Three Ways to Not Waste Your Days (Guest post by: Mitch Miller)

Every day of your life is a gift. We get a very limited number of them, they all count, none are worthless. All days have potential…massive, incredible potential…to do great good and great harm. The days we go through add up and equal a life. Our life. It can be wasted or it can be fruitful.

And here’s the bottom line, no one gets to their deathbed and is surprised at what their life amounted to (or didn’t amount to).

If a life is wasted, it’s done so a day at a time. If a life is fruitful, that fruit grows a day at a time.

A day is a powerful thing. A day is a weighty thing. A day is a thing to be taken seriously. So don’t waste even one…Here’s my three tips:

1. Remember what’s important

I’m not going to tell you to do your devotions everyday. Because, and some of you need to sit down for this, the Bible does not say, “read the Bible everyday”.

Here’s what the Bible does say in Psalm 1 and Joshua 1 – “meditate on God’s word day and night”.

Here’s what God’s word tells you – Here’s what you should be meditating on

·      If you’re saved, you’re going to heaven, so the worst that can happen to you is dying into an eternity of hanging out with Jesus.

·      If you’re in Christ, God literally CAN’T be mad at you, upset with you, disappointed in you, ashamed of you or far from you. So quit with the guilt trips. He said, “It is finished”. Trying to add to that is blasphemy.

·      God likes you more than you like you, wants to keep you close to him, and will provide for anything that you really do need.

·      The people around you either need to meet Christ or grow in Christ and God’s number one call on your life is to give both groups the gospel by how you act and talk.

·      The point of life is worship not grades, popularity or money. So freak out about worship, not the other stuff, for it should simply lead to worship anyway.

Meditate on these things and you will avoid wasting a LOT of time every day.

2. Notice the things around you

First of all, if you’re reading this, you’re either on a computer, smartphone or tablet. Right now, I literally want you to stop reading and sincerely thank God for the chance to use such great technology. You don’t deserve that so be thankful. Unthankful people waste their day by default.

You will waste your whole life wanting stuff. And you look ridiculous. Because your life is already full! You already have a family, transportation, roof, bed, more than one change of clothes, food, water, vision, hearing, the ability to walk, to feel a breeze and to smell bacon…you have so much. You just need to look up, notice it and say, “Thanks God” once in a while.

3. Ask someone what they need 

The person who makes your coffee, the people you live with, your co-workers, your classmates, your friends…ALL have needs. Ask them what they are and do all you can to meet them. This is how Jesus lived and you follow Jesus, don’t you?

This will surely prevent you from wasting your day. People are never a waste. You are the waste.

I mean, stop and think. We’re in America. Almost everyone I know has a phone, car, degree and place to stay. Yet the whole country is depressed. We’re a giant, medicated moody teenager of a nation. Want to know why? It’s because our culture has encouraged us to think about, look out for and please ourselves. Such a waste.

There is no sadder thought, than a person dying, and no one showing up to their funeral. But it happens. It happens to people who waste day after day focused on themselves, neglecting the needs of others.

I urge you don’t waste another day! Remember what’s important, notice the things around you and ask someone what they need. Your life depends on it.

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