Yes! I went there! We've all heard this popular saying, thanks to the internet and social media. Everyone is busy these days, doing many things that are of necessity. But, what about spiritual things, Christian? As a child of God, there really is no way to separate the necessities FROM the work of the Lord. What are we SUPPOSED to be doing? And, what do we really not have time for?
First of all, we don't have time for SLEEPING. No, I don't mean physical sleep, as that this is how the Lord made our human bodies. We have to get rest in order to function. The Lord even told His disciples to "come ye yourselves apart into desert place, and rest a while..." Mark 6:31. What we do not have time for is spiritual SLEEP! "..knowing the time, that now it is HIGH TIME TO AWAKE OUT OF SLEEP: for our salvation is nearer than when we believed." We have been rocked to sleep, most of the time unknowingly, by the devil's rocking chair, and been unconscious toward the spiritual tasks at hand! "Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids... How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man." Proverbs 6: 4, 9-11. Sometimes we fall short of the job the Lord would have for us to do because we become so consumed with worldly things. As the verse said, we can become as a vagabond that travels or wanders with nothing, or a thief (armed man) that has nothing, if we don't stay vigilant in serving the Lord. We will lack substance in our spiritual lives. We can be coasting through our daily lives and not realize that we haven't accomplished anything for the Lord that day. Days become weeks, weeks become months, and months become years, and still NOTHING has been done for the Lord. "AWAKE to righteousness, and sin not; for SOME HAVE NOT the knowledge of God: I speak this to your SHAME." I Corinthians 15:34. We ALL NEED TO WAKE UP! Souls are at stake!
Secondly, we don't have time for SLOTHFULNESS! Romans 12:11 says, "NOT SLOTHFUL in business; fervent in spirit: SERVING THE LORD;". We are to be fervently serving the Lord, not laxidazy, or lazily. "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye STEDFAST, UNMOVEABLE, ALWAYS ABOUNDING in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." I Corinthians 15:58. We should give full energy to the things of God. Did He not give His all for us? Just as Christ was always preaching, may we " do the work of an evangelist.." " Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold I say unto you, LIFT UP YOUR EYES, AND LOOK ON THE FIELDS; FOR THEY ARE WHITE ALREADY TO HARVEST." John 4:35.II Timothy 4:5. "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." James 4:17
Lastly, we don't have time for SLACKNESS! "And whatsoever ye do, DO IT HEARTILY, as unto the Lord, and not unto men. Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward.." Colossians 3:23 &24a. We should give the utmost care and attention to serving the Lord. If it is done half-heartedly, it's slackness. "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 5:15-17. Dr. Aiken used to always give us this example at Bible college-To walk circumspectly, he said, was like a cat walking along a picket fence, knowing that on one side was a pit bull, and a Doberman pincher on the other! Get the idea! If we do what we want to do, pleasing ourselves, we are liable to get in a lot of trouble, fall on our faces, and thus hinder the cause of Christ! We should also abstain from slackness because the Lord is not slack! " The Lord is not SLACK concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." II Peter 3:9.
Ain't nobody got time for spiritual SLEEPING, SLOTHFULNESS, OR SLACKNESS! WE need to WAKE UP, GET BUSY, AND WALK THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW! "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and WE ARE NOT SAVED!" Jeremiah 8:20. Think back to that time, O Chrisitan, when you were not saved! God help us to remember that it's only by His grace that we are saved today! "WALK IN WISDOM TOWARD THEM THAT ARE WITHOUT, REDEEMING THE TIME." Colossians 4:5. "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh."Matthew 25:13
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