Are there certain items of which we waste or lose more than we use? I know that's true of myself. The Bible doesn't say much about wastefulness...
I share these thoughts and concerns.
I think about wasting a lot. I feel in my heart that an item’s value and use should be considered before wasting partly because a sense of guilt comes when I do waste something. That said, I’ve kept an ear open for many years for scriptural instruction not to waste but have found very little.
Now, there is plenty of scripture about thanking God for what you have so it would naturally seem to follow that wasting things makes one feel he is acting spoiled or something.
A problem is we gather so many things that you can’t keep it all. If you’ve ever seen a compulsive hoarder’s home like I have you’ve got to feel some empathy for their condition if you feel guilt that you are wasting things but at the same time reason tells a rational person that there has to be limitations on what you make use of and what you discard. There simply is not enough time and resources to make use of all the things of value that you come across in life. You have to draw a line.
At a young age my dad taught me, what I feel was a valuable lesson with a penny.
We were walking and I dropped a penny, I looked at what I had dropped and kept walking. My dad said, aren’t you going to pick that up? And I said, it was only a penny. He stopped and turned around and went back and picked it up and put in his pocket and said, I’ll take it then. Therein, I believe the conflict of thoughts began, it was a rather reckless action on my part yet it was only a penny. If anything, I think the lesson learned was that you should consider your actions of wasting carefully.
On the other hand, I can’t stand unorganized clutter that adds up and will set for years never moving or being made use of. In a sense, I don’t care what it is, I’m not going to live my life buried in clutter and while being a high-powered gatherer, I am also ruthless about discarding things that clutter my life whether they are of value or not.
Over the last 10 years or so I’ve had a large dumpster brought out to our property, 5 acres, 3 or 4 times and have filled them up with items that I’m sure some people would consider treasure. Therein in the saying, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” I simply don’t have the time to try to find homes for the stuff I no longer want.
Example, I bought my kids bikes every couple of years as they grew and now that they are grown, I had bikes sitting and collecting dust. They all needed work which I was capable of doing and would think I could save them and fix them up for my grandkids, but finally I decided if I wanted to give my grandkids bikes I would buy them a nice shiny new one rather than spend my time doing repairs so after like 15 years I dumped them all.
Another example, I own a custom cabinet shop and over the course of 25 years I collected scraps and odds and ends that you wouldn’t believe. Drawers, doors, moldings, laminate, jigs, unfinished cabinets, scraps of all kinds of thicknesses, lengths and species of wood, etc., and a few years ago when changing my woodworking business from cabinets to devices I decided it all had to go for a clean start. I had a fire burning for 3 days!
Anyway, one passage of scripture I refer to about wasting is 1st Corinthians 6:20 but this has more to do with taking care of one’s body and not waste your wellbeing here on earth.
1Co 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
In this case our body comes as a gift from God and we are told to take care of it.
1Co 6:19-20 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
I think we can apply this reasoning to all that God supplies us in life and try to make good use of whatever we are given.
