Are You Wasting Your Life?

Written and Submitted by: Crystal Smisor

Recently, my heart has been so grieved to witness the scores of young people in this generation that are wasting their lives. Instead of being producers, we are consumers. We are seeking how much we can get and how little we can give. Is that God's plan? Emphatically not! Haven't you read 1 John 3:16? "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He lid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." Nowhere in the Bible is self-centered living condoned! We were singing as a family a few weeks back and this phrase from one of the hymns really convicted me: "We lose what on ourselves we spend…" Have you ever thought of that? Every self-centered action, word, or thought has no Eternal value in it.

Speaking of wasting our lives, let me share with you a poem that I recently copied out. It was taken from a worn and tattered, but priceless volume (printed in 1872!) loaned to me by a friend.

The Unprofitable Servant

In a napkin smooth and white,
Hidden from all mortal sight,
My one talent lies tonight.

Mine to hoard, or mine to use,
Mine to keep, or mine to lose;
May I not do what I choose?

Ah! The gift was only lent,
With the Giver's known intent,
That it should be wisely spent.

And I know He will demand
Every farthing at my hand,
When I in His presence stand.

What will be my grief and shame,
When I hear my humble name,
And I cannot repay His claim!

One poor talent-nothing more!
All the years that have gone o'er
Have not added to the store.

Some will double what they hold,
Others add to it ten-fold,
And pay back the shining gold.

Would that I had toiled like them!
All my sloth I now condemn:
Guilty fears my soul o'erwhelm.
Lord, O teach me what to do!
Make me faithful, make me true,
And the sacred trust renew.

Help me ere too late it be,
Something yet to do for Thee,
Thou Who has done all for me.

It was not too long ago that we received the news of the death of one of our friends. She was a Godly woman who left a powerful testimony of absolute trust in God through six agonizing years of cancer. There is one thing she shared during that time that I will always remember. It was this quiet challenge: "If you don't use it, you'll lose it." In other words, God has given us all so much, not that we might hoard it up and keep it inside for ourselves. He has given it to us that we might give to others. Mom often reminds us of Luke 1:48, "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required." God has blessed me personally with so much. Big things and little things…all of which I take for granted so much of the time. I have Godly parents who have laid down their lives to home educate me in the ways of the lord. We, in America, have unlimited access to God's Word. We have freedoms that very few generations could have even dreamed of! I don't even think we can begin to comprehend how much God has given us. At least, we sure don't seem to live like it. Let us not live in such a way that we are going to look back and regret how much we have wasted. Beethoven, the magnificent composer, put it so well: "It seems to me impossible to leave this world until I produce everything I feel has been granted to me to achieve." O course, I must back all this up with the fact that we cannot achieve anything in our own strength. It is only God Who can do anything though us. Let us look to Him everyday for the grace to accomplish all He has called us to do!

Redeeming the time does not necessarily mean accomplishing many things or getting more done in less time. Rather, redeeming the time is spending our lives in for that which is eternal. When it really comes down to it, that is all that matters.

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