INVENTORY - JAN 2010

077 – JANUARY 2010

INVENTORY

God is more interested in what you be than what you do, because what you be will determine what you do. How do you like that one?

Matthew 6:21 “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.“
When Pat and I lecture, I often ask the audience to call out the things in their life that they treasure. What do you value most? What are the things that are dear to your heart and essential to your life? What are your treasures?
Hands go up and answers are shouted out with strong convictions. There are many answers and all are correct but “the big 4” includes family, friends, faith, and health.
Next, I unveil to them that those may be the answers they wish were true but not necessarily true.
I playfully appeal for some honesty. I ask for just one person in the crowd to be honest, raise their hand, and shout with excitement, “Ooo, ooo,ooo! I love T.V. Wow! I could watch it for hours. I do watch it for hours. Mmmm!”

James 1:22 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

Where you spend your time and money is a great indicator of what you really treasure and, as the original hand lifting went up, it would have been a lot of fun to have the answers be a bit more truthful. E.g.:
* “Oh, Boy! I love junk food. I can’t wait to open that bag of chips or tear open the wrapper to a snicker bar.”
* “Are you kidding me! I just love gossip. I really value all that wasteful talk. I love to watch those shows and buy those magazines. Yeah!”
* “I’m sorry! I just need to be truthful and say that I value laziness. The thought of exercise just creeps me out. A little flab is OK and my eyes are on that couch.”
* “Ok, so the Bible has a bit of dust on it. I just prefer to read best selling novels and People magazine. C’mon! It’s more fun. You can’t blame me for that.”

So, just think about it. What you say you value and what you really value may just not add up. There may be nothing acutely wrong with that, but you do need to be honest!

Lamentations 3:40 “Let us search out and examine our ways, And turn back to the LORD;”
You might want to take the time to inventory this whole ‘values’ thing and decide …
A. Am I okay with this disparity? Or,
B. Do I need to balance what I do with what I declare my treasures to be.

Personally - It’s time for me to line up one of the big 4’s (Health) with what I, in reality, do treasure (Bad eating habits and lack of exercise).
Why?
Because I hit the scales this morning and almost broke the thing … That’s why!.