“Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.” -Romans 13:13

The good life comes from a life of total worship, a life built in response to God’s love. One way we do this is through abstinence, leaving behind the stuff that hinders worship.
We must abstain from things that waste time and diminish our enthusiasm and energy.

For each person it’s different. For some, it’s reducing the amount we drink or eat, or the amount of time that we spend watching television, playing video games, or texting. You get the idea – time wasters.

There are many rhythms of abstinence we can build into our lives, especially in America where we have everything at our disposal – information, images, sugary treats. We have an endless amount of stuff that we all know gives us diminishing returns.

We need abstinence in our lives. We need to cut some things out of our lives and add others to live lives of total worship.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, open my eyes to those things I do that keep me from being my best self. Help me to abstain so that I’m able to engage in total worship of you. Amen.

REFLECTION: What time wasters keep you from spending more time with God?