A Prayer About Waste

When I squander opportunities and resources

DEAR LORD,

As a responsible manager of the precious resources you have entrusted to me, I don’t want to be guilty of misusing or wasting time, such as following every e-mail trail and Internet link or subjecting myself to vacuous, immoral entertainment or godless ideas. I also need to carefully invest my personal gifts, financial resources, relationships, and opportunities for your glory. But according to your Word, “waste” has a place if I am lavishing my attention and resources on you. When a woman anointed Jesus with expensive perfume at the dinner table in Bethany, his disciples saw it as a waste, but he commended her for her act of worship. The woman understood who you were and knew exactly what she was doing. I’m afraid that I see myself in those men, focused on the apparent waste and missing the point. I love you, Lord, and want to honor you in all I do. Please show me how and when to spend extravagantly in my worship and devotion to you.

The disciples were indignant. . . . “What a waste!” they said. Matthew 26:8