Larry is tired. Day after day he drags himself through life. He has no energy and no motivation for the things of God. He is suffering from a paralyzing lethargy. He begins asking God to energize him. “Please Lord, this infernal listlessness is robbing me of life!”
He doesn’t realize it, but his cries to God are falling on deaf ears. Why? Because he has the answer right in his own hands: “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness…” (2 Peter 1:3) Is it the Lord’s fault if Larry fails to appropriate God’s provision for his dilemma?
Let me say illustrate it this way. The human body has been created with basic rules of operation. Experience is our owner’s manual. We know full well that if we eat too much sugar or too many simple carbohydrates, our energy is going to be depleted. We fully understand that if we stay up late at night, so that we don’t get the sleep we need, we will have to drag ourselves through the activities of the following day. We can cry out to God all day long, but if we abuse our bodies like this He is not going to magically energize us. The solution to that problem is a nutritional diet and healthy sleep habits.
The same basic principle holds true for spiritual lethargy. If we are languishing in the spiritual doldrums, it is almost certainly because we are not taking proper care of our souls. Allow me to ask some pointed questions:
- Are you nourishing your soul with the Word of God, or are you depleting it with too much worldly entertainment?
- Are you becoming stimulated toward the things of God through a daily prayer time, or are you attempting to survive in the godless culture around you by your own efforts?
- Are you living in obedience to the Lord at the heart level, or are you content to obey a few outward “rules” of Christianity?
I think you get the point. The Lord has given you all the tools you need to live a healthy spiritual life. There is no reason you should be spiritually apathetic. Don’t be like “Lazy Larry”; rouse yourself into action right away! Implement the weapons the Lord has equipped you with in your battle with the world, the flesh and the devil. You have everything you need to live a joyful and fruitful life if you will only live by the rules of spiritual health.