Martin Lloyd-Jones on "Doing Nothing"

“If our understanding of doctrine has the effect of paralyzing us, or making us do nothing, or making us feel that it’s no use being anxious about your loved ones who are unsaved, or if it says that you need never pray about them, that there’s no purpose in doing so, or never speak to them or preach to them…well then, there’s only one thing to say, and that is, that you’ve misunderstood the doctrine.  Instead of following the doctrine of the scripture, you’ve been following your own little logic and your own little confined cramped reason, and you found yourself in a position in which a Christian should never be.

It’s a most important lesson, this relationship between doctrine and practice.  And we’re always wrong if our understanding of doctrine paralyzes us, makes us feel that there’s no point in doing anything, and leads to the terrible result in which we actually do nothing.” (Martin Lloyd-Jones)