Do you know what God’s desire is for you
today? “That the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will
know what the hope of His calling is,
what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is
the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.” (Eph.
1:18-19a).
And how do we make this
happen? We don’t. “It comes through the working of the strength of His
(God’s) might.” (vs. 19b). Did you know that God is a
compulsive decorator? He is not satisfied to put a coat of paint over the
dingy house, He would far rather replace the rotten parts and do a major
overhaul. You know, like the television
program ‘Home Make Over’; they
completely destroy the old, decrepit house and begin with a new
foundation.
I believe many folks, who hear the
word and respond to the Pastor’s call to give their hearts and soul to the Lord,
become a casualty of the Seed Parable that tells me the many fell by the
wayside. I believe they are lost because they have no ‘!knobs on the head’ to
hang the things of God on. In simple
language, they have no foundation or hooks in their brains to hang this new
information on, so it withers on the vine.
Let me put some meat on that
statement. My niece purchased a newly
built house several years ago. Suddenly it began to sink on one corner. She called the contractor and he immediately
repaired the outward appearance of the problem, but did not address the real problem,
a sink hole under the foundation. Within
weeks the problem worsened due to the added weight.
I believe that is a good analogy of
what happens to many folks who respond to the word for the right reason, and
try to build a house on the rock without understanding the dynamics or
mechanics of what that means. They hear
a salvation message that sears their heart and they respond and, the next
Sunday the Pastor presents a message that they have no foundation on which to hang
his unrelated message.
I believe I was saved in my
adolescent years but, confess I was one disappointed cookie when none of the so
called ‘pillars of the church’ took me under their wing and taught me what it
means to be a follower of Jesus. When I
received the letter telling me I had been accepted as a future air traffic
controller, they didn’t give me a date when I was to report to the Pittsburgh Air
Traffic Control Center and be ready to handle a full shift of control
duties. - even though I had been a radar controller in the USAF.
I did receive a letter that gave me
the date I was to report to the Air Traffic Control Training Center in Norman,
Oklahoma, for ten weeks of intense training. And if, at the end of that time, I
was not proficient at handling minimum traffic, note minimum, I would become a
member of the unemployed.
When I went to Pittsburgh and worked
my first shift, it was not as a fully checked-out radar controller handling a
hundred or more aircraft every hour, but rather I worked for several months
under the direct eye-ball supervision of an old salt that had many years of
scar tissue on the scopes and boards. Note:
he was responsible for everything I did and said. I was a trainee that had no status.
Now, my friends, there are some
similarities in this process that I feel are very lacking in most churches. I
probably have no business giving you my opinion of these shortcomings but I
will share them anyway. Shortcoming
number one, a major related to the seed planting parable – no one took me under
their wing.
Why? When I began my tenure as an
active controller, they gave me a manual and said memorize every jot and title
of it. Kind of like when Isaiah was told
to literally eat the Word. I had to
memorize every airway, every distance, air speeds and climbing capacities of
every type of aircraft, every radio aid frequency, and minimum altitudes for
five states
What does that have to do with
becoming and becoming an effective Christian?
In other words the salvation message gives an instant high and a feeling
of utopia, but as Jesus warned, some seeds fell beside the road beside the road
and the birds ate them up. Others fell
on rocky places and the hot sun scorched them to death, while others feel among
thorns, and the thorns squeezed the life out of them. (Matt. 13:3-7).
Well, this has exceeded my
expectations for today so will close it for now, but I believe there is more the
Lord would have me share, so please turn in and, as Paul Harvey would say, tomorrow,
the rest of the story.
Blessings,
No comments:
Post a Comment