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Body-Builders |
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Issue 15 from |
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In this issue ·
Building the Walls of Your Life —
Part 2 ·
Feedback For new subscribers: ·
Introducing
“Artios Ministries” |
Welcome to Body-Builders! This is a new series of teaching articles intended to
bless and build the Body of Christ. I trust you enjoy this the fifteenth issue, and I welcome
your feedback. For my latest personal newsletter, please click here. Every blessing, George Alexander For Artios Ministries |
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Some people are lazy, and for that reason accomplish
little or nothing. Some others never
stop, and wear themselves out with busy work and activity—and in the end
accomplish little or nothing. The
result is the same. Opinions may vary
as to which is better. But in terms
of outcome, there is no difference. In the 1949 film “A
Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court,” we hear Bing Crosby, William
Bendix and Cedric Harwicke sing: We’re busy doing nothing, Working the whole day through; Trying to find Lots of things not to do. We’re busy going nowhere, Isn’t it just a crime? We’d like to be unhappy, But we never do have the time! Rarely is that our deliberate intention, but in terms of
results, it may be closer to reality than we’d like to think. It’s easy in Christian circles as
“Christian workers” to run from place to place and from thing to thing
keeping the plates spinning, responding to need, or even simply maintaining
visibility and fostering popularity. When do we do what’s right for us to do? We’re looking at Building the Walls of Your Life. As Nehemiah was motivated to remove the
reproach by rebuilding the walls of the city, so we can bring renewed internal
definition, demarcation and order as we build the walls of our lives. Having dealt last issue with personal
purpose, we now turn to time and priority. The Wall of Outworked Priority William Barclay once said that the reason he was able to
write so many books was that he had learned the difference between ten
minutes and a quarter of an hour.
This illustrates for us that increased efficiency leads to
increased productivity. Yet
it’s not the place to start—what we do must always come before how
we do it. The usual distinction made between efficiency and
effectiveness is that efficiency is about doing things right,
whereas effectiveness is about doing the right things. In Matthew 5:1 when Jesus saw the crowds,
He was no doubt aware of all the need.
Yet His response was not to marshal His disciples in an efficient,
delegated manner to meet that need.
Rather He went up on to the mountain, the disciples came to Him
and He first taught them. That
was longer-term effectiveness thinking, and the right thing to
do. The crowds would eventually
benefit. Jesus in the Gospels was pursued by people—questioning
disciples, demanding crowds and antagonistic authorities—under constant
pressure, and yet never seemed to be hurried, stressed or taken by
surprise. How was this accomplished? He knew and lived His priorities. The Great Leveller When it comes to the matter of time, everyone is
the same: we all have 168 hours in a week, and the issue is how we use
them. These decisions are a matter of
allocation, and unless we make them, they will be made for us. Although to an extent we can “save up
time” for a particular project, time has a very short “use by” date! Time passes, and then it’s gone. Allocating time is analogous to budgeting money: both
are limited; the tighter the finances, the more the need to budget—as the
busier the schedule, the more the need to budget time. We can’t budget time one day in isolation—that’s like
trying to budget the coins in your pocket—we need an overall approach. A Time Budget The demonstration has been performed often. A large glass jar is filled with as many
rocks as will fit in it. Is it
full? Some small stones are added and
fill the spaces. Is it full now? Next some sand is poured in. It looks full. Is it full now? Then a
whole jug of water is poured in. What’s
the lesson? Some would say the lesson
is that no matter how busy a schedule is, more can always be squeezed
in. But the real lesson is this: you
have to get the rocks in first! What are the rocks for your jar? Unless we budget time in priority, our jar
may quickly become too full for an important rock to be accommodated. In that case, no amount of efficiency
will help. We will have compromised
our effectiveness by not doing the right things. With a time budget, important things are not left undone. Also, we are free to focus on the planned
task or activity without the constant pressure of “everything else I have to
do” crowding in on us—these other things are planned for a different time and
will be attended to then. Without a time budget, time tends to flow to flow
towards our weaknesses. We neglect
our strengths because we know we’ll “get by”, and spend too long on things
we’re not so good at. Without a time budget, our time is over-influenced by
dominant people in our lives. Others
will put rocks in our jar unless we do so first. Without a time budget, time surrenders to
emergencies. Now there are real
emergencies, and there are pretenders to that label. Unless this wall is built in our lives, we
are victimised by the tyranny of the urgent.
Many supposed “emergencies” can in fact be handled later, and, as
Gordon MacDonald says, “Not everything that cries the loudest is the most
urgent thing.” And if we must change
our intentions because of a genuine emergency, at least we have a plan to change
from! Without a time budget, time is invested in public and
visible things, or in fun things.
These may be rewarding and affirming, but that does not make them the
right things in which to invest time at that moment. Where do I start? First, consider your rhythms for maximum
effectiveness. When in the week do
you do certain things best? When in
the day? An hour in the morning and
an hour in the afternoon can be quite different. Similarly, Monday can be very different from Friday. On that basis, develop an outline
understanding of when it is best to plan to do certain things. Secondly, realise that there will be more “good things
to do” than you will be able to do.
Prioritising is not simply separating the necessary from the
unnecessary, but also the best from the good. Thirdly, plan time well in advance. Gordon MacDonald suggests regularly
planning your diary or calendar eight weeks in advance. That really is the only way to ensure that
the rocks are in your jar before it fills up with sand and water. First, put in your highest priorities—your
non-negotiables. Next enter your
secondary priorities. Other necessary
tasks, activities and demands may then be allowed to flow around these
plans. Hopefully there will be room
in the jar for everything. But if
some demands cannot be met or some tasks cannot be fulfilled, at least we
will know that what “falls off the end” are those things we’ve already
assessed as less important. In that way, as regards use of time, we can live free
from guilt. In a time budget, as in
any budget, we understand that we simply don’t buy what we simply can’t
afford. Next issue, we will complete this series by considering
the Wall of Rest and Renewal. George Alexander October 2005 Note: All Bible quotations
are NIV unless otherwise stated. |
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News and Update |
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No sooner is the summer over than it’s nearly Christmas! Or at least that’s the way it seems. Around these parts at the moment
everything is autumnal, and it’s a wonderful time of the year. We’re in the midst of a series of articles on the theme of “the inner
life”. We started with “Internal Prosperity” (for a quick link to the Article,
click here.) We continued with “How To Develop Spiritual Strength”, and then last issue we looked at “Building the Walls of Your Life”, Part 1. This issue we have Part 2, and we will complete the series
with Part 3 next time. All feedback
appreciated. These articles make reference to and go along with Gordon MacDonald’s
book from the middle 80s, a book called “Ordering Your Private World”. It made quite an impact, and has become
something of a classic; and it’s still available. I recommend it as a timely read or re-read. The full information is: “Ordering Your Private World” by Gordon
MacDonald – Highland Books
ISBN 1-897913-67-2 In response to a request, printer-friendly versions of the Body-Builder
Articles are now available. To access
the list, click here. There’s update information on the Artios School of Theology, and links to any previous issues of
Body-Builders that you may have missed.
There’s also a link to my latest personal newsletter. Artios Ministries is being developed in three phases, and Phase 1 is
almost complete. Check out www.artios.org
for updates. If you have difficulty opening these e-mails or if the text looks weird
and you suspect it’s not showing as it was intended to (I know it looks a
little strange in Hotmail for instance), please let me know and I’ll try to
solve the problem. Alternatively, you
could try the web version (click here). I continue to receive more requests to subscribe to Body-Builders. If you have received this e-mail
second-hand and would like to be subscribed, please click here. If you’d like to subscribe a friend,
please click here.
(The friend will first receive an e-mail offering the chance to
subscribe.) More news and developments soon …. Return to top
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Previous Body-Builders |
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You may have missed or
mislaid a previous issue of Body-Builders.
If so, don’t despair! They can
be accessed by clicking the links below: Issue
2 (The Beginning of Life) Issue
3 (Getting the Word Out) Issue
5 (The Purpose of the Church) Issue
6 (Pointers to Personal Purpose) Issue
8 (Laying Hold of the Word) Issue
9 (The Community of Perfect Love) Issue
10 (What Should We Do With Christmas?) Issue
12 (Internal Prosperity) Issue
13 (How To Develop Spiritual Strength) Issue
14 (Building the Walls of Your Life — 1) NEW! Printer-friendly versions of the
articles only are now available. To
access the list, click here. |
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Artios School of Theology |
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Artios School of Theology
is a modular course leading to a Diploma in Theology from Artios
Ministries. The first run of the
School, with classes held in Dunfermline, is currently under way. The first
module, Old Testament Survey, had eighteen students enrolled, and was completed
in June. The second module, “Acts of
the Apostles” had seventeen students, and completed in December. That was followed by,
“Gifts and Ministries”, and most recently “Spiritual Dynamics”, which
finished at the end of June. The latest module, “New
Testament Survey”, is now in full swing.
For more information, click here. For general information on the Artios
School of Theology, please click here*. “Old Testament Survey” and “Acts of the
Apostles” are currently in preparation as correspondence courses. * If you tried this and
it didn’t work, you may have to download an Acrobat Reader first. This is available free of charge from
Adobe. To get it, click here. |
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Introducing Artios Ministries
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Artios Ministries is a new ministry launched
officially in October 2003. The Founder and Director is George
Alexander. For 12 years, George pastored Liberty Church in Dunfermline,
Scotland, before being released in 1997 to a wider teaching ministry. The
aims of Artios Ministries are: 1.
To proclaim the Christian doctrine and principles through teaching,
literature, and other means 2.
To provide Biblical education and ministry training 3.
To promote good practice and sound doctrine in the Church of Jesus
Christ Artios
Ministries is a charitable trust recognised in Scotland as Scottish Charity
number SC 034194. |
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“Artios” is
a Greek word occurring in the New Testament. It means, “complete,
fitted, completely qualified, with all its needed parts”. It occurs,
together with another word derived from it, in 2 Timothy 3:16,17 “All
scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may
be complete, equipped for every good work.” RSV |
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Contact Information |
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Difficulties or Comments? Just click here and let us know. |
Artios Ministries 13 Whinhill Dunfermline Fife KY11 4YZ U.K. |
01383-739537 (+44-1383-739537) |
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© Copyright 2005 Artios Ministries |
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