http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=I%20COr%2015:58&version=NIV
Like most of you, when I go home at night after a long day at the office, I am tired. I eat dinner and then just want to relax. At this point inertia takes over. As Isaac Newton stated, “A body at rest tends to stay at rest...”. Isn’t that the truth! When I get home the tendency is for me to want to stay home. And not go back out again.
I wrestled with inertia several weeks ago. It was Monday. I really don’t have to tell you much about Mondays. No matter how great and refreshing the weekends are, Mondays always seems to leave you tired. So I arrived home that night and ate dinner. I just wanted to stay home. Relax. But. But it was Monday night. Monday night is the night for visitation of men at the County Jail. And there was a prisoner there whom I had been seeing for the past few months. A prisoner that someone in my church had asked me to see. So, I summoned up all the will power I could muster and headed for the jail. When I finally was able to see him he told me that he had been having a pretty rough day. He needed some encouragement. He was glad to see me. Glad that I came. I spent the next 30 minutes talking with him. Encouraging him. Sharing a couple verses. Praying with him.
As I returned home I was glad that I had gone. Clearly he needed someone to talk to. Tonight I was that ‘someone’. This was what God wanted me to do. In a small way God had used me. But I almost didn’t go. I almost let my own desire to take it easy win out. To rob me and the prisoner of an opportunity for God to do something in both our lives. Quite frankly, the main reason I went to the jail that night was because I knew that he was counting on me to come. Plain and simple. He doesn’t get that many visits during the week. And I am probably the only one who talks to him about spiritual matters. Knowing this, I went. As I said, I am glad that I did.
As I examine my life, I find that many people are counting on me. Many more than I realize. My wife counts on me. To be faithful to her. To support her. To help her. To love her. My children count on me. As do my grandchildren. So do the people in my church. And my neighbors. My friends. Fellow pastors. To some degree, each one of them counts on me to be me. To be faithful. To be godly. To be consistent. To be there in good times and bad. The realization of this can sometimes be overwhelming. That’s a lot of people. I don’t want to let any of them down. And I certainly don’t want to give the name of Jesus a bad reputation. But the realization that so many people are counting on me also causes me to ‘come through’. To do things that I don’t really want to do at times. To put forth effort when I rather wouldn’t. To live for God when I am tempted to live for myself.
I don’t know if you’re aware of how many people are counting on you - but you should be. A spouse. Parents and grandparents. Children and grandchildren. Siblings. Neighbors. Friends. An employer, co-workers or employees. People in your church. And in your community. Each one of them is counting on you to be you. Faithful. Reliable. Consistent. Godly. Knowing this ought to have the same effect upon you that it has on me. This means that you need to continue to ‘be there’ for these people. To go the extra mile. To serve when you really don’t feel like serving. To follow God even when you’d rather indulge yourself.
Now, this doesn’t mean that we have to live our lives entirely for the benefit of others. But we should be aware that our lives do count. And what we do, or don’t do, does have an effect upon others. Dozens of others. Perhaps even hundreds. Or thousands.
Last, but certainly not least, God is counting on us. He is counting on us to be salt and light in the world. To bloom right where He’s planted us. To use the gifts, talents, abilities and personality that He has given to us. To make a difference in the lives of others. Through His Spirit who lives within us. This is not to put unbearable pressure on us. Rather it is so that we don’t take the gifts and responsibilities that God has given us too lightly.
I hope that you are both encouraged and challenged by this. God uses us in a hundred different ways every single day to touch the lives of others. A smile. A kind word. A good deed. Our quickness to apologize. Our ability to laugh at ourselves. This is precisely what others need from us. Why they are counting on us.
So, stay the course. Dig in. Don’t give up. Keep putting one foot in front of the other. Trust God in all that you do!
Lord, there are times when I am overwhelmed by the realization of how many people are counting on me. People I know. And people that I don’t not know. I pray that You would use this realization to encourage me. My life counts. Almost everything I do during the course of a day is used by You to impact others. Help me not to give up so easily. To get to the point where I am only concerned about myself. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
I wrestled with inertia several weeks ago. It was Monday. I really don’t have to tell you much about Mondays. No matter how great and refreshing the weekends are, Mondays always seems to leave you tired. So I arrived home that night and ate dinner. I just wanted to stay home. Relax. But. But it was Monday night. Monday night is the night for visitation of men at the County Jail. And there was a prisoner there whom I had been seeing for the past few months. A prisoner that someone in my church had asked me to see. So, I summoned up all the will power I could muster and headed for the jail. When I finally was able to see him he told me that he had been having a pretty rough day. He needed some encouragement. He was glad to see me. Glad that I came. I spent the next 30 minutes talking with him. Encouraging him. Sharing a couple verses. Praying with him.
As I returned home I was glad that I had gone. Clearly he needed someone to talk to. Tonight I was that ‘someone’. This was what God wanted me to do. In a small way God had used me. But I almost didn’t go. I almost let my own desire to take it easy win out. To rob me and the prisoner of an opportunity for God to do something in both our lives. Quite frankly, the main reason I went to the jail that night was because I knew that he was counting on me to come. Plain and simple. He doesn’t get that many visits during the week. And I am probably the only one who talks to him about spiritual matters. Knowing this, I went. As I said, I am glad that I did.
As I examine my life, I find that many people are counting on me. Many more than I realize. My wife counts on me. To be faithful to her. To support her. To help her. To love her. My children count on me. As do my grandchildren. So do the people in my church. And my neighbors. My friends. Fellow pastors. To some degree, each one of them counts on me to be me. To be faithful. To be godly. To be consistent. To be there in good times and bad. The realization of this can sometimes be overwhelming. That’s a lot of people. I don’t want to let any of them down. And I certainly don’t want to give the name of Jesus a bad reputation. But the realization that so many people are counting on me also causes me to ‘come through’. To do things that I don’t really want to do at times. To put forth effort when I rather wouldn’t. To live for God when I am tempted to live for myself.
I don’t know if you’re aware of how many people are counting on you - but you should be. A spouse. Parents and grandparents. Children and grandchildren. Siblings. Neighbors. Friends. An employer, co-workers or employees. People in your church. And in your community. Each one of them is counting on you to be you. Faithful. Reliable. Consistent. Godly. Knowing this ought to have the same effect upon you that it has on me. This means that you need to continue to ‘be there’ for these people. To go the extra mile. To serve when you really don’t feel like serving. To follow God even when you’d rather indulge yourself.
Now, this doesn’t mean that we have to live our lives entirely for the benefit of others. But we should be aware that our lives do count. And what we do, or don’t do, does have an effect upon others. Dozens of others. Perhaps even hundreds. Or thousands.
Last, but certainly not least, God is counting on us. He is counting on us to be salt and light in the world. To bloom right where He’s planted us. To use the gifts, talents, abilities and personality that He has given to us. To make a difference in the lives of others. Through His Spirit who lives within us. This is not to put unbearable pressure on us. Rather it is so that we don’t take the gifts and responsibilities that God has given us too lightly.
I hope that you are both encouraged and challenged by this. God uses us in a hundred different ways every single day to touch the lives of others. A smile. A kind word. A good deed. Our quickness to apologize. Our ability to laugh at ourselves. This is precisely what others need from us. Why they are counting on us.
So, stay the course. Dig in. Don’t give up. Keep putting one foot in front of the other. Trust God in all that you do!
Lord, there are times when I am overwhelmed by the realization of how many people are counting on me. People I know. And people that I don’t not know. I pray that You would use this realization to encourage me. My life counts. Almost everything I do during the course of a day is used by You to impact others. Help me not to give up so easily. To get to the point where I am only concerned about myself. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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