Spiritual Medicine Cabinet

The other day I was looking through our medicine cabinet at home.  I have to tell you, we have a ton of stuff in there.  It’s almost like we’re prepared for anything; yet, whenever we need something, it seems like we don’t have anything to fill that need. 

Has your spiritual life been that way before?  You feel like you are fully stocked as you’ve read your Bible, you’ve prayed, and you've been to church.  You feel like you are fully stocked against anything that the devil may throw your way.  Then all of a sudden something comes up and those supplies are inadequate.

Why does that happen?  How can you feel prepared but instead not have what you need?  Well, this is one thing that I know; unless you are keeping up, those supplies can expire. 

Now you may be asking if all the Bible reading and prayer can expire at this point.  My thought there is that every time that you spend time with God there is something new that He is teaching you.  He speaks to me differently when I read the same Bible stories.  One time He teaches me about this part of the story and the next it’s something entirely different.  Also worship music can hit me in different ways depending on the circumstances which I’m in when hearing it.

So, my point today is that you should never feel fully prepared.  You should always be rotating the stock in your spiritual medicine cabinet to make sure that you have whatever is needed when the enemy attacks.  Keep on reading your Bible. Keep on worshiping God.  This will keep you ready and not finding yourself in need later.

What is all the Buzz About?

A few years ago my wife got the great idea of planting flowers along the driveway side of our house.  She was able to get some flowers from a friend of ours and we went about planting them in the before mentioned area.

One thing that I didn’t know about those flowers was how many bees they would attract when they bloomed.  It’s almost like someone is a beekeeper and has a hive only 2 feet from my house for about 3 weeks every summer.  And these bees aren’t just little things, they are the biggest bees I’ve ever seen!

These flowers remind me of another lesson I’ve learned in my spiritual walk.  It’s easy as a Christian to create a buzz and get people interested in God for a short period of time.  What is difficult is sustaining that buzz and helping those attracted gain their own spiritual walk with Christ. You can easily get a quick glance from those interested in something you are doing, but sustaining that interest is another story.

So, does that mean you shouldn’t get the world’s attention from time to time?  No.  In fact, that attention you gain is great.  Yet, the key is to have a plan for, what you are going to do once you have that attention in order to sustain it and convert it to a love for God.  You have to plan for success, as you never want to plan to fail, right?

Today I want to encourage you to continue seeking others for God and doing what you can to gain the interest of those around you who aren’t Christians in order to bring them to a relationship with Christ.  But, I also want to encourage you to have a plan for what to do with those interested parties once you’ve gotten their attention.  You don’t want to be like the flowers near my driveway that have bees, thankfully, for only a short time.  You want the bees in your life to come near, stay awhile, and get cozy with God!

A Lesson Being Learned

I’m often amazed by the lessons that God teaches me and the variety of ways that He does it.  Quite often He’ll use something that happens to a family member to remind me of a lesson I’d learned in the past or teach me something new.

The past four  weeks have been just such an example.  You see, four weeks ago Noah (my twelve-year-old 7^th grader) broke his wrist sacking the QB and making him fumble in the team’s first scrimmage with the 8^th grade team.  I was standing there on the sidelines watching the play and remember seeing him grab his wrist and say it hurt, but he kept on playing.  I noticed he wasn’t very effective but was still willing to work through the injury.

It was after the practice that we started to evaluate the injury together.  Almost immediately I went back to the time he had broken his arm a few years back and many of the symptoms were the same.  Thankfully I work run an office of four orthopaedic surgeons so I knew which questions to ask, and I quickly determined that he needed to see one of the doctors the next day.

The lesson that God has been teaching me is twofold.  First He taught me that knowledge really can be power.  In this case knowing the right questions to ask and knowing how to treat the injury allowed us to get the wrist taken care of right away instead of letting the injury continue to linger.  This also translates to my spiritual life, as the more I’m in God’s word and the more of it I know, the stronger I am when problems arise.  I know how to handle spiritual situations because He has provided me with the resources to diagnose an issue and take care of it.

The second lesson has been patience.  God has taught me to be patient and not allow my excitement to take over.  I realize that this injury of Noah’s, if not taken care of correctly, could linger the rest of his life.  I’ve come to the realization that 7^th grade football isn’t the end-all-be-all of his career, and that if his wrist takes longer to heal I will be ok with waiting (even if the rest of the parents on the team are not)!  God has reminded me of this lesson as it’s one that I continually need to be reminded of.  It’s His timing for my debt to be paid off, for someone I’m witnessing to gain a full understanding of the relationship they need with God, and with Noah’s wrist healing and his getting back on the field.

God continually uses situations and other people in our lives to teach us lessons.  Sometimes it is a huge mallet hitting us in the head, while other times it’s a simple tap on the shoulder.  Yet, there are always lessons to be learned in order for advancement in our spiritual lives to be attained.

Donuts

I know you can’t tell when you look at me, but I’m a big fan of donuts (Insert laughter here).  There is just something about the flavor of a donut that I love.  My favorite are a strawberry jelly filled that have a icing on top.  There are two main type of the classic round donut.  There are the regular ones with the hole in the middle and also the ones that have the filling in the middle instead. 

Have you ever seen your Christian walk like a donut?  When you are empty inside and missing God then you are like the donut with a hole in the middle.  At your core there is something missing, and you have an area that could be filled.  There is a void that He is just waiting to fill whenever you ask.  Believers are those that have allowed God to fill them and He has done just that.

So, what kind of donut would you rather be?  Would you rather be out there with a hole in the middle, or would you rather be filled?  If you know what you want to be, why not go out and try to find other donuts with a hole in the middle and get them filled as well?