Killing. That is a pretty violent sounding analogy. You can though, “kill” time by doing everyday things. Like gossip, reading things that you should not be reading, and here’s the big one – watching television! You are going to stop reading now, I know, but don’t please – because I am right there with you. I do it too. We have all read articles about watching TV and how it can actually kill brain cells. We just like to ignore that because it is not convenient to NOT watch television. We have our sets on constantly. Some of us actually automatically turn the things on when we get out of bed. We say it is to “watch the news”, but then, we never go over and turn the things off when the news is over! From the news to the latest craze talk show host to The Price Is Right, to soap, sick soap opera, to the next talk show. From morning to evening there are all those different program choices, all those vain things, and at the end of the day you finally realize that the entire day is wasted – you have done nothing – you have let others do your thinking for you. Does that sound like a reason that our country, our world, could be in the bad situation it is in. Have we sat back, killing time?
It does seem that killing time can have lasting effects. When all the wasted, or dead, time is examined, can you see that nothing good has come from it? Our nation is a conglomerate of all sorts of peoples, races, good people, bad people. The majority of all of us have televisions. The majority of us have too much time on our hands, and we kill a lot of that time. The Bible does have something to say about being idle –
“Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger.” – Proverbs 19:15
Perhaps this is why our nation, our world is in such chaos. People have been killing time in front of our sets, while evil people have taken over our governments, and now those governments are taking over our lives. Such is the outcome of killing time.
What can we do about it? The past cannot be changed, but it is possible that we could grasp a hold onto the future. All we have to do is go back to the instruction book that God gave us and start anew. Perhaps now, instead of killing time, perhaps we can save, or redeem time. Did you know that is possible. God talks about it:
“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.” – Ephesians 5:16-17
The passage goes on to talk about being not drunk with excess of wine. (This could be a whole ‘nuther discussion which we won’t go into because I am unwilling to reference to controversial topics in the same article.) I think the meaning of this, though, is not to do things that make you like a drunkard – don’t do things to excess and have those worldly things on your mind. The purpose of our existence is to worship and serve our Creator. That concept flies in the face of just about anything that comes into your home through your television. With all those hours watching those things coming into our brains, we are drunk with all those ideas. We can no longer think straight. Go back, actually think things over. Start redeeming time by looking at things your Creator is trying to tell you. Get back into His Word. Follow Him instead of the world.
AE
Voice of the Introverts 