Do Not Waste Words or Time
Words and time should be counted precious and useful. Neither should be wasted.
There are many idioms related to the word “waste.” One that often springs to mind is “haste makes waste.” A funny one is “a committee is a group of men who keep minutes and waste hours.” I think we have all experienced committee-centric waste. A murderer might be said to waste their victim when they take a precious life.
We have also heard the “a mind is a terrible thing to waste.” We should not “waste our breath,” “waste our time,” or let something “go to waste.”
Wasting Words
I am now in my seventh decade of life. The longer I live, the more I realize that many words are wasted. I recently read a statement by Jerome Powell about the timing of the next rate reduction, and I thnk he used a lot of words to say something I could have said in one brief sentence. He could have said, “We don’t know what we will do because we don’t know what will happen.”
Another form of “word waste” is giving wisdom to those who really don’t want it. Proverbs 23:6-9 helps bring clarity to this type of waste.
“Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy; do not desire his delicacies, for he is like one who is inwardly calculating. ‘Eat and drink!’”’ he says to you, but his heart is not with you. You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten and waste your pleasant words. Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the good sense of your words.” Proverbs 23:6-9
This is often the case on social media platforms. You might have some thoughtful advice, but often the recipient is already convinced that they are right, and any advice is quickly rejected.
Wasting Time
There are a lot of ways I waste time. The longer I live, the more I realize that time waste is the worst kind of folly. We are good at wasting time, and most of us are experts in the discipline of wasting time. I’m trying to become a better steward of that most precious resource. The Apostle Paul has some good advice for every follower of Jesus:
“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is.” Ephesians 5:15-17
Understand what the will of the Lord is. Those are powerful “don’t waste your life” words.
How to Identify a Follower of Jesus
They strive to make the best use of their time. See Ephesians 5:15-17 and let those words sink in. They are also careful and thoughtful about their words.
Five Minute Friday
This post is part of the weekly Five-Minute Friday link-up.
All scripture passages are from the English Standard Version except as otherwise noted.
Know Your Flocks & Herds 
Thank you for this. You made me think about how, as long term Methodist, we used to refer to our church government as ‘death by committee’! And I value that reminder from Proverbs about who to say what to when dealing with people who are so convinced by misinformation nowadays – I guess only God can open and change minds in the end, and we may be wiser sometimes to leave the convincing to Him.
God bless,
Liz
Your FMF Neighbour #6
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Wise words here! It is important to use our words well and to make good use of the time God has given us.
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Lots of agreement here – saying “Amen” to quite a bit. Being a reporter once upon a time I experienced lots of wasting of time as I covered committees and councils … I even stopped eating a lunch someone bought me and walked away when it became obvious I was being “bought.” Now that I no longer write for a newspaper I realize that most of the words floating around cyberspace are also a waste of time, as if it is our new job as a society to keep everyone’s mind-space full of words and ideas. Thank God His Word is never a waste of time! Those words are alive, active, transforming, renewing, guiding, convicting, and will last forever. Amen!
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“Words and time should be counted precious and useful. Neither should be wasted” — very true. I regret having wasted so much of both.
The quote about “a committee is a group of men who keep minutes and waste hours” made me smile.
(Visiting from #11)
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I kinda like ‘A board is long, hard, and narrow. It is made of wood.’
I wonder if my writing’s wasted?
No novels or devotionals,
no cookbooks on the good I’ve tasted,
but I guess that’s how the story rolls
when rhymes were started on a lark
(I was frankly bored with prose),
and sonnets soon became a shark,
devouring me right to the toes.
I hope that structuring in rhyme
helps the message and the theme,
and that it’s not just wasted time,
but fulfillment of the dream
to help make this a better place
through my efforts and God’s grace.
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You said a lot in 5-minutes and without any waste! 🙂
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That was clever! Using the word “waste” in your comment made me smile. 🙂
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Yes, if we understand what the will of the Lord is for our lives, maybe we will waste much less time. As it says, Unless the Lord builds the house, the labourers work in vain.
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