If you’ve ever watched a marathon
you know a lot of people start out but don’t finish at the end. I think that’s a parallel to the Christian
life. Many people start out good in the
Christian life but somewhere along the line they get waylaid, sidetracked, they
run out of energy. How do you maintain
spiritual strength so you make it to the end of the race?
strategy and plan to sap your spiritual strength. We’re going to look at it in
this series.
If you want
an example, we have the life of Samson. Judges 13‑ 16. Samson was the
Rambo of the Bible, physically. Spiritually, he was the Pee Wee Herman. He was a moral wimp. I’m talking
about an undisciplined life, that was lived by feelings. Does our culture encourage or discourage self
indulgence? No question, it encourages self indulgence.
weakness was women. No doubt about
it. Three chapters, three different
women. He’s continually running out on
relationships. He’s scared to make a
commitment. Have you ever met anybody
like that? We’ve got a society full of
people like that.
14. "Samson
went down to Timnah. He saw a young
Philistine woman and when he returned he said to his father and mother,
"I’ve seen a Philistine women in Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife." His father and mother replied, "Isn’t there an acceptable woman
among your own people? Must you go to
the Philistines to get a wife?" But
Samson said to his father, "Get her for me. She’s the right one.’" "Right one" literally in Hebrew
— King James version says "she pleases me". She’s pleasurable. He saw her and says, "I’ve got to have
her!" New International Version
says, "She looks good to me."
We must learn to make decisions based on
principles rather than pleasure. If we
don’t, we’ll fall into self indulgence. We do the fun thing, the convenient thing, the pleasurable thing, not
necessarily the right thing. The fact
is, God had said "Don’t do it!", his parents had warned him, he had
made a vow himself not to marry an unbeliever. But when he sees this woman his convictions go out the door. He ignores his plans, he follows his glands.
"I’ve got to have her!" His
excuse is, "Just this once. It’s no big deal."
God says: "Don’t be misled; remember that you can’t ignore God and get away
with it; a man will always reap just what kind of crop he sows. If he sows to please his own desire he will
be planting seeds of evil and surely reap a harvest of spiritual decay and
death."
saying, Whatever you plant, you’re going to reap. Whatever you sow, you’re going to reap. It’s a fact of life.
point is: To maintain spiritual strength, I
must discipline my desires. That’s the
lesson. 1 Peter 4:1-2 "Strengthen yourselves with Christ’s
way of thinking. Live your lives
controlled by God’s will, not by human desires." Just because you want something doesn’t mean
you should have it. Just because you can
afford it, doesn’t mean you should buy it. Self indulgence weakens your spiritual life. it saps the strength.