Parasite Drain

I recently attended an out-of-town conference and had to leave my pick-up truck at the airport parking lot for a few days.  When I got back, my truck wouldn’t start.  Fortunately, I keep a battery charger/starter in my truck so I was able to give myself a boost and get the truck started.

But this also happened the last time I had to leave my truck at the airport.

So I decided to get the battery and alternator checked out by a professional.

Everything checked out fine, and when I asked what could be causing the issue, the mechanic said that I probably had a “parasite drain” – which means that something in my truck is not completely shutting off and it is slowly draining the battery’s power.

And a parasite drain is extremely difficult to detect.

Oddly enough, this made me think about the spiritual life.

Many people I know just don’t have the spiritual power they want to have and feel that their “spiritual batteries” are constantly running low.

And I wonder if they might have a spiritual parasite drain.

In 1 Timothy 6, Paul talks to Timothy about false teachers who rob people of truth and then says to him, “But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.  Fight the good fight of the faith.  Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses” (vv. 11-12).

According to Paul, the “protection plan” against being robbed of spiritual truth and power is to be intentional about pursuing the gospel and life of Christ.

Just as you have to intentionally search out the source of the parasite drain in an automobile, you also have to be intentional about searching out the source of the parasite drain that is robbing you of spiritual vibrancy.

Could what you read be draining your spiritual batteries?

Could what your listen to?

Could the people you’re hanging out with?

Could your daily habits be sapping your spiritual energy instead of re-charging it?

Could your lack of focus on Christ?

Could your lack of intentionality regarding your faith?

One of the best exercises I have done for my spiritual life is identifying the people and activities that fill my spiritual tank and identifying the people and activities that drain my spiritual tank.  Once identified, I then make sure that I am prioritizing the energy-fillers and minimizing my time with the energy-drainers.

This is a key practice, I believe, for anyone who wants to live a spiritually-charged life.

If your spiritual energy is not where you want it to be, you might have a “parasite drain” that needs to be detected.

So, examine your life in order to find the things in your life that are moving you away from God.  Once those are identified, then replace them with things that will move you closer to God.

Then you’ll begin to have the spiritual power for which you yearn.