Are you wasting your life?
A 2022 poll taken in Britain showed that, on average, people waste almost 2 hours per day, which comes out to 26 full days per year. This includes things like waiting on hold, waiting in traffic, and in general just waiting for life. Frankly, I'm surprised that the number isn't even higher.
Business professionals also say that they waste much of their work time being interupted by co-workers and employees, attending unecessary meetings, and replying to phone calls and e-mails.
Most of us also know how much time social media and playing stupid games on our phones can waste.
A few weeks before he died, the American novelist Jack London said, “The proper function of man is to live, not to exist.”
How much of your time do you simply waste?
It’s important for us to think about how we’re living. We shouldn’t want our lives to be wasted. This is even more important for believers, since we exist for a purpose: to glorify God. But part of the good news of the gospel is that with God as our Father, Jesus as our Savior, and the Holy Spirit as our Guide, we can truly live.
He's Not From Around Here
The Christian life is a call to become a follower and imitator of Christ. No matter when or where, the faithful believer has always been counter-cultural. When we live like Jesus lived, we leave people wondering where we might be from.
"All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own." (Hebrews 11:13-14).
Cultivating Empathy
Denmark has been teaching mandatory empathy curriculum to their students aged 6 to 16 since 1993, with pretty impressive results. Currently ranked #2 on the World Happiness Report dashboard, it has consistently ranked among the happiest nations throughout the modern era.
As reported:
Denmark’s empathy program starts at age six in the first year of school and continues until age sixteen. For one hour each week, the children have empathy lessons during ‘Klassens tid’ or ‘The Class’s Hour’. ...
What many people don’t realise is that empathy is a learned skill, and that teaching empathy from a young age has not only been proven to make children more emotionally and socially competent, it also greatly reduces bullying and can also help them be more successful as adults in the future. ...
Any problem is open for discussion and could be personal problems or problems between individual students or groups, anything regarding the school or even unrelated to school. The rest of the class, and the teacher then debate ways to solve the problem. The teacher helps the students by teaching them how to really listen to and understanding others. ...
Klassens tid, is the students’ opportunity to be heard and receive encouragement and inspiration from others through listening and simultaneously learn the importance of mutual respect.
Surely we, in our churches, our classrooms, and our families, could take a page out of Denmark's text book to actively teach the principles of empathy and compasstion. They are, after all, learned behaviors ... and the benefits bode well for the happiness and spiritual health of both the giver and the recipient!
"Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2, ESV).
"Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep" (Romans 12:15, ESV).
"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you" (Ephesians 4:32, ESV).
"If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together" (1 Corinthians 12:26, ESV).
"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience" (Colossians 3:12, ESV).