Don't Waste Your Life
Ephesians 5:15-17 (NLT)“Be careful how you live, not as fools but as those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity for doing good in these evil days. Don't act thoughtlessly, but try to understand what the Lord wants you to do.”
THREE BASIC QUESTIONS
1. WHAT DOES GOD WANT? MY WHOLE LIFE.
Romans 6:13 (NLT) “Give yourselves completely to God since you have been given new life. And use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God.”
Deuteronomy 10:12 (NCV) “This is what the Lord your God wants you to do: Respect the Lord and do what he has told you to do. Love him. Serve the Lord your God with your whole being.”
Matthew 6:24 (NIV) "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
Proverbs 3:6 (LB) “In everything you do, put God first, and he will direct you and crown your efforts with success.”
2. WHAT DOES IT TAKE? DISCIPLINE.
1 Timothy 4:7 (NASB) “Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.”
1 Timothy 4:7b (LB)“Spend your time and energy in the exercise of keeping spiritually fit.”
Hebrews 12:1b (NLT) “Let us strip off every weigh ts tihna tth salto swos e uas idlyo whnin, deesrpse ociuarl lpyr tohger ess.”
Luke 10:40-42 (NRSV) “Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; but there is need of only one thing and Mary has chosen the better part...”
Philippians 2:13 (TEV) “God is always at work in you to make you willing and able to obey his own purpose.”
3. WHY SHOULD I DO IT? THE CROSS.
2 Corinthians 5:15 (NIV) “He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”
Ephesians 1:7 (GW) “Through the blood of his Son, we are set free from our sins. God forgives our failures because of his overflowing kindness.”
Romans 12:1 (GW) “Brothers and sisters, in view of all we have just shared about God's compassion, I encourage you to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, dedicated to God and pleasing to him.”
2 Corinthians 6:1 (Msg) “We beg you, please don't squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us!”
Habakkuk 3:2 (NCV) “Lord, I have heard the news about you; I am amazed at what you have done. Lord, do great things once again in our time; make those things happen again in our own days.”
