Waste Not, Want Not

While answering a few emails on my computer, a headline on the national news site that dominates the home screen on my computer caught my eye. Emails were quickly abandoned as I was sucked into the vortex that is the internet.

The headline was in regards to a single family home that was recently put on the market at a drastically reduced price. The home was over 60’000 sq feet of living space and contained more than 40 bedrooms. And the home was drastically reduced for the original owners had run out of funds to finish the project.

It was not long before I was fed a list of similar stories from all over the world. Large estates where million upon millions of dollars had been spent and then halfway through construction abandoned when the markets crashed and North America spiralled into a recession less than a decade ago. The picture that captured my heart and made it sink was a photo of $5 millions dollars worth of Italian marble tile that was crated up, covered in dust and debris, and left abandoned in a house that nobody wants.

Though my heart sunk at the idea of all that money wasted, the truth is that whether it is five dollars or five million dollars, we will all stand in account to God for what we did with the gift and talents He gave us. That does not mean we are unable to have or experience so many great things that make this life fun and enjoyable, but if we’re trying to keep up with the Joneses, then maybe we are not making wise choices with the bounty we have acquired.

Proverbs 21:20, Wise people’s houses are full of the best foods and olive oil,
but fools waste everything they have.

Perhaps we should instead look at our financial responsibilities with a “waste not want not” approach. This means if we do not frivolously waste our resources, but take great care of them, we will always have enough. If we always have enough, we will not live a life struggling with the fear of never having enough. And if we are not struggling with this fear, we can freely open our hands and pour out to help others in Jesus name. Of this we will stand in good account. In good account indeed.

Father, we lift up our resources to you and ask that you help us not waste them nor want for anything, so that we may freely help others. We know that we will stand in account to you for what we have done with all you have given us… grant us great wisdom so that we may account well. In Jesus name, Amen. 

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