Lazy bones!

“Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.”
-Proverbs 6:6

I am still upset about my own laziness last weekend. Granted, it was a long week, and I am totally in favor of having a day of rest every week. Even so, I’ll still use one of the weekend days to get some writing done, record and post the podcast, and that sort of thing. Not last weekend. Last weekend, I couldn’t summon the energy to get anything done at all.

To my defense, I had worked a lot of hours last week, and I had to push myself even harder because I was behind on a couple of projects. I was just worn out. Still, come Monday morning, I was shocked at how badly I had wasted the time.

Not that I’m any stranger to wasting time. Especially in my late teens and early twenties, I spent all my time with television and video games and the like. That troubles me too. Somewhere along the road (and it was probably literally on the road – when an 18-wheeler almost killed me), I think God revealed to me that I don’t have all the time in the world, and that hours of Final Fantasy every night probably wasn’t a good use of the time.

We have been given a certain period of time in this life. It’s not long, even for those who live to be over 100. In the grand scheme of things, we don’t have much time. At the same time, these years we have are a gift from God, a little bit of grace for all of us.

Like the gift of money, resources, talents, intelligence, and the like, we are expected to steward our time well. How have you used your time? Has it been serving God or playing Final Fantasy?

I’m not saying that a little TV is bad. We need rest, and we are instructed by God to have a day of rest every week. Considering the benefits to stress level, health, family, and spiritual life this day has, it is a good way to steward your time.

The problem is this – I still waste time. I try not to, but I do. And it is a sin to serve my own self-interest with my time rather than to serve God. When we do that, we are putting our own desires about the God who created us and the world around us and gave us the time we are so casual about. If I were judged by the way I use my time, I would fall far short of the perfect standard set by God.

In Christ, though, I am forgiven. By His Blood He paid the price I owe for my own selfishness. In His death He made it so I can live.

And when He saved me, He gave to me the Holy Spirit to guide me in the ways of righteousness. The Holy Spirit points out to me when I’m wasting time, when I’m about to sin, when I am thinking of myself more than about God.

I still sin, and Jesus is still the means of my forgiveness. But by His Grace, I am studying those ants more now. I don’t want to waste my time.