Danger Ahead

 

A month ago, I was coming home from church Sunday afternoon and saw a car dodge something in the interstate ahead.  I slowed and saw a huge 6X6 chunk of wood that had fallen off a truck laying in the roadway.  I thought of someone hitting that thing and having a terrible accident, so I pulled over, backed up, and got out of the car.  I carefully watched the traffic and dragged the wood out of the roadway and onto the shoulder.  As I got back into my car, several cars flew by me on the now clear highway.  None of them knew of the danger that had been cleared, and none of them waved thanking me.  They were oblivious to what had just happened.  Hey, when you place a gospel tract at a strategic location at the grocery store, you are potentially helping someone avoid a tragic end to their life.  They may pass by oblivious of their spiritual danger ahead, or they may pick up that tract and learn of the love of God.  I Peter 3:15, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.”

Abound

 

Years ago, I built a fountain for my backyard birds. The fountain looks plain enough, but has a complicated concrete catch basin with a pump and automatic fill system … when it works.  I have installed three different filling devices over the past 20 years, and all of them have failed after a couple of years.  So now, I simply turn on the supply line when the fountain goes dry.  But the filler tube is only 1/8” tubing, and it takes a long time to fill.  Often I forget to turn it off, and I only notice when it has been running over for several hours.  Oops!  Last Sunday, Pastor Jamie preached on prayer and mentioned Philippians 1:9&10, “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ.”  That word “abound” explains how we should love.  Our love for God and for one another should be “full and running over” like my fountain.  Hey, are you stingy with your love?  Or does your love abound: run over past overfill?  Think about it.

What Money Can't Buy

Have you ever thought that you don’t have much to offer?  You may not be very wealthy.  You may not be very talented.  You may not be “the brightest crayon in the box.”  You may not have the best education or have most skill, but did you know that you still have something to offer?  In the Bible the story is told of Jesus preaching to a large crowd of people by the Sea of Galilee.  After a full day, everyone was hungry.  Jesus asked if anyone had any food to share, but the only one who had thought to bring a lunch was a little boy who only had five tiny barley loaves and two small fish.  But Jesus prayed over that little lunch and when the disciples had handed out the food, 5,000 men were fed (besides the women and children)!  And in the Old Testament, God used a poor widow who lived in Zarephath who had only a little meal and a few drops of oil to feed Elijah and herself for many days.  Hey, God doesn’t need our stuff; God just needs us.  God needs us to be willing to be used of Him.  Solomon said in Proverbs 16:8, “Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right.”  It is better to have a right relationship with God than to be a millionaire without Him.  Hey, there’s nothing wrong with money, but you are in trouble if you are trusting in your money to gain favor with God.  Wealth may buy you a fine coffin, but it can’t buy you entrance into heaven.  Think about it.

Sticky Situation

 

When I was about ten years old, my dad had a basement dug when he built the second half of our house in Maryland.  He had the dirt from the basement spread out to level up our back yard.  But with the first rain of spring, our “new back yard” turned into a mud pit.  But for us four boys, it was heaven.  When I stepped into the mud, I lost my shoe, and I had to reach down into the mud to retrieve it.  More fun.  So we took off our shoes and wadded into the mud.  When my mother saw us, she was at first shocked, then angry, and then laughing.  After letting us play for a while, she hosed us off in the new basement stairwell.  Hey, King David could relate to getting stuck in the mud.  But what David was stuck in was more like quicksand.  He said in Psalm 40:1&2, “I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.”  David was not having fun like we were.  In fact, David despaired for his very survival.  But the dear Lord rescued David, restored David, and set David on his way.  Have you ever been in a sticky situation?  Have you struggled to get out?  God is much better at getting you out of difficult places than you are.  Why not surrender to the dear Lord and let Him get you out?  He will rescue you and put your feet on solid ground.  Let Jesus take control of your life and then rest in Him!