In late June I began this series of blogs having read Hebrews 2:5-18. I finished two of them before contracting COVID-19 which literally took me out for an entire month. To the glory of God I am well. You can read the first two, when you like, by clinking the titles:
The focus of this series is the need to model the priority of our Lord which was to go to the cross - to die!
Believers, as those called to imitate Christ, must do so by seeking to die daily to the passions and those things that seek to make our appetites central and our desires King. One of the ways in which we must do this is to eliminate that which wastes our time and, therefore, hinders our fulfillment of God's purpose for our lives.
3. Refuse to Waste Time on Anything and Anyone who Hinders Me from Walking In My Purpose.
It is very clear that our Lord did not waste time. This is due, in part, to His clear understanding of what Proverbs teaches about those who are lazy and slothful. Yet, in greater and, perhaps, more infinite ways it is because of His singular commitment to the purpose for which He had come. When the disciples found Jesus after He had rose early to pray they told Him that everyone was looking for Him. Jesus' response is instructive:
"And he said to them, 'Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there
also, for that is why I came out '" (Mark 1:38, emphasis added).
And again, the same thing in Luke 4:42-43
42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the
people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them,
43 but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to
the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose” (emphasis added)
To imitate Jesus in my daily death to sin and self I need to eliminate idleness of every kind and bring every moment into submission to living on purpose, with a purpose and for a purpose. That purpose? To glorify the Lord in and through my holiness.
If, at the request of the crowds, Jesus had gone and began to heal people after His time of prayer He would have done a good thing, but not a God thing. Prayer instructed Christ and was the means by which His agenda was set. It was not the demands that others put on Him that drove His day or actions. It was His purpose - to live holy before the Father and then to die as one who became sin for our righteousness. In an odd, but true way, if Jesus were to do what the people wanted He would have been idle, lazy and unhelpful to them. The crowds that "wanted" Him at the moment actually "needed" Him to ignore them so that their true blessing could come through Jesus fulfilling His purpose.
It can be stated, then, that the most productive people we know can also be, any the same time, the most idle and lazy people we know. This is because being idle and lazy is not simply living randomly without a focused structure of our day. It does mean that, but it is not only that. Idleness is also reflected in my active, intentional and planned engagement in activities as well as with people that do not matter with regard to me fulfilling my purpose in this world for the Lord.
Part of laziness among Christians is due to a lack of knowing their purpose. Too often we only think of our purpose as related to our gifts and, by this we reduce our purpose to mere activities. For instance, people will say, "I don't know what the Lord wants me to do in church!" or, "I don't know the Lord's plan for my life or my family's future" etc. The lack of answers to these questions will often leave believers floundering and aimless. They will feel like their lives are not counting for time and eternity and this will only lead to further idle living, spiritual laziness and a host of other sins.
But what if the questions were wrong? What if the way we think about our "purpose" is wrong?
The truth is that none of us truly knows what the Lord has for our future, but, we do know what He wants of our moments: holiness and devotion to Him in everyday tasks, however mundane and routine they may be. This is what Proverbs 3:5,6 meant when it says:
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own
understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make
straight your paths" (Emphasis added).
"In all your ways" trust Him. That is God's purpose for our lives. In every aspect of my life and day, in duties great and small or in tasks desirable and undesirable. In all those things I am to keep the Lord's glory as my drive as well as my purpose and, when I do this faithfully, He will direct my path to things greater. Equipped with this understanding idleness can now be killed because the mundane has been reframed as something glorious because God is in it! Washing windows is as great as going on the mission field if the window washer is acknowledging (trusting) the Lord as he works.
Killing idleness is imperative because an idle life (heart) is the devil's workshop, as Calvin has said. In our idleness Satan works in concert with the world and our flesh to activate and execute his destructive schemes. These schemes, however destructive they are to others, are massively destructive to us. They only promote the kind of passion we are to be killing on a daily basis. Therefore we would do well to remember that
"We are not killing aspects of idleness that we continually resuscitate."
I am sure, for example, that Paul enjoyed life. This is what it means to be a Christian! I do not believe, however, that he enjoyed that which would cause him to waste his purpose and to engage in actions (affections) he knew he was to put to death (Colossians 3:5). The one who imitates Christ is the one who does not waste time by makes Daily Death the Purposeful Priority of their Life.