Wasting your time is not my idea of fun!

A 26-year-old professional doctor gifted in the art of
giving accurate medical diagnoses; a mentee of Lord
Horder, London’s Royal physician, the King’s doctor;
and the potential successor of his mentor. This is the
life Martyn Lloyde-Jones had to forgo when he obeyed
the call of God that was upon his life.

Martyn’s childhood was one littered by a number of
challenges. Despite this, Martyn managed to make it
to medical school. Sometime during his studies,
Martyn examined and gave one of the patients a
diagnosis, identifying the patient’s spleen as the
crucial factor in his diagnosis.

Now Lord Horder, the King’s doctor, was to see the
same patient some time later. When he saw Martyn’s
diagnosis, Lord Horder was not quite sure whether
Martyn had given the patient the right diagnosis so
he re-examined the patient but failed to locate the
spleen on two occasions. However, after a while it
became apparent that Martyn had given the right
diagnosis. This is how Lord Horder took interest in
Martyn.

So, at the completion of his studies, Martyn was
invited to work at the Hospital of Lord Horder as Chief
Clinical Assistant. During the five years that he
worked under Lord Horder’s mentorship, Martyn
displayed a high level of proficiency in giving accurate
diagnosis but was dissatisfied with his work.

What bothered Martyn mostly was that a number of
the diseases that they were treating were caused by
sinful living in the upper classes of society.

When, with the passage of time, he became a
Christian, Martyn’s life changed dramatically.
However, this was not the only dramatic change that
was going to take place in his life: his life was going
to change in two ways in which he could never have
imagined.

In 1927, Martyn had to leave the bright lights of
London and a successful career to follow God’s call
upon his life. The calling led him to the slumps of
Wales where he was not going to practice as a doctor
… but to preach to a people who lived in dire poverty
and spiritual darkness.

What a sheer waste of talent?

Well, this is how Martyn explained the link between
his medical training and his ministry:

… my medical training hasn’t been a
waste of time… You see, being a
doctor has taught me how to think,
how to work things out, look at what
is behind the problem, not just the
symptoms.

And he was right. Martyn’s medical training wasn’t a
waste of time. He used it in his preaching (his
sermons were logical and fired up); he used it while
solving people’s problems (he would dig out the root
cause of a person’s problem before recommending a
solution) and he used it in his own life, constantly
trying to figure out what God was saying to him.

Even when he moved to Westminster, where he was
pastor in a 2000-member congregation, and when he
visited other churches in Europe and America, Martyn
used the knowledge that he had acquired during his
medical training. His sermons were logical and fired
up; he worked things out and he proficiently came up
with diagnoses to the problems that were brought to
him by members of his congregation and family.

As you may have realized while you were going
through Martyn’s story, God is not in the business of
wasting your time. Everything you go through up to
the time you get to know and follow the call of God
upon your life is part of the training that you need in
order to be able to fulfill this call.

Do you not know of Paul? While he was still a sinner
he was educated and taught in all the doctrines of the
Jews. When he became a Christian, he then used this
same knowledge to build a case for Christ while he
was among the Jews and while he was among the
Gentiles.

What of David? Was it not while he looked after his
father’s flock that he gained a shepherd’s heart? And,
what of Moses? Of Joseph? Of the apostles? Were
the times they spent in their pre-ministry activities
and experiences a waste of time?

So, it is for you…Wherever you are today, I want you
to know that God is not in the business of wasting
anybody’s time.

You know Jesus and the call of God that is upon your
life but the time for you to enter into it hasn’t come
yet? Do not worry, when you are now walking in your
calling you will receive the understanding of why is it
that that you are doing whatever it is that you are
doing right now.

You know Jesus but not your call? No need to get
worked up about it. If you ask Him, He will tell you.

Just keep asking. In the fullness of time you will get
to know it and walk in it. And, above all, you will
come to know why you are doing whatever it is that
you are doing right now.

Is Jesus not known by you? I urge you to seek Him;
He is waiting for you to come to Him and to direct you
to your call. When this takes place I assure you that
everything will take on a new meaning in your life.

Finally, my prayer is that one day we may all be found
to say: So then, it was not you (anyone) who sent me
here (where you are right now) but God.

Feel free to add your comments to this article on my
blog ( http://likeed.blogspot.com/).

Be Inspired.