Part 1 Of 6: Idle Living Series

Making The Most Of My Life: Six Ways We Waste Our Day

Part 1 of 6: Idle Living

Psalm 102:11 "My life is passing swiftly as the evening shadows."

Time line of inventions

1837 - Telegraph invented

1876 - Telephone invented

1885 - 1st invented combustion automobile

1893 - 1st "movie"

1903 - Airplane invented

1924 - 1st liquid fueled rocket

1926 - Sound added to movies

1932 - 1st parking meter

1936 - Helicopter invented

1945 - Atomic bomb developed

1951 - Hydrogen bomb developed

1975 - VCR developed

1977 - First home computer

Life is changing dramatically. People are moving faster, going farther, and accomplishing more than ever before. And yet as rapidly as life is changing; as quick as the pace has become, there is one thing that remains the same. TIME. Time is that one constant in which we all live. You can’t store it up, use it up, borrow it, or spend it. You can’t share it, steal it, alter it, or manipulate it.

No matter what changes, no matter how much changes, TIME remains the same. Since the dawn of Creation a day has been a day, a year has been a year. Twenty-four hours 2000, 4000, 6000, or even 8000 years ago is the same as twenty-four hours today.

And yet, as much as we realize, still, we never seem to have enough time. Consider the Calvin and Hobbes cartoon. Calvin says to Hobbes, "God put me on earth to accomplish a certain number of things. Right now I am so far behind I will never die."

How many times have we felt like Calvin? So busy, so pressed for time that it seems life itself is encompassing us, crushing us under its weight!

This week marks the beginning of a new six part series: "Making The Most Of My Life: Six Ways We Waste Our Day" In this series we will explore six areas of life in which our time is squandered, our lives robbed, and our God-given purpose neglected. This morning we look at the area of Idle Living.

Maybe you’ve heard the joke of the pilot who announced over the intercom, "Ladies and gentlemen, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that we’re making excellent time. The bad news is that our navigational systems are malfunctioning and we have no idea where we’re going."

[Http://www.northheartland.org/1996/090196m.htm. Making Time For What Really Matters.]

Too often we waste our lives with Idle Living. We’re making good time, but we don’t know where we’re going. Listen to these two passages of scripture:

Psalm 39:4-6 "Lord, let me know my end, and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight. Surely every man stands as a mere breath!" (RSV)

Ecclesiastes 2:10-11 "I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun." (NIV)

There are two facts we need to take note of:

1. Life Is Short

They say when you’ve done something long enough and you’ve had enough experience you become an expert. Some of you this morning are experts on living, and you know more than I how true this is.

We’ve all seen the commercial that says, "Life’s short, play hard" The Psalmist says "Let me know how fleeting my life is!" Carpe Diem-Seize the Day.

2. Life Can Be Wasted

Avis Lynch-wants to grab people and shake them up asking, "Why are you messing up your life?!" The writer says, "everything is meaningless" "nothing was gained"

Dr. James Dobson of Focus On The Family once related to an experience he had concerning a colleagues death. Dr. Dobson wrote, "One of my colleagues [passed away] during my last year at Children’s Hospital, having served on our university medical faculty for more than 25 years. During his tenure as a professor, he had earned the respect and admiration of both professionals and patients...

At the staff meeting following his death, a five-minute eulogy was read by a member of his department. Then the chairman invited the entire staff to stand, as was our custom in situations of this nature, for one minute of silence. I have no idea what the other members of the staff contemplated during that 60-second pause, but I can tell you what was going through my mind.

I was thinking, ‘Lord, is this what it all comes down to? We sweat and worry and labor to achieve a place in life, to impress our [peers] with our competence...Then finally, even for the brightest among us, all these experiences fade into history, and our lives are summarized with a five-minute eulogy and 60 seconds of silence.