Satan Tries to Sidetrack Veteran Witnesses

There is another section of the church against which the devil persistently wars. Many men run the Christian race well up to the age of fifty or sixty, and then somehow miss their way, or “go to seed.” Probably Paul had this in mind when he wrote, “I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”* (1 Corinthians 9:27) The word “castaway” means “disapproved” or “rejected.” What terrible peril for an apostle! And if for Paul, why not us?

There have been men who have borne testimony to some of the deepest truths the Scriptures teach and have spent from twenty to thirty years in Christian service, yet slowly or suddenly they have been shunted on to a siding. What is the reason? It makes you think, and ponder, and pray, if your spiritual senses have not become dulled to the place of indifference.

Whatever your age may be, do not allow the divine fires to smolder and die out. Stir up the gift that is in you (2 Timothy 1:6). Do not drift. Do not run the risk of being disapproved. Jam on the brakes before the downgrade momentum is so great that only a crash can stop you. Or if you have crashed, get up, hear the words of the Risen Lord again and again, “Rise, and stand upon thy feet.”* (Acts 26:16) Dare to believe that God can restore you, your testimony, your spiritual vigor, your prayer vision, and maybe your health, too, if you have lost it (as you can) through stemming the tides of the divine life in you (Galatians 6:1; Hosea 11:8; 14:1-9).