“…his determination to eliminate the nonessentials from his schedule.” (pg. 48)
“Looking at my days – how short they are, how unproductive, how full of incidentals, how little real production for the Harvest Master.” (pg. 79)
One aspect of Jim’s life I’ve been really challenged by is how careful he was about the kinds of activities he allowed to fill his life. He was so focused to arrange his schedule around the things of God, rather than trying to fit the things of God into his schedule. I am reminded that I need to put “first things first” – time in God’s word, confession of my sins, prayer… These are the essentials. Which then leads me to evaluate some of the patterns of my life. Do I really need to read this news article? Do I really need to know the score of that obscure basketball game? Do I really need to...? Instead, shouldn’t I be memorizing and meditating on Scripture that speak to the struggles I’m going through? Shouldn’t I be praying for my friends and family members who are suffering from cancer? There’s such a chasm between what I really need to do and what I want to do, but I’m good at blurring that line and convincing myself that these are one in the same. I want to honor God and people like Jim Elliot by really struggling over eliminating those nonessentials from my life.
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