by Elder Peter Lim

When Microsoft introduced Windows back in the 80s and early 90s, it took the PC world by storm. Instead of the command line, black (or amber) and white, character based display, people could now intuitively manipulate blocks of windowed information around. Apple fanboys cynically snickered that this was just a ripoff of the Macintosh Graphical User Interface, happily ignorant of the fact that their beloved Mac had copied other lesser known GUIs from Xerox Palo Alto Research Center and even the Atari computer. But I digress. With the introduction of MS Windows to the masses, millions of people were also introduced to games such as Minesweeper and Solitaire. Countless hours were devoted to uncovering bombs, arranging cards in sequential order, and other important endeavors. Then came games such as Tetris and Sudoku which were both more addictive and more time consuming. Of course computer games are not the only sources of time wasting. All throughout history, men have wasted time through various activities such as kicking a ball through a frame, hitting a ball with a stick, sitting on the dock of the bay watching the waves roll in, or drawing pictures. Even as I write this, my daughters have picked up their Nintendo DSs and are happily collecting virtual Pokemon and HPs.

Such childish nonsense, one may think. Why don’t they get out of their time wasting activities and do something productive with their life such as [insert activity here]? Since evangelism is the only real profitable activity for a Christian (since it’s the one thing that can’t be done in heaven), he would fill in the blank with some activity that has something to do with evangelism in some way, shape or form. A non-Christian wouldn’t. This is true even if the activities that a Christian might do or a non-Christian might do are identical. Here are some examples:

Of course this is not to say that the chosen activities absolutely determine the condition of one’s heart. Only God knows the true condition. Our salvation is not earned because of what we do or don’t do. However, activities are a good indicator of what is contained in the heart. A tree is known by its fruit. (Matt. 12:33) Christians don’t always make good choices either. This is due to what I refer to as “man’s inefficiencies” of which I have too much of to my chagrin. We do need our recreational time too, don’t we? This need/want for recreational time (or entertainment) is the topic of a future article. Suffice it to say for now that Christians should be characterized by living for God’s glory, redeeming each opportunity for the sake of the gospel. We should endeavor to fill our lives with activities that are truly profitable that have eternal value. Let us not settle for living our lives in pursuit of worthless things such as the new high score in a video game.