Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives.
– Titus 3:14 (NIV)
I have heard it said that idle hands and an idle mind are the devil’s playground. When people live without intention and purpose, they have too much discretionary time on their hands. When their time doesn’t have a purpose it is easily misdirected and corrupted by others, and satan. Also, when the bulk of our time is given to leisure, we get too comfortable and become spiritually lazy.
There is a broken world around us, and as Christians, we need to make plans to engage the brokenness with goodness. As you may have heard before, “people will never care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” One of the fastest ways to build a relationship is to do for someone what they cannot do for themselves. The smallest of good deeds, leaves a massive impression on people. We are all trying to navigate the same broken and sinful world. To know that someone sees you, is the greatest of gifts. To know someone cared enough to redirect their attention, time, and energy towards you, is priceless.
To suggest that we can live unproductive lives also suggests that it is a choice to live a productive life. Too many of us live in a rut. Our lives are consumed with getting by or making ends meet. Productive doesn’t translate into a pursuit of financial prosperity. The most important things in life cannot be purchased with money. To live productively is to live intentionally. It means that you will actually put on your calendar the things that matter. You will not leave them to chance. It means you will be on the lookout for how you might engage the people around you to lift them up and to make them feel accepted and seen.
The urgent need of our culture is that of feeling isolated and alone.
What can you do to be a friend today?