Correct The Message

If you have watched pretty much any TV show or have listened to the radio at all you’ve probably heard a ton of political ads being run for both of the presidential candidates.  We’re being told at every commercial break the things that the other candidate thinks is wrong with his opponent.  Now, I’m not going to get political with you here and tell you who to vote for, as personally I think you should just vote, and who you vote for is your choice.  Instead I want to point something out to everyone.

If you had heard the messages, then I’m guessing you are just as tired of them as I am.  Frankly I’m sick and tired of all the negative ads that both sides have been putting out, which has really begun to hurt the credibility of both sides in my eyes.  But, with that said, it has made me realize something when it comes to my spiritual life in regards to witnessing to others.  I think that a lot of time we point out to the people in the world all that is wrong with their way of life.  We tell them all that they are doing wrong and think that this is the best approach to winning lives for Jesus.  Yet, just like the negative political ads, this approach can often have the exact opposite effect.  Instead, the person we are witnessing to then gets turned off by the negativity and goes even further away from the one person in the world that can really change their lives. . .God.

How many more lives would we win for Christ if we focused only on the positives of what God can do for someone’s life?  Yes, it’s not an easy road for some to get here.  However, if the person being witnessed to  finds enough reason to walk with God, maybe they will make that decision!  If we shine the light away from telling people all they do wrong and focus on what God can do right, do you think we’ll win more lives for Christ?

When witnessing, what do you focus on?  Is it what they are doing wrong, or what God can do right?  If your focus is on the wrong it’s not a problem, as that is easy to change. 

Today is the day…and this is an election you want to win.  Go out and campaign – promoting all that God can do to all whom you witness to…starting today.

Crops

So this past weekend I took a trip to Defiance, Ohio to take my niece back to her parents after she spent a few days with us last week.  There are really only two ways to get to Defiance from Norwalk and both are through a lot of farm land. 

On this trip we took Rt. 281 as it gets us a little closer to our destination on the south side of town, and frankly it’s not a very busy road.  Usually while driving this route one is lucky to see a total of 50 cars during the drive.

While traveling home on Sunday I really looked at all the farm land.  There was a big difference in many of the areas that we were driving through.  Some of the corn along the road was much like the corn here around Norwalk, nice and tall and ready for harvesting.  But, there were also long stretches where the corn wasn’t even knee-high.  It wasn’t fully developed, and since my brother-in-law is a farmer himself, I know that the farmers are wondering if it will ever reach full maturity.

I bring up these crops because it does remind me of our spiritual lives.  In any area one can find some of us that are just starting to bud as a “crop”.  Just a little while down the road you’ll find some that are fully developed, and still further down the road you may find some that are not growing at all. 

The question is, how do you want God to see you as He passes you by on the road?  I know I want to always be growing, until right before He is ready to take me from here.  On that day I hope He finds me fully ready for harvesting.

Resilient

One of the great things we inherited when we bought our house was a clematis that is on the outside section of our driveway.  We can look at from our kitchen window.   Every year we get to enjoy the plant as it grows from nothing and then eventually produces these great flowers.

Well, this year there was a problem with the neighbors accidently thinking it was a weed and then chopping it off.  It was a lapse in judgment, and they were just trying to help; however, it did make us wonder if it would get to fully bloom once again this year.  I’m happy to report that the picture attached to this post was just taken on Sunday, and the clematis is fully blooming once again.

I mention our clematis today because it is an example of the resiliency that we all need in our spiritual walks.  There are many times in our lives where we’ve started to grow in one area or another and something comes up and stops all of that growth from the roots.  Yet, if we truly are looking for a full life with God, then we need to be like our clematis and start that growth all over again.  It’s that resilience that will allow us to continue to bloom for the world to see.

So, if you feel that your spiritual walk is being stopped for whatever reason, my encouragement to you today is to get back to work and continue to grow.  You will be rewarded, as will the rest of the world watching you grow.

Progress

As a person who really enjoys coaching my kids and their teams, there is one huge thing that I like to stress.  My goal is to have every kid make progress every season. Some kids will make a lot of progress, while others will only inch along. Yet, if they are making progress I am a happy coach.


I think God feels the same way with all of us.  He's happiest when we are making positive progress with our spiritual lives. Some of us will be making huge leaps in our spiritual walks while others will just be crawling. The most important thing is that we are all making progress every day.


Are you making progress? If not, maybe it is time to get back on track.   Get on track through prayer, Bible study, small groups, or even worship music.  Just get yourself back to making progress.

God Makes Time

So yesterday we had a pretty good storm come through Norwalk.  It caused trees to go down all over town, people to lose power and cable for hours.  The cleanup is going to take minutes for some of us and hours for others.

While I was driving around town looking over the damage in some of the areas it had me thinking about God and people’s relationship with Him.  You see, all the time I hear from people that they don’t have time to read the Bible, to pray, to go to church, etc.  I don’t normally argue with these people because I know that I can’t change their mind, only God can.  Now as an extremely busy family, I understand the busy schedule problem.  Yet we’re still able to make sure God is first in our lives.  We prioritize God because we know where He should be in our lives.  

Well, then a day like yesterday hits.  A day where many people have to make time in order to assess and damage from a storm that has come through.  For some people that is just picking up twigs.  Others will be spending time contacting their insurance companies and cleaning out major areas of damage. 

Now what strikes me with this situation is that all of a sudden these people have time to do this work.  They have time to pick up twigs, or they have time to call the insurance company.  They have that time because they now make it a priority in their lives because they feel that it is important, and rightfully so. 

My question today is if they can easily make time for things like this in their lives, why can’t they make time for God?  Why is it that when bad things happen they can make time in their lives, but not for the one thing that can make their lives so much better?

Put God First

Can you believe that it’s almost the middle of June already?  I remember when I was a child and the days seemed to go on forever.  Now as an adult with five million things to do every day there never seems to be enough time in the day. 

I mention this today, as in the midst of all the hustle and bustle of our daily lives and the stuff we have to do, it’s so easy to forget about the most important thing.  Every day you have to make sure that God is a part of your life.  Through prayer, worship, and your activities God needs to be there.  He isn’t an afterthought, He is the main attraction.  If you can put that kind of focus on God every day, then those millions of activities won’t be so hard to conquer.

"In everything you do, put God first, and He will direct you and crown your efforts with success." - Proverbs 3:6

A 6th Sense

Have you ever seen the movie “The 6^th Sense”?  I won’t give anything away for those who haven’t seen it (where have you been?)   Let me just say that at the end of the movie the major plot twist is revealed and they show you that throughout the entire movie they were giving you clues as to that exact twist.  The problem is, unless you’d heard about it beforehand or had seen the movie before, you didn’t know that the clues were there.

I think we can easily correlate that to being a non-believer in Christ.  There are clues all around them as to how God is working in their lives or the lives of people around them.  Then one day they get a relationship with Christ and all of sudden they realize all the clues that He has left there throughtout their lives .  Their eyes are now open, and they are now aware of God and all of His greatness.

My question to you today is twofold.  First, do you remember what it was like when you opened your eyes to God for the first time and saw all the clues He had left for you?  If yes, then question two now applies:  Why not make that happen for someone else?  If you truly embrace the life that He has given you, then you have to be willing to share His love with others whom He is longing to reach.  Just like the plot of a good movie, the clues are already there…but sometimes the people around us need  to have their eyes opened to the main story line.