Key Scriptures:
“And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.”
— Luke 12:47 (KJV)
And:
“And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone.”
— 1 Kings 20:40 (KJV)
Then Hebrews brings eternity into the picture:
“For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.”
— Hebrews 13:14 (KJV)
These three texts expose three dimensions of spiritual irresponsibility: we know, we are entrusted, and we are temporary.
- The danger is not ignorance, but neglected knowledge
The servant in Luke 12 had a serious problem: he knew his master’s will.
His judgment was connected not simply to what he did, but to what he knew and failed to do.
There is therefore a responsibility that comes with revelation. The more clearly God makes His will known to us, the less defensible spiritual carelessness becomes.
We know that life is brief.
We know that Christ will return.
We know that we will give account.
We know that souls matter.
We know that holiness matters.
We know that our gifts, opportunities, influence and resources belong ultimately to God.
The question is no longer simply, “What do I know?”
It is: “What am I doing about what I know?”
- “Busy here and there”
Those words from 1 Kings 20 are haunting:
“And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone.”
The man had been given a specific responsibility. Yet somewhere between receiving the assignment and giving account for it, busyness displaced responsibility.
Notice that he did not say, “I rebelled.”
He said, in effect, “I became busy.”
That makes this particularly relevant to modern Christian life.
We can be busy earning.
Busy building.
Busy travelling.
Busy networking.
Busy attending meetings.
Busy pursuing recognition.
Even busy with church activity.
Yet it is possible to be busy without being obedient.
Busyness can become one of the most respectable disguises for spiritual irresponsibility.
The tragedy is not necessarily that we are doing evil things. Sometimes the tragedy is that secondary things consume the time God gave us for primary things.
- What has been entrusted to us?
The question becomes personal.
What has the Master placed in my hands?
A family to influence?
A calling to fulfil?
A ministry to discharge?
A truth to proclaim?
Resources to steward?
People to mentor?
A generation to prepare?
An opportunity to serve?
Paul understood this sense of stewardship:
“Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”
— 1 Corinthians 4:2 (KJV)
God does not primarily require that the steward be celebrated, famous or impressive.
He requires that the steward be faithful.
And faithfulness means that when the Master returns, what He entrusted to us has not disappeared while we were “busy here and there.”
- We have no continuing city here
Then Hebrews 13:14 changes the perspective completely:
“For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.”
If this world were our permanent home, perhaps living entirely for its rewards would make sense.
But we are leaving.
The houses remain.
The titles remain.
The offices remain.
The awards remain.
The bank accounts remain.
The applause fades.
And eventually the steward stands before the Owner.
This is why spiritual irresponsibility is so dangerous: we can spend temporary life accumulating temporary things while neglecting eternal responsibilities.
- So what should our response be?
Knowing that we have no continuing city here should not produce withdrawal from life. It should produce correctly ordered living.
We should work—but remember whose servants we are.
We should build—but remember which city is permanent.
We should prosper—but remember that prosperity is stewardship.
We should lead—but remember that leadership will be accounted for.
We should enjoy God’s blessings—but never allow His gifts to replace the Giver.
We should use time with the consciousness that time is not merely passing; it is carrying us toward accountability.
Moses prayed:
“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”
— Psalm 90:12 (KJV)
Numbering our days does not mean obsessing about death. It means learning how to live because we know life is finite.
The searching question
Perhaps the devotional should culminate here:
When the Master asks what became of what He entrusted to me, will my answer be, “Lord, I was busy here and there”?
That is a frightening possibility—not because we abandoned Christianity, but because we allowed distraction to accomplish what outright rebellion could not.
Spiritual irresponsibility can therefore be summarized in three sentences:
I knew what mattered.
I knew my time was limited.
But I became busy with something else.
The antidote is not merely greater activity.
It is faithfulness.
“Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.”
— Luke 12:43 (KJV)
That phrase—“shall find so doing”—may be the heart of the entire devotional.
Not merely knowing.
Not merely intending.
Not merely professing.
Doing.
We have no continuing city here. The Master will return. Our stewardship will end.
Therefore, the question is not simply whether we are busy.
The question is:
When He comes, what will He find us doing?