25 Bible Verses about Waste

Not many days later, the younger son sold off everything and went abroad to a distant land, where he squandered his means in loose living. After he had spent his all, a severe famine set in throughout that land, and he began to feel in want; so he went and attached himself to a citizen of that land, who sent him to his fields to feed swine.read more.
And he was fain to fill his belly with the pods the swine were eating; no one gave him anything.

He also said to the disciples: "There was a rich man who had a factor, and this factor, he found, was accused of misapplying his property.

Come now, you rich men, weep and shriek over your impending miseries! your wealth lies rotting, and your clothes are moth-eaten; your gold and silver lie rusted over, and their rust will be evidence against you, it will devour your flesh like fire. [Moved to the end of 5:1] You have been storing up treasure in the very last days;read more.
See, the wages of which you have defrauded the workmen who mowed your fields call out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts. You have revelled on earth and plunged into dissipation; you have fattened yourselves as for the Day of slaughter; you have condemned, you have murdered the righteous ??unresisting.

It is quite enough to have done as pagans choose to do, during the time gone by! You used to lead lives of sensuality, lust, carousing, revelry, dissipation and illicit idolatry, and it astonishes them that you will not plunge with them still into the same flood of profligacy. They abuse you, but they will have to answer for that to Him who is prepared to judge the living and the dead

And when they were satisfied, he said to the disciples, "Gather up the pieces left over, so that nothing may be wasted." They gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with pieces of the five loaves left over from the meal.

Then Jesus said to them, "The Light will shine among you for a little longer yet; walk while you have the Light, that the darkness may not overtake you. He who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. While you have the Light, believe in the Light, that you may be sons of the Light." [vss 36b to

I appeal to you too, as a worker with God, do not receive the grace of God in vain.

but now that you know God ??or rather, are known by God ??how is it you are turning back again to the weakness and poverty of the Elemental spirits? Why do you want to be enslaved all over again by them? You observe days and months and festal seasons and years! Why, you make me afraid I may have spent my labour on you for nothing!

For if we sin deliberately, after receiving the knowledge of the Truth, there is no longer any sacrifice for sins left, nothing but an awful outlook of doom, of that burning Wrath which will consume the foes of God. Anyone who has rejected the law of Moses dies without mercy, on the evidence of two or of three witnesses.read more.
How much heavier, do you suppose, will be the punishment assigned to him who has spurned the Son of God, who has profaned the covenant-blood with which he was sanctified, who has insulted the Spirit of grace?

Better had they never known the Way of righteousness, than to know it and then turn back from the holy command which was committed to them.

For the case is that of a man going abroad, who summoned his servants and handed over his property to them; to one he gave twelve hundred pounds, to another five hundred, and to another two hundred and fifty; each got according to his capacity. Then the man went abroad. The servant who had got the twelve hundred pounds went at once and traded with them, making another twelve hundred.read more.
Similarly the servant who had got the five hundred pounds made another five hundred. But the servant who had got the two hundred and fifty pounds went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. Now a long time afterwards the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them. Then the servant who had got the twelve hundred pounds came forward, bringing twelve hundred more; he said, 'You handed me twelve hundred pounds, sir; here I have gained another twelve hundred.' His master said to him, 'Capital, you excellent and trusty servant! You have been trusty in charge of a small sum: I will put you in charge of a large sum. Come and share your master's feast.' Then the servant with the five hundred pounds came forward. He said, 'You handed me five hundred pounds, sir; here I have gained another five hundred.' Then the servant who had got the two hundred and fifty pounds came forward. He said, 'I knew you were a hard man, sir, reaping where you never sowed and gathering where you never winnowed. So I was afraid; I went and hid your two hundred and fifty pounds in the earth. There's your money!' His master said to him in reply, 'You rascal, you idle servant! You knew, did you, that I reap where I have never sowed and gather where I have never winnowed! Well then, you should have handed my money to the bankers and I would have got my capital with interest when I came back. Take therefore the two hundred and fifty pounds away from him, give it to the servant who had the twelve hundred. For to everyone who has shall more be given and richly given; but from him who has nothing, even what he has shall be taken. Throw the good-for-nothing servant into the darkness outside; there men will wail and gnash their teeth.

"A nobleman," he said, "went abroad to obtain royal power for himself and then return. He first called his ten servants, giving them each a five-pound note, and telling them, 'Trade with this till I come back.' Now his people hated him and sent envoys after him to say, 'We object to him having royal power over us.'read more.
However he secured the royal power and came home. Then he ordered the servants to be called who had been given the money, that he might find out what business they had done. The first came up saying, 'Your five pounds has made other fifty, sir.' 'Capital,' he said, 'you excellent servant! because you have proved trustworthy in a trifle, you are placed over ten towns.' Then the second came and said, 'Your five pounds has made twenty-five, sir.' To him he said, 'And you are set over five towns.' Then the next came and said, 'Here is your five pounds, sir; I kept it safe in a napkin, for I was afraid of you, you are such a hard man ??picking up what you never put down, and reaping what you never sowed.' He replied, 'You rascal of a servant, I will convict you by what you have said yourself. You knew, did you, that I was a hard man, picking up what I never put down, and reaping what I never sowed! Why then did you not put my money into the bank, so that I could have got it with interest when I came back?' Then he said to the bystanders, 'Take the five pounds from him and give it to the man with fifty.' 'Sir,' they said, 'he has fifty already!' 'I tell you, to everyone who has shall more be given, but from him who has nothing, even what he has shall be taken. And now for these enemies of mine who objected to me reigning over them ??bring them here and slay them in my presence.' "

make the very most of your time, for these are evil days.

While daylight lasts, we must be busy with the work of God: night comes, when no one can do any work.

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all men and in particular to the household of the faith.

Let Christian wisdom rule your behaviour to the outside world; make the very most of your time;

Do not give dogs what is sacred and do not throw pearls before swine, in case they trample them under foot and turn to gore you.

The unspiritual man rejects these truths of the Spirit of God; to him they are 'sheer folly,' he cannot understand them. And the reason is, that they must be read with the spiritual eye.

that no one turns to sexual vice or to a profane life as Esau did ??Esau, who for a single meal parted with his birthright.

Then Judas his betrayer saw he was condemned, and repented; he brought back the thirty silver pieces to the high priests and elders, saying, "I did wrong in betraying innocent blood." "What does that matter to us?" they said, "it is your affair, not ours!" Then he flung down the silver pieces in the temple and went off and hung himself.

Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of expensive perfume which she poured over his head as he lay at table. When the disciples saw this they were angry. "What is the use of this waste?" they said;read more.
"the perfume might have been sold for a good sum, and the poor might have got that." But Jesus was aware of what they said, and he replied, "Why are you annoying the woman? It is a beautiful thing she has done to me. The poor you always have beside you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this perfume on my body she has acted in view of my burial. I tell you truly, wherever this gospel is preached through all the world, men will speak of what she has done in memory of her."

Now when he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, lying at table, a woman came up with an alabaster flask of pure nard perfume, which had cost a great sum; the flask she broke and poured the perfume over his head. This angered some of those present. "What was the use of wasting perfume like this? This perfume might have been sold for over three hundred shillings, and the poor might have got that." So they upbraided her.read more.
But Jesus said, "Let her alone. Why are you annoying her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you always have beside you, and you can be kind to them whenever you want; but you will not always have me. She has done all she could ??she has anticipated the perfuming of my body for burial. I tell you truly, wherever the gospel is preached all over the world, men will speak of what she has done in memory of her."

Six days before the festival, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus stayed (whom Jesus had raised from the dead). They gave a supper for him there; Martha waited on him, and Lazarus was among those who reclined at table beside him. Then Mary, taking a pound of expensive perfume, real nard, anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair, till the house was filled with the scent of the perfume.read more.
One of his disciples, Judas Iscariot (who was to betray him), said, "Why was not this perfume sold for ten pounds, and the money given to the poor?" (Not that he cared for the poor; he said this because he was a thief, and because he carried the money-box and pilfered what was put in.) Then said Jesus, "Let her alone, let her keep what she has for the day of my burial. You have always the poor beside you, but you have not always me."

Hence I never lose heart; though my outward man decays, my inner man is renewed day after day.