In your own opinion, think of the one thing that seems to be the most significant waste of time. Would it be the same thing as your closest friend? Probably not. We know that everyone has a different idea of what is a waste and what is worthwhile. But when this life is over, every account is closed, you no longer have access to the things of this world, and you stand before God. What will He say about your life? What were the things that truly mattered?
I guarantee that most people have focused on the wrong things, such as wealth, possessions, and selfish personal desires, among others. But God looks at the heart and says that His Son, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Father’s commandments are the things of eternal value. The real test is, do you believe that it is a waste to focus on Jesus, God, and eternal things? Because that is my focus. To show you that Jesus is the only way to be forgiven from your sins, which include lying, stealing, immoral behavior, manipulation, deceit, idolatry, and many more evil behaviors.
“The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Above, I mentioned idolatry, and if you didn’t know, idolatry is making something in your life more important than God. This could include watching TV or playing video games for hours on end, or devoting attention to anything or persons more than you regard God.
You may not believe it now, but there will come a day when you will know that wasting time with things that have no eternal value is truly a waste of time and your eternity. Think about what you really gain from those activities. When everything in your life is complete, what will you take with you? Certainly not the make-believe money you earned on a video game, let alone the money you are keeping for yourself in the bank.
The wisest man on earth, Solomon, came to the correct conclusion when He said, in Ecclesiastes 1:2-4,12-14 “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.”
“I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.”
Someday, when you die, all you have done, both good and bad, will be judged by God. He will lay upon you a reward for what you have done for Jesus, but He will exact punishment for each one of His laws you broke. Those who did not put their faith in Jesus will be sent to Hell, their destination as lawbreakers and criminals against His commandments. We can’t deny that we don’t know what is wrong because He gave each of us a conscience, and you make a choice every moment to do good or evil. For example, we all know lying, cheating, and hatred are wrong since we all get bent out of shape when others break these laws against us.
I would encourage you to consider your eternity. I beg you to examine your heart and soul so that you will see your sins for how serious they really are. If Jesus is not real, and we cease to exist after death, how sad is our existence, since everything was a colossal waste of time?
But you are not a waste of time. God loves you so much that He made a way for you to be saved from sin and death. He made a way for your life to truly matter, and He can give you work that you may earn eternal honor and rewards.
I tell you today that what the Bible teaches is true, and Jesus is the way to the forgiveness of your sins and the door to eternal life and reward in Heaven. Will you ignore the call to salvation through Jesus Christ, and will you turn from sin and repent? If you refuse, your life will have been a waste. There is no easy way to say it. But if you believe in Jesus, follow and obey. Your life will have purpose and meaning, and all the suffering will have been worth the wait to be welcomed into Heaven.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because He has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” John 3:16-21
Jesus is offering you a route to escape from punishment and hell. But which will you choose? Stop and consider the possibility that God, Heaven, and hell are all real. You see good and evil all around you. You feel that things are right and wrong in your heart. God may be pulling at your soul right now so that you may consider your life; what have you done of eternal value? Will you turn to Jesus for the forgiveness of all your sins? Or will you waste the life and talents God gave you? Please turn from your sins today, humble yourself and admit your wrongdoing to Him, repent and follow Jesus, and make the rest of your life worth eternity.
The Soul Sower 