-Strength for Today- “Four Proven Ways to Waste Time This Year.” - Romans 6:11-13.

??For those reading this message, the new year just opened its eyes for you to contemplate with a thankful heart, that God?Has graciously?deemed?that you walk another year,?“in the wealth of its newness.”?Therefore,?“to increase our?efficiency,”?and?“make every moment count,”?it’s?imperative that?with the dawning of each day,?“that you don’t deluge your mind,”?with?“resolutions,” “reminders,” or?“exhortations,”?that’re?“contrary to God’s Word.”?

??Because, if you take?“an?un-scriptural”?approach?“to?your?moments of purpose, rather?than?“the truth of God’s Word,” there will be?“absolutely no progress for you this year.”??Because?“the entanglement of worldliness can’t free you,”?but will enslave you to the?“impending” threats of Satan.” These subtle threats are?veiled with?“ungodly intent,” so that the light of your purpose is?“religiously shielded” –Genesis 3:7.?

?The first of these “entanglements?is?worry.”??Worry is a?“subliminal?adeptness”?that can affect your mind by ways of?“anxiety,” and “stress,”?that when?you’re?“caught off guard spiritually,”?your mind?becomes a?“phycological ice cube,”?that’s?“frozen with fear,”?

The second entanglement is that of those “hard core predictions”?Why not??This is a new year, and your?“date?book is empty”?and ready?“to be filled with detailed plains.”?Of course, you forsake what James 4:13-14?says:?“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.”??You?don’t?even know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like smoke that appears for a little while, then vanishes”.?But if you want to waste time, forget those verses and “cling to your own selfish ambition,”?just as you planed.?

The third, entanglement is that of:?“fixing your attention on getting rich.” This is the mind-set of “most of the hypers, who fill auditoriums with “upbeat sales meetings about money.”?To this Solomon wrote:?“Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, cease from your consideration of it. When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings like an eagle that flies toward the heavens”?- Proverbs 23:4-5.?

The fourth entanglement is that of “comparing yourself to others.?This is a “sure?time waster”?because just like?“a rubber ball flying back after hitting a wall,”?you’ll?spend another year?bouncing back and forth,” “not knowing who you are.”?

So, “if you put these four-time wasters into motion,” this year,?“2022 will set a record for time wasted”?on?“those ungodly resources that at best will make your life miserable.”?So, starting now,?“be flexible” “give more,”?and?“be content with the way God made you.”??And?“let the oil of forgiveness loosen your spirit on those grudges.” In other words,?“make this year 2022,” your?“most productive ever!”?

Author: Plez Lovelady, Jr., PhD