I have heard others say, myself included, “This is a waste of time?” How do you define wasted time? By what standard or what measure do you utilize to determine if the use of your time has been worth it or wasted? For example, I have a friend who thinks he is funny. He always has a joke to tell. Every time he begins with, “Have you heard this one?” I always and immediately conclude that what proceeds out of his mouth will by no means be funny; nor in any capacity will it be beneficial. It is, in the truest sense, a complete waste of time. Why? Because it didn’t produce anything of substance.
Although those types of things are somewhat annoying and a complete waste of time; they are completely harmless. Suffering through a friend’s horrifically lame joke will not cost you your soul. However, Peter discusses something that will. Notice what Peter says in 1 Peter 4:3, “For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.”
Brethren, it is a waste of time to live like the world. We have devoted far too much time in pursuit of those things, and look what they have produced: absolutely nothing but death! Paul asks a very poignant question in Romans 6:21, “What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.”
So, how do you define what is a waste of time? It’s simple really. Does it produce life, or death? What about the things that you pursue? What do they produce?
Jeremy Tucker
Dexter church of Christ
Dexter, MO