ARE YOU WASTING YOUR LIFE?
MARK 8:34-38
I just celebrated another birthday. The years seem to go by faster as each one passes. I am thankful for the years the Lord has given me. As I get older I am reminded of the importance of using this life to fulfill the purpose God gave me. As I look around me I am made aware that if I do not pay attention I can waste the life God gave me instead of using it. That is the reason the title of a book written by John Pieper caught my attention a few months ago. The title of the book is simply, “Don’t waste Your Life”. That title is one that should get the attention of everyone, for life is too precious to waste.
As I read this book I was both concerned and hopeful. I was concerned because Pieper confirmed what I was already thinking, that I could waste my live, but I was hopeful because I realize that I had the choice of how I could spend and invest my life. I don’t want to waste it.
“Waste” is one of those words and concepts that really bothers me because it implies that I have control over it. Thought the end results might seem similar I believe there is a difference between waste and loss. In most cases I have little control over loss, and sometimes loss can result is a larger gain.
(** Right now we have thousands of men and women on foreign soil fighting for our country. Almost on a daily basis we hear of lives lost there. The loss is great, yet, I am humbled and amazed as I hear about some of those who knew the danger, yet thought it was worth giving their life for. I don’t think we would say their lives were wasted.)
Waste is different because I have control over it. Webster gives several definitions to this word, all referring to something passing away. The meaning I prefer is this it means to allow something to pass away and fail to use it for its intended purpose. I can’t stand to see anything go to waste. Debbie and Jason get aggravated with me at times because of my attention to waste.
I don’t think I am a total cheapskate because I don’t mind paying for something if I need it. I will run the air-conditioned to stay cool as long as I can pay the bill, but I can’t stand the thought of cooling an empty house or trying to cool the whole community. Debbie has a habit that really bugs me. She will stand at the door calling the cat for the longest time. I also like a lot of light. I have four 100 watt bulbs plus a lamp in my study and I burn the all, but I can’t stand the thought of those bulbs burning if no one is there. Waste is letting something pass away without using it for its purpose.
When I think about how precious life is and that I really only go around once on this earth I can’t stand the thought of wasting it. We cannot turn life off like a light bulb and save it for when we feel like using it. It continues to flow past us day by day, hour by hour minute by minute.
When it comes to our lives if we fail to live for the purpose for which we were created our lives are wasted.
As I said earlier the subject of wasting life catches the attention, for I don’t know too many people who want to waste their lives. Most people want to get the best of life. They don’t want to let it go to waste, yet many who are trying to avoid that are wasting their lives. We have been given the gift of life for God. It is a gift that is passing by on this earth. We decide if we will use it or waste it.
We need to ask what is meant by wasting our lives lest we waste our lives while trying to avoid waste.
Most of the people I meet really want to make the most of life. They don’t want to waste, but many have bought into the world’s idea of what it means to waste life. We will get to this later on, but for now let us be aware that the world view is to focus on saving life. Now most of the things are not bad in themselves. Some are even good things, but if they become our total focus we can waste life while thinking we are saving it.
- The world suggest that the one who dose not make all the money
He/she can are wasting their lives. Some work many hours in order to make more money. They can’t understand people who will settle for less by working less hours or taking a job that pays less. They see anyone who has potential to make money, but choose to invest their lives and time in other things as wasting their lives. To them anyone who would leave their home and go to another country to help other is a waste of life.
- The world suggest that the one who doesn’t see all the places and
Experience all the things of the world waste their lives. I see this attitude among parents of school age children who want to make sure they do all the things before they get grown. Some are running themselves ragged trying to make sure they don’t waste anything.
(** A few weeks ago some of the people Jason works with were getting a soft-ball team together. They recruited Jason. He told them that he did not know how to play. I don’t think they believed him, but at practice they learned the truth. They were gracious in working with him and letting him learn. The reason he did not know how to play is that he never played it as a kid. He didn’t have any interest and I did not push it. When I tell some people about that they look at me like I was an abusive parent. I do not think so. Jason’s child hood was not wasted because he did not play ball)
Many of the things the world suggest that we must have or experience are good things, but people can do all these things and have the well rounded life and still waste their life, for they can do those things and still fail to fulfill the purpose of their life.
If we do not invest our lives in serving God we waste it.
(** John Pieper tells about an elderly man who accepted Christ as his Savior. People had prayed for this man for years, but he continued to reject. One night during a service the man came and at the invitation he accepted Christ. It was a very joyful occasion on one hand, for he had finally been saved, but in the mist of the joy the man sat sobbing and saying over and over, I’ve wasted it. The man realized that he had lived most of his life without purpose. Thought he was saved he grieved all the wasted years. That should be a word of caution to those who plan to live life for themselves and at the end start living for Christ. Yes, he will forgive your sin and save you, but you cannot get back those wasted years.)
Are you wasting your life?
Last week we looked at the cost of discipleship. Jesus said we must deny ourselves and take up our cross two things that go against the grain of many. The reason that many reject this is because it looks like it leads away from life. From the worlds view the call to discipleship looks like a good way to waste one’s life. However, we must confess that it is not only a world view, but one that too often is seen among the church. As I was preaching it maybe some of you thought that it was very negative. It certainly did not seem like a message to recruit new members.
** We can see this attitude revealed in various ways.
The call to discipleship is something some try to avoid because they feel it is a call to waste their life. ** I can’t tell you how many times over the past few years that someone has told me that they were afraid to get seriously committed to the Lord because the feared that he would call them to invest their lives in some service to Him.
While the call to discipleship seems like the way to wasted life in the eyes of the world, Jesus shows us that the opposite is true. The wasted life is not the one invested in being a disciple of Christ it is the life that is not focused on him. It is wasted because it failed to be used for the purpose for which it was created.
(** I have several coffee cans filled with strange looking washers and screws. I don’t know but from the looks of them they were probably valuable. I got these out of a trash bin at an auto glass factory in Versailles. I don’t know how much they were worth when they had a purpose, but now they are worth very little)
You and I were created for a purpose. It is a high and honorable purpose. We must be careful to not waste our lives on lesser things.
(** Occasionally I will hear someone make a statement that causes me to feel very uneasy inside. Someone will say they live for certain things, or certain things are their life. I have heard several very unworthy things people are giving their lives to. Some might say working and their job is their life, or sport is their life. I often walk through cemeteries reading what people have on their head stones. I am saddened by what I see on some because it reveals that they wasted their lives for lesser purposes. I am not suggesting that we don’t have hobbies and do fun things, but that cannot be our purpose. Recently while walking through a cemetery I saw a grave that caught my eye. It didn’t have the traditional flowers on it, it had checkered flags and things associated with car racing. I read some of the things written and realized that this person had lived for racing. I thought how sad it was to not live for a higher purpose.
In our scripture today we see Jesus cautioning about the danger of wasting life and calls us to invest our lives is something greater that ourselves. I know that the word waste is not used here, but as I have studied this passage I have reached the conclusion that Jesus was talking about wasting life.
When we read what Jesus says it might seem confusing to some because he says we loose what we save and find what we loose. How can we loose what we save and gain what we loose? It seems like a contradiction, but it is a fundamental truth in life.** I think we ca see that truth in nature with seeds. If we seek to save seed and not let them be used for their intended purpose the loss is great.
Permit me to do a little paraphrasing of this passage.
He who seeks to save life and does not use the life he has been given by investing it in the purpose it was given will waste life. But he who will devote his life in the purpose it was given will find it.
Let us take a closer to this concept of saving loosing and loosing finding.
1. The saving loosing.
I have given thought to this passage often over the past few years trying to understand what kind of lifestyle is a saving loosing type. Is Jesus suggesting that we don’t try to have things and take care of ourselves? I don’t think that is the case. The Lord blesses us with material things and supplies our needs through our jobs and other things. If we didn’t have some of these basic things we would not be able to invest our lives in the purpose we were created.
The danger is in loosing focus of the ultimate purpose in life and start focusing in on life itself instead of using it. I realize that statement might sound like nonsense. How can we do that? A lot of what I see in church today seems to suggest that God exist for our purposes instead of the other way around. Some people attend church and do a few good things in order to receive blessing so they can have a more comfortable life. Now God does bless us with good things, but the problem arises when we seek to use God to save life instead of using the life He gives us to serve Him. The loss comes when we seek to use eternal things for temporary purposes instead of investing temporal things in eternal things. God provided for our temporal needs so we can invest in eternal things.
(** School will be starting in a few days and I am sure all the children are looking forward to the school lunches. Probably not, but when I was in school I majored in lunch. The school lunch program was established so children could have good nutrition and be able to learn better. The reason for school was not lunch. Lunch was for school. But, instead of using lunch to get strength to do my study I started focusing on lunch. I attended a small country school my first 8 years. We had a couple of ladies who ran the lunchroom who were great cooks. Everything was homemade. I would start smelling the rolls being baked early in the morning. The school used students to work in the lunchroom. I don’t think that is legal today, but times have changed. I volunteered to work because it got me out of class and I could eat for free and a lot of it. I don’t know how, but I passed classes I didn’t attend. By focusing on lunch I soon realized that I had lost because when I got to high school and the English teacher started talking about verbs and nouns I didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. I had reversed the values of things and lost)
When Jesus calls us to loose life I don’t think that it is necessary that we destroy our lives like the Kamikaze flyers. It is a call to present our bodies as a living sacrifice in serving the purpose we are here for.
What does it mean to save life in such a way as to loose it?
When we are focused on saving we are not using and living to the fullest.
A. When we focus on saving rather than using we fail to see our
purpose in life. Rick Warren says, “The purpose of your life is far
greater than your peace pf mind, or even your happiness. It’s far
greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams
and ambitions” PDL p17.
Many have given their own purpose of life. They see it as working,
Having fun, etc. They don’t see life as given to invest in great purpose.
While it is great that God allows us to do certain
Things they are the supplies for us to fulfill our true purpose.
(** Some have what I call the “First Car” view of life. I have a nice car and
a Pick-up. I am thankful for them and I seek to maintain them, but they are only tools that enable me to do my job and go places. I remember my first
car. It was not anything like my car now. I could see the road through the floor, but I was focused on that car. Instead of it being a tool it became the focus of all I did. I worked, but I worked so I could spend it on my car. When I went out it was not to go to any place, but to rid in my car. Instead of the car being a tool to support me seeking higher purposes, it became the purpose)
B..When we focus on saving we reject any suggestion of suffering
And sacrifice. In other words we can’t see spending life to serve God. It is as if everything gets filtered through the sacrifice grid to determine if one will follow. If it cost anything then it is rejected.
(** I have heard this attitude expressed several times by those who want to justify their refusal to follow Jesus. I have had men tell me that they thought they were called to preach. They started thinking about what that might cost, things like leaving home and quitting a job, etc and decided it was not a call)
C. When we focus on saving we refuse to take and risk that might cause
Us to loose anything.
Walking by faith is out of the question because it involves risk. Some
Might say that faith does not involve risk, but the journey of faith is a risk
From our view point. Faith calls us out of our safety zones to follow God’s
Plan.
Walking by faith calls for risk, but the alternative is destructive.
(** I recall what Mordicai told Esther when se struggle with the risk of
approaching the King. She risks being put to death. She was reminded
that to not do it would surely result in death. Esther 4:12)
some might say that it still saves life, but the truth is that life that is not invested in the greater purpose of God will be lost. It will end in death.
2. The loosing saving!
Some have deceived themselves by thinking they would be willing to die if they were faced with that situation. We all remember the girl at Columbine who refuse to denounce her faith. We all want to be like her, but we must realize that being willing to if the situation arises is not the same as loosing.
While we are talking about loosing life I believe we are talking about a way of life instead of death. We make the decision each day if we will give and invest our lives in the higher purpose.
There are many implications in this passage as to the concrete meaning of loosing life.
- It might be the loss we experience for standing for the right thing.
To a pastor it might mean loosing his job, or support of friends.
To a business owner it might mean the loss of business
To a teenager it might mean loosing friends and facing ridicule
-It might mean a sacrifice of our time and money to
invest in the cause of Christ.
I find it a bit strange that some of us who say we would die for the faith
Will not give of their time and money for his sake.
- It might mean that we have to leave our home and
family to go to a foreign land and invest our live in
sharing the gospel with those who have not heard.
These things call us to loose life, but the end result is that we find it. Not just life in Heaven after we die, but I believe we find it here on this earth as well.
I don’t think we live life by trying to save it, but we begin to live when we invest our lives in the purpose for which we were created.
How sad it is to waste precious life and never use it for the purpose it was given.
When we begin to be willing to loose life we begin to live. If you don’t have anything you are willing to die for you have nothing to live for.
We hear a lot of talk about being fulfilled and happy in this life. Some might say that is not possible and it should not be the desire of a Christian. I don’t agree, for I believe that as Christians that we find fulfillment and happiness when we start investing our lives in our purpose.
The problem with many is they look for life in all the wrong places. While looking for life the loose it. Those who are willing to loose life will find it.
As the years pass by are you wasting or living your life? How said it is to waste our lives on temporary things when we can invest in eternal things.
Why not stop wasting your life?
(HBC 7/31/05)
