Cold Turkey

"'Everything is permissible'--but not everything is beneficial. 'Everything is permissible'--but not everything is constructive." -- 1 Corinthians 10:23 (NIV)

Have you ever had to quit doing something because God told you to?  Did you quit "cold turkey", or did you ease yourself out of it? Did you fight with God and say, "I don't want to give that up, or I don't want to stop doing such and such... Why God why???"  

A couple days ago my family decided to stop watching all of the crime shows on TV that we have been watching for multiple seasons...  This list, for me, was 8-10 shows long... 

What would be the hardest thing for you to give up right now? Facebook, sweets, You Tube, dating, smoking, drinking, watching sports, video games, __(you fill in the blank)__...  That's what it's like to give up these shows I have been watching.  I have had time to fall in love with the characters, I want to know how their stories are going to end, what am I going to do now that I don't have all this TV to watch, I've always used the evening's TV time as a way to relax and just forget about what is going on around me...  But God showed me last night in a dream that I was to stop...  Yesterday, when my family approached me with the idea, I was trying to decide how I was going to go about watching the shows I like with out them; now I am probably more on board than they are.

The verse at the top of the post has been one I have quoted to myself quite a few times the last few months... Aside from TV, I have also given up a few other things that I had been doing for many years... Every time I am tempted to do them this verse pops into my head, 1 Corinthians 10:23: "You say, "I am allowed to do anything"--but not everything is good for you. You say, "I am allowed to do anything"--but not everything is beneficial." (NLT)  "“All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up."(ESV)  "All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify." (NAS)

It can be hard to keep popular things from becoming idols or front runners in our lives.  Being willing to lay some of your favorite things down, when God asks you to, is a great way to tell if you are making an idol out of them or not.

Click Here to visit my post on Idols.

What can we do to make better use of our time?  Have you given up something and found a ton of extra time that you didn't use to have?  What did you do with that extra time?  Let's try to use our extra time the way God wants us to. 

Blessings!

~ S*
"Like us on Facebook!"

Laziness...

Do you enjoy being lazy? What is your definition of lazy? Is it wrong to be lazy? Do you know anyone who is lazy? What is your work ethic like? Do you do the best you can in your job, or do you do just enough to get by? Do you put forth your full effort when doing a task, or do you go after it halfheartedly?

Definition of Lazy: *

1. Resistant to work or exertion; disposed to idleness.

2. Slow-moving; sluggish: a lazy river.

3. Conducive to idleness or indolence: a lazy summer day.

The book of Proverbs has a lot to say about the lazy man (sluggard), so I will list a few of the verses from Proverbs, but not all of them. (I will put some extra references at the end of the post.) I also chose the New Living Translation for most of the text this week (I love how straight forward it is), so I encourage you to look the verses up in your favorite translation!

Scriptures for this week:

Proverbs 10:4, "Lazy people are soon poor; hard workers get rich." (NLT)
Proverbs 13:4, "Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper." (NLT)

You can't make money being lazy. (or at least you shouldn't be able to...)

Proverbs 10:26, "Lazy people irritate their employers, like vinegar to the teeth or smoke in the eyes." (NLT)

It is so annoying to me as a fellow employee to work really hard to accomplish something (like meet goals that are set for you), but others who don't meet the goals and don't even try to accomplish much at all get the same raise as I do. Or I don't get as good a raise because everyone else didn't meet the goals set for them. So I can only imagine how irritating it could be to watch someone you hired not try, or be lazy!

Proverbs 12:11, "A hard worker has plenty of food, but a person who chases fantasies has no sense." (NLT)

If you don't work you don't eat!

Proverbs 18:9, "A lazy person is as bad as someone who destroys things." (NLT)

And you can destroy things by being lazy/neglecting them. Most things worth having in life take hard work to obtain or keep them.

Proverbs 26:15, "Lazy people take food in their hand but don't even lift it to their mouth." (NLT)

You know that toilet seat your mother or wife asked you to put down, or the make-up that is all over the bathroom sink that your husband has asked you to clean up... it only takes a couple seconds... What is stopping you?

Proverbs 24:30-34, "I went past the field of the sluggard, past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment; 31thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins. 32I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: 33A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—34and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man. (NIV)

Is this what your room or house looks like? Is there an inch or two of dust on everything? Do you spend your days off just lying on the couch watching TV or playing video games??? Get up and do something productive!

Romans 12:11, "Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically." (NLT)

Do everything as unto the Lord. This should be how you look at your work whether for your boss, spouse, parents, whoever... We should have a servant's attitude. Jesus came to serve, not to be served. (John 13:12-14)

Colossians 3:17, "And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father." (NLT)

Someone asks, "How are you today?" You reply, "I'm Blessed how about yourself?" (I encourage you to make this your response for a week or two; you may be surprised at the reactions you get!)

Extra verses for this week's topic:
Proverbs 12:27
Proverbs 15:9
Proverbs 20:4
Proverbs 26:14
Proverbs 28:19
Ecclesiastes 10:18
Matthew 25:14-28 (parable of the Talents)
Hebrews 6:12

Blessings
~ S*
Don't forget to add us on Facebook (Search "Life Lessons (Blog)")
*Definition taken from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/lazy