Articles
Life Is Too Short to Waste
Suffering Job observed, “Man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble” (Job 14:1). Sadly, many of us waste those few days because we’re too busy focusing on — and sometimes creating — the trouble! Life is too short to waste.
Life is too short to waste on petty grudges. “A man’s discretion makes him slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook a transgression” (Proverbs 19:11). “Do not be eager in your heart to be angry, for anger resides in the bosom of fools” (Ecclesiastes 7:9). Love “is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Corinthians 13:5).
Life is too short to waste on jealousy and envy. Envy is self-destructive. It is “rottenness to the bones” (Proverbs 14:30). “Love…does not envy” (1 Corinthians 13:4). Envy defiles us (Mark 7:20-23). “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing” (James 3:16). “For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?” (1 Corinthians 3:3).
Life is too short to waste on selfishness. Love “does not seek its own” (1 Corinthians 13:5). “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4).
Life is too short to waste on living in the past. “Do not say, ‘Why is it that the former days were better than these?’ For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this” (Ecclesiastes 7:10).
Life is too short to waste on worry. “For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing…And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life’s span?” (Luke 11:22-25).
Life is too short to waste on sin. “He who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it” (1 Peter 3:10-11).
