Good Morning My Friends! It’s Daylight Saving Time today. Guess what I forgot? Okay, so I didn’t just lose one hour today, I lost two hours! Nevertheless, I gained insight today because of this time change. Read on, my friends, and you’ll see what I mean.
Daylight Saving Time (DST)
“Spring ahead” is the positive way of looking at this time change. The negative way is to view it as loss. For most us that means we view DST as losing an hour of sleep. Precious sleep!
I’ve often wondered the purpose of DST. It feels annoying to me. I value my sleep…a lot! In the fall, I get excited about DST because I get an extra hour of sleep.
But when spring comes around, I’m told the opposite. Turn your clock ahead an hour. What? Why? I don’t like losing an hour of sleep.
I’ve researched DST before to discover the purpose. I blame Benjamin Franklin!
American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin wrote an essay called “An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light” to the editor of The Journal of Paris in 1784. In the essay, he suggested, although jokingly, that Parisians could economize candle usage by getting people out of bed earlier in the morning, making use of the natural morning light instead.
Thanks Ben!
We know our loss is sleep, and we don’t use candles any more for lighting our houses. So what is our gain now for participating in DST? The same reason: Save Energy! Why? To make better use of daylight.
Okay, I admit, I like driving home from work at 4:30 p.m. in daylight rather than the darkness of night. I also like that when I get home from work, I can go for a walk outside in the daylight!
However, as Benjamin Franklin realized, there is a cost of light. So, we lose an hour, but we gain so much more.
So it is with following Christ. To lose is to gain.
Paul declared, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21, NIV).
Count the Cost
Whatever we lose by choosing to live an intentional life for Christ will not compare to the ultimate gain we’ll receive.
But we have to be willing to lose first.
There are two parables Jesus shared that I want to share with you to bring light to the “to lose is to gain” idea:
The Parable of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl
The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field. Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. (Matthew 13:44-45, NLT)
The Cost of Following Jesus
Once when large crowds of people were going along with Jesus, he turned and said to them, “Those who come to me cannot be my disciples unless they love me more than they love father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and themselves as well. Those who do not carry their own cross and come after me cannot be my disciples. If one of you is planning to build a tower, you sit down first and figure out what it will cost, to see if you have enough money to finish the job. If you don’t, you will not be able to finish the tower after laying the foundation; and all who see what happened will make fun of you. ‘You began to build but can’t finish the job!’ they will say. If a king goes out with ten thousand men to fight another king who comes against him with twenty thousand men, he will sit down first and decide if he is strong enough to face that other king. If he isn’t, he will send messengers to meet the other king to ask for terms of peace while he is still a long way off. In the same way,” concluded Jesus, “none of you can be my disciple unless you give up everything you have.” (Luke 14:25-35, GNT)
Jesus makes the point that those who understand the ultimate gain of the Kingdom of Heaven will gladly exchange everything else to follow Him.
Giving up an hour of sleep allows us to make better use of daylight and save energy at the same time.
So it is when we give up things we think are benefitting us, but in reality they are stripping us and others of energy and not adding value to anyone including to Jesus. Let’s each count the cost for living intentionally for Jesus.
Therefore, what are some things we need to lose in order to receive the ultimate gain?
Practical Application
We’ve already learned a few things. Last week we began our 40 Days of Intentional Living.
Here are some things we need to lose:
If we refrain from even these seven things, we’ll save our energy. Consider all the energy we waste on just worrying. How many hours in your life do you estimate you’ve used up worrying about things? Too many to count I suspect.
God wants us to better use our lives. That’s why He wants us to embrace:
As we begin a new week, let us not forget the things God instructed us to refrain from and embrace last week, but let us add to these this coming week. Today, God explains why we refrain from some things and why we embrace other things.
Our loss is our gain.
It’s for Jesus’ sake we live intentionally.
We should declare like Paul:
“Whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ” (Philippians 3:7, NIV).
So use your energy to make better use of God’s light today. Live intentionally today. Practice refraining and embracing all that we learned last week.
Just for Today
Refrain from Resisting Loss, Embrace the Ultimate Gain
Sounds like embracing the fruits of the spirit ?
Kim, I think you’re right! 🙂
Like trying to play catch with a toddler and all they can do is insist that the ball is “Mine!” 🙂 Hopefully, I’ll grow up a little and find the joy of playing catch with my Heavenly Daddy – letting go so there is space to embrace His next gift. Thanks so much for this Michelle!
Pearl, that is a great analogy! I think I shall remember this. Let go of the ball! 🙂