discipline we could spend hundreds of dollars of money we don’t have by using a credit card. Note that having a sound mind in this context implies a Christian foundation. It involves a clean conscience. Your conscience is your guide so be sure that your conscience is founded on the WAY of God.

How do you get a sound mind? Consider the following scripture.

Renew the mind. Train yourself to operate according to God’s WAY instead of your way. This means that you are going to have to spend time studying the Bible to learn what God’s WAY is. You will have to pray so that you can become sensitive to God’s direction in your life. The important thing is that you have to do it.

Ultimate it is the Holy Spirit that is our teacher. The Holy Spirit will lead us to all truth (John 16:13). Consider another very important verse.

God will direct us (keep us on the right path) if we acknowledge him. To acknowledge God means to be actively aware of his presence. We cannot think that we can make our own decisions and expect to walk according to God’s WAY. Consider the following scripture.

Now we see how important listening to God by His Holy Spirit really is. If we go against God’s plans then we are destined for failure because only His plans will succeed. Therefore, we need to get on the bandwagon and do things according to God’s WAY.

The Holy Spirit is with us to guide us and to help us. We can’t live effectively as Christians and we sure can’t manage our lives effectively without Him.

We have discussed in this lesson that there are three basic tools that Christians have available to effectively manage our life. We have the use of valid information, a sound mind (founded on the precepts of God), and the Holy Spirit. Effectively using these three will lead us to effective life management according to God’s WAY.