Monthly Archives: February 2014

February 14, 2014 · 7:00 AM

I Choose To Love

It’s Free Friday! Today is the day you let go of the things in your life that keep you down or hold you back. To celebrate, I’m giving away “Unglued: Making Wise Choices In The Midst of Raw Emotions” 6 session DVD by Lysa TerKeurst. Keep reading to find out how to enter.

20140213-225449.jpg

A friend of mine, who has been married for almost fifteen years, was talking with me about love and marriage. She told me that several years ago her husband left her. Instead of moving on, she held onto her love for him and decided to win him back. She tried everything she could think of. Month after month passed and he wouldn’t break. He wanted to be free to do his own thing and told her he didn’t feel it anymore. Even when he dated other women, she hung on to her love for him. Four years went by before he realized that he would never find anyone to love him the way she did.

They started dating again and recommitted their marriage. They’ve been together several years since that separation and their marriage is stronger than ever. I asked her how because I couldn’t understand. Her answer was simple, yet difficult. She said, “I choose to love him. When he makes me mad, I tell him that I choose to love him anyway. When he leaves clothes on the floor instead of in the hamper, I choose to love him. When he forgets important dates, I choose to love him. When we get in heated discussions, I choose to love him. No matter what happens, it’s my choice to love him or to let the other things control my thoughts.”

She gets what a marriage relationship is all about. It’s not about feelings, because those go away. It’s not about looks, because those go away. It’s not about feeling trapped. It’s about making a daily choice to stay in love. It’s about making a choice to fight for the relationship you are in and fighting off the temptations that try to pull you out of it. It’s a choice to find new ways to keep the flame burning. It’s a choice to look beyond the things that drive you nuts and to focus on the qualities you love. It’s not easy to make those choices.

In fact, I tell people who are getting married that marriage is the hardest thing they will ever do in life. They will have to fight for that relationship every day for the rest of their life. They will have to set boundaries to protect their love. They will have to communicate when they don’t want to. They will have to force themselves to eat crow even when they think they’re right for the sake of the relationship. They will have to lose the mentality that they are two separate people and adopt the idea that they are one and a house divided cannot stand. They will have to choose daily to be in love with the same person day after day, year after year, decade after decade. Love is worth fighting for.

No marriage is perfect because it involves two imperfect people. It takes both of them freeing themselves of selfish motives and putting the other’s needs above their own. It takes one person carrying the heavy load while the other can’t or won’t. It takes understanding that marriage is not 50/50, it’s 100/100. Both parties have to give it their all for it to work. Marriage comes down to making the same decision day after day, year after year, decade after decade. Both parties have to choose to love the other more than they love themselves every day, not just on days where Hallmark tells them to. They have to put thought and effort into the relationship 365 days a year. Love is a choice.

If you would like to win the “Unglued” DVD by Lysa TerKeurst, all you have to do is go to my Facebook page here and “like” it. I will randomly pick one person tomorrow (February 15, 2014) who has liked my page. If you have already liked my page and enjoy reading these daily devotionals, you are already entered. Please invite your friends to like my page so they can receive encouragement from God’s Word too.

4 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

February 13, 2014 · 1:00 AM

The Law of Concentration

Brian Tracy, who is a business consultant and motivational speaker, teaches about many laws of psychology. One of the laws he teaches is the Law of Concentration. It states that whatever you dwell on grows and increases in your life. If you are constantly dwelling on negative things, then negative things will increase in your life. If you dwell on good things, then good things will grow and increase in your life. If we think about things long enough, we’ll look for them. If we look for them, we’ll find them. If we find them, they’ll become part of our life.

As I heard him talk about this law, immediately my mind went to Philippians 4:8. It says, “Friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious – the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.” Paul knew the Law of Concentration. He knew that many of us spend our days and sleepless nights thinking about things that are counterproductive to our growth in Christ. He knew the temptation to think on negative things instead of positive things because he dealt with it himself.

Paul must have wrestled with thoughts of unworthiness from a past that caused so much pain to families. He took parents away from young kids and either put them in jail or killed them because they were Christians. I’m sure he suffered many sleepless nights wrestling with the consequences of his past. At some point he had to make a decision to continue worrying about the lives he wrecked or to think on the lives he was changing. He had to force out the negative thoughts that kept him from being a minister and force in thoughts that were positive.

He told us that we’d do best to think on these things listed above. Why? Because he knew if we thought about them and meditated on them, they would grow in our lives. If we want the best things and not the worst to grow, we have to think about them. If we want the beautiful and not the ugly things to surround us, we need to think about the beautiful things. If we want to live a life of praise, then we’ve got to think of praiseworthy things. Our minds can only think on one thing at a time and we get to choose what that is. II Corinthians 10:5 tells us to bring every thought captive and teach them to obey Christ because thoughts are powerful and grow things in our life.

What’s growing in your life? Have you noticed the correlation between that and your thoughts? What do you want to grow in your life? What is one thing you can do today to help you think more about that than the negative things that are growing in your life? Your thoughts not only dictate what grows in your life, but they also dictate your attitude. When you think on the positive things, then the peace of God will reign in your life. Worry, fear, anger, hate and jealousy all have to leave when you think on the things above. They can’t stay around. You have the power to kick them out of your life because you have the power to control what things you dwell on. Think on good things from now on.

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

February 12, 2014 · 1:00 AM

Good Is The Enemy

I heard a quote from Jim Collins that resonated with me. He said, “Good is the enemy of great.” The more I thought about it, the more it sunk in how true this statement is. We quit trying to be great because good becomes acceptable. Good leads to satisfaction. Satisfaction leads to contentment. Contentment leads to stagnation, and stagnation is the beginning of the end. We as Christians have grown comfortable living good lives. We have accepted the lie that being good is all we need to be. Jesus didn’t die on the cross so you could live a good life. He died so you could live a great life.

In John 14:12 Jesus said, “The person who trusts in me will not only do what I am doing but even greater things.” When is the last time you saw someone feed 5,000 people with a couple of loaves of bread and some fish? When is the last time you saw someone walk on water? When is the last time you saw someone raise another person from the dead? Jesus said we could do these things and greater things than these. We don’t see or do those things today because we’ve accepted the lie of the enemy that good is enough.

In II Corinthians 6:11-13 Paul chastised the Corinthian church because they were accepting the lie that good was enough. He said, “Dear, dear Corinthians, I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn’t fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way. I’m speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!” Living a good life is living a small life. It’s fenced in to the boundaries that you have set on yourself.

We have to open our lives up to the possibility of fulfilling Jesus’ promise to us. Either we believe He meant what He said or He is a liar and our faith is in vain. The early church was able to do greater things. Christians throughout the ages have done greater things. Where are the men and women today who are doing greater things? Why have we fenced ourselves in with unbelief? Why have we settled for a watered down Gospel that just encourages us to live good lives? You were created to be great! You were made to do greater things!

To leave the good life and enter the great life, we have to be dissatisfied with good. We have to press on in our walk with God. We have to make the sacrifices of spending time with Him instead of our devices. We have to pursue Him the way He pursues us. We have to expect Him to move and work in our lives just like He did in the disciple’s lives. If you don’t believe He can or will do greater things through you, you have allowed yourself and future to be fenced into a small life. Live expansively and start desiring and expecting to be great today. Write out what you believe God will do through you and then say it out loud. Declaring leads to believing. Believing leads to expecting. Expecting leads to performing, and performing is the beginning of living a great life.

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

February 11, 2014 · 7:25 AM

The Garment Still Fits

I was speaking with a friend who is a pastor a while back. We were talking about ministry, living the Christian life and the struggles faced by those who walk away from their faith for a period of time in their life. I shared with them my story and my calling. I talked about how in the past I couldn’t see how God could still use me since my calling came before my falling away. I felt like I needed to be perfect to fulfill the role God had designed just for me and I had wrecked it. For a long time that is what kept me up at night. I knew there was no way God could use me after how I had lived.

They shared with me the story of their child who has walked away after having been raised in church. They told me about the struggles they face, not just as a pastor, but as a parent who has a child not walking in the way they were taught. With tears in our eyes I began to share my journey back and how I’ve come to the point that I believe God can still use me despite my past and how He can actually use that to His advantage. They looked at me and said, “it was no surprise to God that you walked away or came back. He knew what paths you were going to take. He took that into consideration when He designed your robe of righteousness. And you know what? The garment still fits.”

When you look at Ephesians 2:10, you see that we are God’s masterpiece. He has created you and I with a purpose in mind. When a sculptor is creating a piece of art and they come to an imperfection in the stone, they don’t start over. They don’t even try to cut that part out of the stone. They take those blemishes, those imperfection and they incorporate it into the art work. The imperfections that threaten the future of the masterpiece are what make it unique and are what really sets it apart as a work of art. The sculptor starts each project knowing there’s no perfect stone and knows they will have to work with imperfections to make each piece work.

The second part of that verse says, “He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.” He knew long ago the life each of us were going to live. He knew long ago each of us would mess up. He knew we would have imperfections, sins, disabilities and doubts. He designed all of that into the plan He made for each one of us. It doesn’t matter if you found out the plan He has for your life before you walked away, after you walked away or are seeking it out. He has built the plan for your life around the things that would happen to you and the paths that you would take. He took all that into consideration and the garment still fits you.

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

February 10, 2014 · 7:52 AM

Philemon’s Predicament

I’ve read Paul’s letter to Philemon many times. It’s usually one of the books in the Bible that I skim through and move on. Partly because it’s only one chapter and another because it’s a personal letter asking Philemon for a favor that doesn’t concern me. This last time I read it though, I began to question why this letter was so important that it had to be included in the Bible. Why did God want us to see this personal letter? When I questioned it like that, I began to see why it was so important.

Onesimus was a slave who ran away from Philemon. Through God’s providence, he crossed paths with Paul and accepted Christ. Paul then became his father in the faith and discipled him. Through time, they discovered the connection and Paul encouraged him to return to Philemon. He encouraged Philemon not to look at Onesimus as a slave anymore, but as a brother. He wanted him to forgive Onesimus’ past and to accept him back debt free. I’m sure Philemon must have struggled with this, but ultimately responded positively to the request.

It reminded me of someone I knew in high school. A guy that I didn’t like much. We ran in the same circles, but I didn’t think very highly of him so I didn’t hang out with him. To me, he was a Christian in name only because his actions proved otherwise. After high school, I didn’t hear from him for nearly 20 years until Facebook came along. I accepted the friend request from him and began to Facebook stalk him. I saw that he was in ministry and I scoffed. How could this guy be in ministry? He didn’t deserve it.

As I watched over the next couple of years, every time I saw a post from him that had to do with ministry, I looked for something wrong. I tried to find his angle in messing with people. The more I looked, the more I began to see it was real ministry. I still held out on accepting it because of his past. I knew what was underneath. I knew who he was. I wasn’t going to buy in even if everyone else did. We had a history much like Philemon and Onesimus. It was hard to accept that someone who had done so much wrong in the past could be doing so much right in the present.

One day as I was reading a post and scoffing, God spoke to me. He asked, “Do I hold your past against you?” My heart sunk. I wanted to say, “But I didn’t do the stuff this guy did.” I wanted to make my past better than his because I would somehow be justified in my feelings. But I knew the answer. “No,” I replied. “Then how can you hold his past against him? I have forgiven him and it is gone. He has become a new creation and is being used for my purposes,” God told me. What can you say to that besides, “yes, sir”?

I, like Philemon, had to let go of someone else’s past and accept them as a brother. I had to release my 20 years of contempt and see them as a fellow servant doing God’s work. We all have someone who comes to mind here. Someone who has wronged us. Someone who we’ve held contempt for. Someone who we’ve disliked for a long time. Today, release those feelings and be free. You are not God and don’t have the right to decide who God can and cannot use. If they have wronged you, hand it over to Him and let Him handle it. He’s a better judge than we are and has the ability to change people completely. If you need proof, look in the mirror.

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

February 7, 2014 · 8:07 AM

Clear The Mechanism

20140207-080512.jpg

It’s Free Friday! Today is the day you let go of the things in your life that keep you down or hold you back. To celebrate, I’m giving away a copy of “Be Still and Know that I am God Promise Journal”. Keep reading to find out how to enter.

When you think of Kevin Costner and baseball, you probably think of “Field of Dreams”. You probably don’t think of “For Love of the Game”. I think it’s one of his most underrated movies. In it he plays an aging pitcher who is being forced to decide if he should retire or be traded. He’s pitching at an opponents stadium and the crowd is loud. They’re trying to disrupt his concentration while he’s pitching. Before each pitch he says, “Clear the mechanism,” and he shuts out the crowd noise so he can concentrate.

I always thought that was cool and I wanted to be able to do it. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned that the ability to do that is necessary when spending time with God. My mind is always working, thinking or solving. It rarely gets a rest. I have sleep apnea and when I don’t have my CPAP or mouth guard, my mind thinks all night long. When I try to get still and spend time reading the Bible or praying, my mind kicks into gear and thinks about everything but spiritual things. It’s aggravating.

I want to concentrate on God and what He’s saying, but the very moment that I get quiet, something pops in. Sometimes it’s a song. Sometimes it’s the to do list for my day. Sometimes it’s about how I’m going to resolve an issue. Five, ten or more minutes go by and I realize that I haven’t been praying or reading. I get back at it and it’s not long before I’m off on a rabbit trail. I know I’m not the only one who deals with this. I think we all do in some way. I’ve learned and trained myself to clear the mechanism in my own way. It’s not 100% effective, but it works most of the time.

When a thought pops in during my quiet time, I’ve learned to do one of two things. The first thing I do is challenge the thought. When it threatens to distract me, I challenge it and push it back out. If I can’t push it out, I write it down or save it in my phone for after. That way, I can control the thought by setting myself free that I’ll address it when I’m done. I’m then free to concentrate on what matters. I’m open to hear from God and study His Word in depth. I’ve found that when I clear the mechanism, I’m free to receive. My quiet time has become growth time.

What are some things you do to clear the mechanism in your quiet time? I’m always looking to grow and when we each share what we do, we help others who haven’t found a way to clear theirs.

If you would like to win the “Be Still and Know that I am God Promise Journal”, all you have to do is go to my Facebook page here and “like” it. I will randomly pick one person tomorrow (February 8, 2014) who has liked my page. If you have already liked my page and enjoy reading these daily devotionals, please invite your friends to like my page so they can receive encouragement from God’s Word too.

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

February 6, 2014 · 7:55 AM

Living A Wrecked Life

20140206-075503.jpg

I have the privilege of taking teams on mission trips a couple of times a year. Before I take anyone to Haiti, I give them this warning: Your life will be wrecked. Someone inevitably asks me what that means. I tell them something happens to you when you physically become the hands and feet of Jesus to the least of these. Your life, your mission, your thought process all change when you give what’s in your hand to someone who can never pay you back. There’s a feeling of satisfaction like you’ve never experienced in doing the Father’s will. There’s a joy unspeakable that comes from holding an orphan’s hand knowing you’ve just become their “blanc”.

Things you’ve done your whole life just don’t seem fulfilling anymore. It’s difficult to go back to your day to day life knowing that the things you do there have little to no eternal value. I’d rather be working in the Haitian heat doing something that matters for eternity than to sit in an air conditioned office trying to decide where I’m going to go for lunch. I can’t even wash a bug off my windshield without thinking how the people of Myan have to walk six miles for drinkable water like the water that I’m using on an insect. It’s not easy living a wrecked life, but it’s a fulfilled one.

It’s one where you give all you have for all He wants. When you allow the scales of selfishness to fall off your eyes, you suddenly see this life was never about you. It’s always been about helping others. It’s been about giving what you have. If you look closely at what God does, you’ll see that He gives (see John 3:16). I believe He expects us to do the same. He put in us a feeling of satisfaction that only comes from giving. That’s why Jesus said, “It’s more blessed to give than to receive.” When you give yourself, your time, your prayers or your money, you open yourself to being wrecked by God’s blessings.

God has placed in each one of us the desire to live a wrecked life. For some, that only comes from being on the ground in Haiti or some other part of the world being the hands and feet of Jesus. For some, it’s giving so that those who have the need to go can go and fulfill their mission. For others, it’s praying for those who go and give. They fight the unseen battle that rages over the lost person’s soul. Each of us have our lives wrecked when we fulfill our role in fulfilling the Great Commission. When we each do our part, we’ll each hear the Father say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

What’s your part in giving? If you want to have your life wrecked by God, ask Him what role He wants you to play in fulfilling the Great Commission. If it’s to go, organize a mission trip for your church and go. If you’d like to go to Haiti to work with orphans, email missions@coreluv.org. If it’s to give, find someone who is going on a trip and give towards their trip. You can also give monthly support to any full time missionary. They’d appreciate it very much. If it’s to pray, dedicate time each day to pray for those fighting on the front lines. They can feel your prayers and it gives them strength to go on. When you do your part, you give others the ability to do theirs and all of will live wrecked lives like God intended.

6 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

February 5, 2014 · 7:47 AM

The Widow’s Prayer

I’ve always been fascinated with the story of Elijah in I Kings 17. After he prophesied there would be a drought, God said, “Get out of here, and fast. Head east and hide out at Kerith Ravine on the other side of the Jordan River. You can drink fresh water from the brook; I’ve commanded the ravens to feed you.” It wasn’t long though before the brook dried up because of the drought. Then God told him to go to a certain city and live there. He told him that he had instructed a widow woman to feed him.

My question has always been, “Why did God allow the brook to dry up?” After all, he went to the place of God’s provision. Why did he have to leave that place? He was where he was supposed to be. Then I looked at the story from the other side. Think about the widow. She knew she was about to run out of flour and oil. She knew there was nothing more she could do. She knew that when her flour ran out, she and her son would die. Knowing that, I can imagine her calling out to God in desperation for help. I can hear her crying each night wondering when God would answer her prayers.

Then, one day, God speaks to her. He said, “I’m going to send a prophet to you. Prepare him a meal and you will get your answer.” As each day passed, she looked for the prophet. Each day that passed without his arrival the flour and oil went down. Finally she was down to her last bit of flour and oil. Death was around the corner. She had quit looking for the prophet and was looking for sticks to burn in order to prepare her last meal. As she was scouring the ground for firewood, a voice came from behind her, “Please, would you bring me a little water in a jug?” She barely looked up and nodded. As she headed to the well, he called out, “And while you’re at it, would you bring me something to eat?”

I’m sure her eyes lit up and she whipped around. “Could this be the prophet,” she thought. Only one way to find out. “I have a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a bottle; you found me scratching together just enough firewood to make a last meal for my sin and me. After we eat it, we’ll die,” she said. Any stranger would let her eat her last meal, but the prophet would still ask for it. She had to make sure so she could be obedient if it was him. Elijah told her not to worry. He said, “Make a small biscuit for me and bring it back here. Then go and make a meal from what’s left.” The oil and flour didn’t empty until the drought was over.

We rarely know why God moves us from a place of provision or causes the brook of blessings to dry up. In this case, I believe it was to answer the widow’s prayer. God needed Elijah to move so he cut off his source. For the widow, she had to wait until she was down to her last meal. She was then asked to give it up in order to be blessed. Both had to trust God. Both had to be obedient or both would have died. God asked both to give up what they had for the other. What has God asked you to give up? It may be all you have, but it will be the gateway to miracles. Where is God trying to move you to? You may not understand now, but your obedience will lead you to another place of provision. Obedience is always required before the blessing.

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

February 4, 2014 · 7:46 AM

Where’s Jesus?

20140204-074331.jpg

Have you ever looked through any of the “Where’s Waldo” books by Martin Handford? I have always loved those books. I’ve spent countless hours as a kid, and an adult, looking for the guy in red and white. I’ve scoured beaches, mountain sides, city squares, circuses and more trying to find him. Sometimes I find him quickly and other times it takes me a while, but I always find him. Why? Because I don’t give up when I don’t see him right away. I keep looking. Sometimes I think I’ve found him, but it’s just someone drew into the picture in similar clothes to keep me off the trail.

We can use the same principles of finding Waldo to find Jesus. The first thing we have to do is start looking. We have to be willing to look through every square inch of what’s around us in order to find Him. We have to be willing to see some crazy things, some funny things and some mundane things if we’re going to find Him. We have to be willing to spend some time seeking Him out. He’s able to be found, but it requires that we spend some time doing it. We can’t give up when we don’t find Him right away.

Sometimes when I need to find Him, He’s easy to point out. I can get my answer and move on with life. Other times, it takes hours, days, months, even years to find Him. During those longer periods, it’s tough to keep going. When we aren’t rewarded quickly for our diligence, we get discouraged. We feel like failures and want to give up. I get it. You feel like you’re living in a barren wasteland while you look. You wonder if God has forgotten you and begin to think He must get pleasure from hiding from you. I can tell you that He wants to be found. He just wants to know how far you will go to get what you want.

In Jeremiah 29:13-14 God says, “When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. Yes, when you get serious about find me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed (MSG).” We have to be serious about finding Him. It can’t be a half hearted glance. We need to really seek Him out when we must have an answer. He also said we have to want to find Him more than anything else. More than food. More than our job. More than oxygen. More than our next heartbeat. When we seek Him with that kind of intensity, we won’t be disappointed.

Have you been half-heartedly seeking Him or have you been on your knees desperately seeking Him? Have you turned over ever rock looking for Him? Jesus promised that if we would seek, we would find. If we ask, we’ll be given. If we knock, it’ll be opened. Finding Jesus usually doesn’t come easy. It requires us to do work. It requires us to make serious sacrifices. Don’t give up in your search for Him. He’s wanting you to find Him for the answer you’ve been waiting on. He just needs you to spend more time, give a stronger effort and to look harder than you ever have. I promise He’s there in front of you. Block out the look a likes and all the crazy distractions and you’ll see Him.

2 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

February 3, 2014 · 8:01 AM

Choose To Be Chosen

One year in High School, each music class was tasked with writing a Christmas song for the school play. I remember sitting there thinking that every Christmas song had already been written. They continued to push us to write one every day. In my mind, I began to think, “What if we wrote a song that would become a Christmas Classic?” Of course it didn’t become one. In fact, it wasn’t even a Christmas song! We wrote a song based off the scripture that says, “For many are called, but few are chosen (Matthew 22:14).” We titled it “Choose to be chosen”.

I haven’t thought about that song in nearly twenty years. This morning as I was reading in the first few chapters of John, I noticed something. Once John the Baptist baptized Jesus and announced Him as the Messiah, many people chose to follow Jesus. Soon even the ones who followed John the Baptist started following Him. As crowds chose to follow Jesus, He went around and chose 12 to follow Him. Out of thousands, only twelve had been chosen to follow.

That old song we wrote came back into my head as I chewed on that. I could imagine Nathaniel sitting under that fig tree when Philip ran up to him. Philip shouted, “We’ve found Him! We’ve found the Messiah!” Nathaniel pops up expectantly, “You found Him? You found the One?” “Yes! It’s Jesus, son of Joseph from Nazareth! Can you believe it?” I then imagine Nathaniel leaning back up against the tree, his expectant look gone and saying, “Nazareth!?! Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

After some convincing, Nathaniel chose to go see Jesus. When he got there, Jesus called out, “Now there’s a genuine son of Israel – a man of complete integrity.” After their conversation, Nathaniel chose to follow Jesus. He could have stayed under that fig tree. He could have blown off what Philip had told him. He was comfortable where he was. Remember, he was relaxing in the shade of a tree on a warm Spring day. He didn’t have to leave that place. He could have waited for Jesus to pass by and find him there. But he chose to go and see and his life was forever changed.

Maybe you’re comfortable where you are today. Your income has made you be able to relax at this point in life. Or maybe your walk with God has become so routine that you can follow Jesus without even trying. You’re like Nathaniel just chilling under a tree happy with where you are. All along, the One, Jesus, the Messiah, is passing by wondering if you’re going to choose to be chosen to do greater things. Are you going to give up life in the shade tree for a life of work in the vineyard? Jesus is looking for laborers today. Will you get up from your place of comfort and choose to be chosen for the work at hand?

2 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,