My friend, may I ask you a question? How it is with our Christian lives that in times of peace and prosperity our moral senses can become dulled, barely able to do the work God has put them in place to do? Are we waiting for Jesus to contact us?
My friend, life’s a story, welcome to This Passing Day. I’m M. Clifford Brunner.
Years ago my wife and I decided to do some landscaping work in the side yard. It involved stripping some sod and weeds away from a fencerow and around a garden enclosure as well as digging out the soil for a few inches and then filling the shallow trenches with decorative mulch. After gathering the tools that I would need and tossing them into the garden trailer behind the tractor, we headed off to work. Stripping the sod would take some effort but, with a good sharp spade and some moist soil beneath, I knew it could be done. It didn’t take long for me to lose that hope, however. The second the spade hit the earth and I began to push against the sod, there was little give. The spade was old and blunted and couldn’t do the work. I would never move sod with that spade. It was discarded for a new one pretty quickly.
How it is with our own lives. In times of peace and prosperity our moral senses can become dulled, barely able to do the work God has put them in place to do. We seem content to wait and remain on the sidelines, contented for the moment, not willing to be sharpened by getting involved. The following inscription was found inscribed on an old monastery wall: “I wish that I could encourage all men to long passionately after God. Because so many have refused to want God so, they have fallen into a state of complacency. I long to inspire them from their stiff and wooden worship. Yet they are content to wait–a sort of holy waiting. How can I tell them that Christ waits to be wanted and it is not theirs’ to wait for Him? How sad it is that Christ waits so long for many, so very long, so very long in vain.” (Source Unknown.)
If God must choose between a sharpened spade and one that has become dull, which of the two do you think He will take? If there’s work to do, God will choose the sharpened spade, the Christian that isn’t content to wait around, hoping that if the wait is long enough, the work will be accomplished by someone else. Each of us needs to stay sharp in the Word, ready and willing to feel the grip of our God upon our shoulders when there is work to do. Holy waiting? Not when there is holy work to be done!
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matt 6:34)
We pray. Heavenly Father, we want to be sharpened and ready for use when the time calls for us to react to the needs of the Church in today’s mixed up and turbulent culture we live in. Nevertheless Lord, we often wait, thinking that there must be some sort of sign or distinct call for us to act before we do anything. We wait woodenly, worshiping in an almost, “I hope He doesn’t call on me?” attitude. Forgive us Father when we allow ourselves to be vacant, empty and unable to respond to the cries for help we hear everyday in our turbulent culture. Instill in us the will and the ability to move forward in grace and love to reveal the gospel message that Jesus is in control and no-one who believes that need be overly concerned about the changing times around us. Jesus will lead us to where we need to go. In Jesus name we pray. Amen!
Therefore my friend, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry for itself; each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matt 6:34) This Passing Day. May this passing day honor our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and be a blessing to you and everyone you meet. Find a stranger and say hello. Don't let another day pass without your day blessing someone else.
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<thispassingday@gmail.com> From Beech Springs, God bless you for Jesus sake.