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Thoughts to Ponder

David Wilkerson, in Decision Magazine, Jan.’65, said, especially for young people, “The number one sin in our part of the world today is wasting time.” Then he says, “Before I hear someone say, ‘What’s the matter, Davey, have you run out of big sins to preach against, that you have to pick on something insignificant like that?’..before I hear that let me tell you, God describes the wasting of time as a dangerous, mind-destroying, soul-damaging, malignant pull of Satan.  Ten other sins are directly related in the Bible to the wasting of time:  Disobedience, stubbornness, gossip, laziness, evil imaginations, foolishness, stealing, love of pleasures, selfishness and pride.”

They are destructive because they are self-serving, focused on me, whereas in Romans 14:7 we read, “For none of lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone.  If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord.  So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.  This is related to Romans 1:5,  “Through Him and for His names’ sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.  And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.”

Then comes that terrific verse in Romans 14:17... “For the  kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.  Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.”
   Righteousness is participating in the nature of God (cf. 2 Peter 1:4).
      Peace is enjoying the Presence of God (cf. Psalm 16:11).
         Joy is fulfilling the Will of God (cf. Acts 20:24).

The key to the proper use of time is simply to make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.  And we do this by carefully responding to the Biblical record of the early church’s extraordinary impact on the world, as recorded in Acts 2:42:“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, (the WORD), to the fellowship (OBEDIENCE to the Word), to the breaking of bread (fellowship of the BODY) and to prayer (the THRONE).”