There are two ways of getting anything.
- Do it yourself
- Wait for someone to do it
What do we do our time, you ask?
What do you WANT to do with your time, I respond?
A person of God will not truly want to do anything contradictory to God, and frankly God has promised to stay with us NO MATTER WHAT WE DO. Yes, I am yelling to clarify that I believe God when he promises to keep us next to him forever once we are his. Our life isn't going to always be sinless, but it will be sin free. We may do things that contradict ("speak against") the new life God has given us, but that doesn't mean that God is ready and eager to strip that new life away from us at the first failure. If that were true, we would be saved for only about 4 seconds at a time, since that is about how long I go between spiritual clarity about God and doubt.
So, don't be clueless. When you were born, God made your 2 trillion cells for not just one purpose, but for a nearly limitless list of purposes. Our life before the Holy Spirit living in us was controlled by each of those cells' desire to be king of the universe. Our new life with the Holy Spirit gives us a power greater than ourselves to tell each of our cells that there is another plan afoot. The mighty ascetics of the world may attempt to for a moment deny themselves. It can't be done. If you think you have examples, you don't believe God when he says that "there is none worthy, NO NOT ONE."
Our life is hid in Christ forever. That is how free we are. It is if our life is not even any longer inside us (Ephesians 2:6). So our body is stuck here for some inexplicable reason (so God can actually live inside us) that must be in some real sense a true picture of Heaven. Maybe in some ways it is even better than heaven, since this is probably the closest we will be to God while in this broken vessel of human flesh.
Cheers for Christmas!
AK