Few understand how busy youth pastors are. One rehearsal takes up three of our precious hours. We are very busy, often more than than many other pastors.

Why are we so busy? Where does our time go? For many of us, too much time is sucked into the abyss of the Internet. Yes, we are on Facebook to share life with youth; yes, we need online data for messages and resources; but so many of us also realize we don’t have to know every detail of a youth’s pet, what someone ate for lunch or watch all the videos posted.

As youth pastors, we work with youth and are given the respect of a pastor. No one checks up on us. No one questions our online habits. We do not talk about this with church staff, youth, a spouse or another youth pastor. Spending too much time online is not a sin, but what is it?

Jesus taught the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14, useful for us as busy youth workers. This parable is not about sin but about stewardship, about people who use God. Two use their talents and receive praise, while one sits on his talent and receives condemnation.

“Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed?'” (Matt. 25:24-26).

The Lord condemns us for not being bold stewards of the ministry grace given us as youth pastors. We do not make a lot, but the church pays for broadband for us; we use it however we choose. The servants of the master in this parable chose how to use the talents the master gave them. One used the talent given him meekly.

Why am I so busy? For some of us, we know we spend too much time on peripheral issues online. It’s not a sin to know the latest on Justin Bieber, but celebrity gossip is rarely kingdom material.

The Lord does not expect us to be pastoral superstars. In verse 27, the master (metaphorically the Lord) tells the lazy servant that he doesn’t have to be ambitiously risky: “You should have put my money on deposit with the bankers so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.”

In this sense, for us, youth ministry is about being good stewards of the resources given us by the Lord through the church. Senior pastors, church boards and parents may expect a lot from us. However, Jesus teaches here that being a faithful steward of the church broadband is good enough.

It’s good enough because we don’t burn time on frivolous activities. Youth are immersed in the frivolous, and they don’t need more from us. They don’t need more funny videos. We don’t need more funny videos. We preach it all the time to the youth: We have precious little time; we must spend it wisely.

In verse 30, the master becomes angry: “And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

No, we won’t lose our salvation by watching too much YouTube, but we would be wise to note the Lord takes seriously the choices we make on church broadband because it’s a resource the Lord, through the sacrificial giving of church members, has entrusted to us as youth pastors.

Why am I so busy? We waste too much time online.

Eric Segawa has pastored at Immanuel Presbyterian Church of Fremont and at San Lorenzo Japanese Christian Church. He has an M.Div. from Fuller Seminary and BSE in Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.