Text: Philippians 3:3-8
Memory verse:
“Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ”
Philippians 3:8 NKJV
The devil has different titles as described by his work. One of it is a waster. Other words used to describe the waster in the scriptures are consumer, spoiler and plunderer. To waste has different meanings. One of it is to wrongly use. Many things can be wasted including life, time, resources and opportunities. We will consider how life can be wasted in this edition.
Life can be put into wrong and inappropriate uses. Wasted life also involves engaging in useless or profitless activities; expending life thoughtlessly and carelessly.
Paul, after knowing the Lord Jesus, counted the gains of his former life as dung, rubbish, worthless, mere garbage and refuse!
“Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ”
(Phil 3:8 TLB).
He was so busy and zealous doing the wrong things. It was like a man sprinting in a competition but in a wrong direction! In Philippians 3:5-6, he listed seven things he passionately and blindly pursued.This is one of the strategies of the waster. He keeps his victims running after shadows and things that have no profits. What a waste of life!
A life spent in busy activities but without a personal relationship with the saving Lord Jesus is a useless and wasted life.
John Piper once said, “Life is wasted if we do not grasp the glory of the cross, cherish it for the treasure that it is, and cleave to it as the highest price of every pleasure and the deepest comfort in every pain”.
Yes, it is a most miserable and pitiful life. “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” ( Matt 16:26). The most wasted life is a life lived without God because once lost, it cannot be exchanged. Let God give your life a meaning. Like Dwight L. Moody paints it, “Moses spent forty years in the king’s palace thinking that he was somebody; then he lived forty years in the wilderness finding out that without GOD he was a nobody; finally he spent forty more years discovering how a nobody with GOD can be a somebody.”
Friends, let’s stop the wasters from wasting lives anymore. Are you expending your life in activities that have eternal profits or on worthless things? Is your life counting for God? A life without Christ does not count for eternity, for it is just a number of wasted years. You can also stop the waster from further wasting lives by sharing the gospel of salvation with your household, friends and people of your influence. He who wins a soul for Christ has rescued a destiny from wastage. Enlist in the Kingdom Rescue Team and stop the wastage today. Hallelujah!
Prayer points
1. Father, please, let Your saving grace appear to all who have not known You and let them be rescued from the wasters in Jesus name ( Mention specifically the names of your family members and friends in this category).
2. I bind the waster and I put an end to his work in their lives (as above) in Jesus name.
Today’s declarations
1. Life without Christ does not count in eternity, for it is just a number of wasted years.
2. Surrendering my life to Jesus and living for Him, opens the door for Him to end the work of the waster in my life.
Contact: pastor@thf.org.ng