Wasting Time?

Water running down the drain...
.
The refrigerator left open on a hot day...
.
Backdoor standing open while the central air unit tries to churn out enough cold air...

Waste.

.

I hate it. I was thrifty, frugal, and waste-conscious before it was politically correct to be so. I got it from my parents, who got it from theirs. My mom was still reusing 20-year-old plastic bags right up until she died. I'm not that bad, but close.
.

I also hate wasting time. I like that feeling of accomplishment when I finish something worthwhile. Time well spent, even if it was only for my benefit: furthering my education or just relaxation.
.
How the Apostle Paul must have hated being stuck in a Roman jail, wasting precious time. Accused by a bunch of self-righteous bigots who didn't even know their own law, he was forced to bring his exploding ministry to a screeching halt while he waited for them to get their act together. And waited. And waited.
.
For nearly 3 years he sat, feeling useless, while the fledgling churches he had planted cried out for help. How he must have physically ached to go to them, straighten out their messes, comfort and chide them as a loving father would. But all he could do was pray for them...and wait.
.
And write letters.
.
It was during this forced wait that he wrote what became much of our New Testament. Letters to his friends at Ephesus, Colossae, and Phillipi--all written while he "wasted" time.
.
Clearly he used even this forced confinement as a time to draw closer to God, lean on His strength, and listen as the Holy Spirit spoke words of truth and wisdom into his heart. Words that Paul would pass on to others and in doing so, change the world.
.

What are you facing right now that feels like such a waste?

.

Family falling apart? Kids out of control? Job loss? A bad medical report?
.
God doesn't view waste the way we do. He promises that nothing in our lives is wasted when given to him to do with as he pleases.

.
We see what we might have accomplished, if only this hadn't happened.
.
But God sees the supernatural outcome He plans bring from that loss---once it is His to use.
.
Waste is a bad thing, no doubt about it. And nothing is more wasteful than going through life, experiencing all its joys and sorrows, and never giving God free rein to transform your mess into His masterpiece.
.
So give it to him. All of it. The bad reputation, the huge mistake, the failure, the sin stronghold. And watch what He does with it. Because God never wastes anything that belongs to Him.

.