WASTING STRENGTH

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. (Ephesians 6:10) It's a wonderful, powerful statement from the Apostle Paul – an invitation for us to draw on the resources of God's strength. That's more than enough strength for any of us. Yet there is an aspect to this that we must think about. I first found this idea connected to this passage from the Bible in the works of the late Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones – an idea that is important to the resource of God's strength in our life. In his great series of sermons on this text, Dr. Lloyd-Jones listed many ways in which he believed Christians wasted their strength. It was as if they had received some of the available might of God, but it simply leaked away like water in a bucket full of holes. I don't present this list to judge or condemn, but for your sober consideration. Read it over, and ask God what might apply to your life. These are some of the things Martyn Lloyd-Jones thought sapped the strength of the Christian: - Committing to too many spiritual works or things - Too much conversation - Arguments, debates, wrangling - Laziness - Too much time in the wrong company - Too much foolish talk and joking - Love of money and career - A desire for respectability and image - An unequal partnership with an unbeliever - Ungodly entertainment - A wrong attitude toward or doubting the Word of God
	Lloyd-Jones didn't want this list to become a law, or a source of legalism and bondage. He wrote: "We have to walk on a knife-edge in these matters; you must not become extreme on side or the other. But you have to be watchful. And, of course, you can always tell by examining yourself whether your strength is increasing or declining." Is your strength increasing or declining? It may be that you are receiving the strength of God, but wasting it. Talk to God about it. By David Guzik
PRAISE GOD BLESSED BE THE ONE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD Tweet