5. The straw in our lives (4)

We have discussed a couple of things that can waste our time and be regarded as straw in our lives. In other words things that will wither away the moment something serious happens in your life. I think there are many 'straws' and you can probably name a couple that I am not even thinking about right now, but my main aim in writing this is for you to start thinking about it and noticing it when the 'straws' pop up in your life to steal your time and to drain you even more. That is the main aim of the devil. He wants to steal your time, drain you to a point of giving up and most importantly cause you to drift away from the Lord and from spending quality time with Him. That is ultimately all he wants, he wants you far away from the Lord drifting around in this life with no aim, no foundation and no hope for a better future.

John 10:10, "The thief's (devil's) purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My (Jesus') purpose is to give life in all its fullness."

The devil, amongst other things, wants to steal your time. He wants to fill your life with straw and whenever you go through a crisis he is going to laugh at you when you fall flat without any support/foundation.  But even more than that he is going to be so pleased when you start blaming the Lord for the crisis, blaming Him for not supporting you through it as you think He should. He simply loves it when we fall away from God and God's best for our lives.

Wasting time is an art for some people. It has always amazed me at work the big difference in time it takes for different people to do the same task. I know we are not all the same, but sometimes the discrepancies is just mindboggling and when you start watching those that take the longest you'll be amazed at how they can waste time. Typically they will slowly get up from their workstation and stroll over to make coffee, then they will stand there and drink it, then they will strike up a conversation with anyone who comes past, then after a while they will stroll back to their seats and check their email, they will then email their friends and thereafter catch up on the latest on Face book, then they will stroll over to the restroom and stay there for 20 minutes, then they'll stroll back and check their email again and so it goes on and on. Sounds familiar? And the worst part is that they will work long hours just to show their boss that they 'put in the extra mile' while back at the ranch they wasted most of the day! And now their family is paying for it, because they come home late.

The Bible warns us against wasting time and being lazy:

'Lazy people don't even cook the game they catch, but the diligent make use of everything they find." Proverbs 12:27

"Yet, we hear that some of you are living idle lives, refusing to work and wasting time meddling in other people's business. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we appeal to such people - no, we command them: Settle down and get to work. Earn your own living." 2 Thessalonians 3:11, 12

Don't allow the devil to steal your time. Don't waste another minute just breathing air. Do your work to the best of your ability, and spend the rest of your time on more important things. Make the bricks in your life the main priority. We will get to the bricks a little later, but I am sure most of you can guess that the most important brick is the Lord and thereafter your family. Make them your main focus and pray that God will give you the strength and the wisdom to avoid wasting time.

Dear Lord, You are our main priority. Forgive us if we waste time on mindless things. Give us the strength to say 'no' to things consuming our time and to rather focus on our relationship with You. Amen

 

 

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