Proverbs 9:6
“Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.”
In the early years of my ministry, most of my meetings were youth meetings. I recall how oftentimes while I was preaching there would be one youth who seemed to sit and almost dare me to change them. Sadly, I found myself focusing my time and efforts trying to change that one youth.
One day the Holy Spirit convicted me about wasting my time on someone who really didn't want my help. The Holy Spirit reminded me that most of the youth wanted to get something from my preaching. I found the impact of my sermons greatly increase when I realized that I could do more by focusing my time and energy on those who wanted my help.
In Proverbs 9, God reminds us that there are three types of people we need to stop wasting our time upon. God says in the verse above, “Forsake the foolish…” In verses 7-8, God shows us that we waste our time when we try to change the scorner and the wicked. Friend, the fool, scorner and wicked will only be changed by God. To think that you can change their heart will only cause you to waste your time. You can try to change the scorner, but he will only continue his mocking and ridiculing ways. You are not going to change him. You will only hurt your testimony by continually spending time with the wicked in an attempt to change them. Don't waste time on those who don't want your help.
The wise person is the one whom you should invest your time. Verse 9 says, “Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.” The greatest investment of time is made by investing in the wise person who desires your help. It is a great investment because they want your help, and they will change the areas that keep them from becoming what God wants them to be.
Ministry leader, be careful about wasting time on those who don't want your help. When you focus your attention on those who don't want your help, you are telling those whom you can help that the only way to get your attention is to act like a fool or scorner. Don’t let the fool and scorner succeed by focusing your attention on them. One of the reasons they act the way they do is because they want all focus on them. Don't feed their need for attention by continually focusing on them.
If you want to make the most of your time, you would be wise to find the one who follows everything you teach them to do. You will often find that the one whom you should help will commonly sit in the background and observe, but they are always doing what you ask them to do. You will find there are scores of future preachers, missionaries, evangelists, Christian school teachers and ministry leader’s wives who want your help, but they will never become these if you don't invest your time in them. Don't allow the time wasters to take your attention from the ones whom you can truly influence.
Someone needing your Christian influence today can be helped if you will stop focusing on the time wasters. Let God deal with the scorners, for He knows best how to get them to change. Spend your time investing in those who want your influence and help. You will find that by investing in these people, your time will be well spent.