Wasting My (God-Given) Time?

I often wonder if I'm using my time well. Do I regularly do things that bring glory to God? Are my activities helping me to know God better? Am I making good choices that have eternal significance? 

Or am I just wasting the days that God has given to me?

Sometimes, I'm certain that I'm wasting time. Like when I plop down in front of the TV and mindlessly watch a program—specifically because I feel I don't have enough physical or mental energy to do anything else. Or when I use Facebook to compare old photos of myself. (It's amazing how much time I can waste contemplating my hairstyles through the years.)

At other times, when I'm doing something mundane, like housework, I know intellectually and spiritually that it isn't a waste of time. I recognize that God uses work to build obedience. And it's both satisfying and motivating to complete a task; the satisfaction of a job well done is a blessing from God. BUT ... like the writer of Ecclesiastes so well articulates, work is wearisome. I sweep, frustrated that the dust is already beginning to gather the second I've removed it. I cook, frustrated that hunger will set in again, just a few hours later.  

The writer of Ecclesiastes then suggests that we try to enjoy our blessings as best as we can:

^"Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life. And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life—this is indeed a gift from God. God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past" (5:18-20).
 
Oddly enough, this instruction to "enjoy life" presents perhaps the greatest mental struggle for me. I often feel guilty when God blesses me, perhaps because many of my favorite blessings seem silly and trivial, in my own estimation. For example, I love to dance. I love to play with other people's children. (I don't have children of my own.) I love to run around with my parents' dog. I love to watch small animals—in particular, birds and bunnies. And I wonder: Aren't these activities—which make me smile—just an utter waste of time? Shouldn't I be doing something more useful: feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the imprisoned? Or, at least, more spiritual: praying, fasting, studying God's Word? And my desire to do things that make me happy ... isn't that just selfishness?

Yesterday, while I was in my car, I was half-listening to "Pastors Perspective," a radio show where listeners can call Pastor Chuck Smith and ask him a question. A caller asked whether it was acceptable for him to use spoken word and hip hop to worship God. (Apparently, someone from his church had told him that these genres were too worldly and must not be used for any type of ministry.) My ears perked up at the words "hip hop." This is the type of dance that I most enjoy. And it's the thing I most often feel guilty about, thinking that it's a silly waste of time.

Pastor Chuck admitted that he wasn't very familiar with hip hop. He explained that there were lots of methods and means of worship. And (to paraphrase Pastor Chuck): "If anything brings glory to God, I should not fight against it."

This got me thinking about how I fight against the things that God surely intends as blessings to me:

• Dance is a tremendous blessing. Every time I dance, I feel such deep gratitude that God has given me a strong, healthy body and the ability to express thoughts and emotions through movement.

• When I play with children, I learn so much about my own spiritual condition. Young children are transparent sinners: They lie, cheat, steal, and express all kinds of selfishness, never trying to hide a bit of it. (Adults later teach kids how to hide their sin by putting on external good etiquette.) Still, no matter how bad kids act, we recognize that children are deserving of love. Even our sinful society recognizes the value of children.

• And when I run around with Bernie the Beagle, or gaze at a small woodland creature, my awe and praise ultimately goes to the Creator of all things. I recognize that only a good Creator would create in such a delightful manner.

Through the enjoyment of God's blessings, I am moved to worship God.

The caller on "Pastors Perspective" mentioned that he meditated on Psalm 45 in thinking about his own passion for rhyme. So I had to look it up when I got home. It begins:    
 
 Beautiful words stir my heart.
I will recite a lovely poem about the king,
for my tongue is like the pen of a skillful poet." —Psalm 45:1

I have a feeling the radio caller knows he was created to be a spoken word artist. It wasn't just that he learned a skill; it was something that began as a desire because God intended for it to be developed. God designated for him to live during a time in history when he could express that God-given skill through hip hop. God provided the means for him to hone that skill. Out of that enjoyment and blessing come praise.

Every Christian is called to do good, to love others, and to worship God. I think I've been very narrowly defining what it means to "do good," to "love others," and to "worship." This (wrongly) causes me to believe I'm wasting my time.

I was created to dance, to play, to fully enjoy the sights and sounds that make me smile. I was created to worship the Creator through the enjoyment of his blessings. And that certainly is no waste of time.
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THINK IT THROUGH
1) Do you ever feel like you're wasting time? Do you think your concern has any merit? Or is it unjustifiable guilt?  

2) Identify some unique activities that cause you to worship God (e.g. watching a sunset, a hobby, spending time with specific people). How does engaging in this activity bring about worship? What specific ways do you worship God after engaging in this activity (e.g. gratitude, awe)?

3) Why is good work so frustrating sometimes? Read Genesis 3, focusing on verses 17-19. Someday that curse will be lifted. Try to imagine what "perfect work" will be like. To help you imagine, think of a time when you were doing something that was so satisfying, you lost track of time.

Everyday Matters Bible for Women

Some of my pieces were published in the Everyday Matters Bible for Women, which was released in Sept. 2012. Today I discovered that you can read a few of them for FREE in Google books--just search for my name and it will pull up the pages.

You can view more information on this Bible at Amazon or Christianbook.com. 

"October Baby," Inspired by Abortion Survivor, Opens March 23

"October Baby" opens in theaters this Friday, March 23. The movie was inspired by the life story of Gianna Jessen, the survivor of a failed abortion. http://www.octoberbabymovie.net/

A "Perfect" Diet?

I was having a conversation with a some Christian friends about the "perfect" diet. We quickly came to the conclusion that while some foods are nutritionally superior (and others hardly qualify as "food"), there's no such thing as the perfect diet. 

That's because there are no perfect foods—all of our food is grown in a post-Fall, imperfect world. After Adam and Eve sinned, God declared that the ground was cursed (Genesis 3:17). So all of the edible plants in the world have been growing from cursed ground since that time. All animals have eaten those plants, and carnivores have eaten other animals that ate the plants. In essence, all vegetables, fruits, grains, meat, and animal products (e.g. milk, butter, lard) are contaminated.

When Health is an Idol

I used to watch The Dr. Oz Show religiously. Actually, I’d record it so I could rewind and jot down information on supplements to take, medical tests to demand, and the right type of lip balm to keep my pout healthy year-round. While no human physician has a fail-proof prescription for perpetual good heath, I thought Dr. Mehmet Oz’s seemed pretty close.

Then the unthinkable happened: Dr. Oz was diagnosed with a precancerous polyp in his intestine. He told People magazine, “This was a shakeup for me. I have done everything right.”

I, too, thought I was doing everything right. Along with watching Dr. Oz, I worked out more than 10 hours every week, which included teaching two hip-hop classes at my gym. I meticulously planned my meals to have a nutritionally exact balance. I weighed, measured, and recorded every bit of food I consumed. I had a schedule for drinking specific quantities of water, a schedule for taking supplements throughout the day, and a schedule for eating high-potassium foods at regular intervals.

Then I, too, got sick. 

"Come, Lord Jesus!" or "Wait, Lord Jesus!" ... or Both?

READING: 2 Peter 3

I often hear Christians excitedly say and pray, "Come, Lord Jesus, come!" 

Meanwhile, my own prayer has often been, "Wait, Lord Jesus, wait!" because I want family and friends who aren't submitting to God's authority to have a chance to recognize it. I've been greatly comforted by 2 Peter 3:9: "The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent."

I think both of these prayers—"Please come!" and "Please wait!"—represent the same desire: We want what God wants. We want everyone who will eventually recognize God's authority to do so, and we want God to do away will evil and suffering, and to rule. We want his perfect justice.

Paul is Hard to Understand & His Words Will Get Twisted: 2 Peter 3

"Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. ... And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him—speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of [Paul's] comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction." —2 Peter 3:11-12a, 15-16 (NLT)

In this passage, I've always focused on the concept of God's patience. Today, when I read this passage, something popped out at me for the first time: Peter tells us that the Bible will be twisted, wrongly interpreted, and thus made to mean something that it doesn't. Peter specifies that this will occur in particular with Paul's letters.

In recent years, I've heard more strong criticism of Paul's letters than of any other part of the Bible, from both folks who are not Christians and from devout believers.

It doesn't surprise me to hear folks who aren't Christians rail again Paul's statements on topics such as the sin of homosexuality and how women should not teach men. It's understandable that these positions would seem unfair, even unjust, to someone who is not submitted to God's authority. (One friend told me he'd be amenable to exploring Christianity if he could throw out Paul's letters from Scripture.)

But I'm perplexed by comments I've heard from Christians such as, "Paul got it wrong. Paul got a lot of things wrong," and "Scripture can be interpreted in many different ways."

Helpful Bible Reading Resource

I've been using the Horner Bible reading plan for a couple months now and am very much enjoying this method of reading the Bible. A PDF of the plan is available free online: http://www.wbfva.org/files/professor_grant_horners_
bible_reading_system.pdf.

The method was devised by Grant Horner, who serves as a professor at The Master's College. It involves reading 10 chapters from throughout the Bible every day. The beauty of the system is that you read just ONE chapter from a book of the Bible, so you get a chance to read different styles of writing (e.g. historical record, personal letters, poetry, and more). Most beneficial, you can see the connectedness of the books of the Bible, as one big story that has a overseeing Author.

With this plan, every day you will read from:

• the Gospels
• the Pentateuch (Torah)
• the Epistles (you'll usually read two chapters, one from two different Epistles)