Wednesday, April 29, 2009

I Don't Want to Go Through the Motions

A recent popular Christian song by Matthew West goes by the same title as this blog. It should echo what each of us as believers want. At the end of our lives when we are called to give an account to the eternal Judge, what we did during our sojourn in this life will be all-important. I have lived most of my life, and when I look back at what I have done, there is much for which I am sure I will have regrets. How many times have I just gone through the motions, when I really should be passionate about serving His majesty, King Jesus? He said, ‘whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it.’ Do those we work with know that we are Christians? Do we hunger and thirst after righteousness? Are we motivated by riches or are we looking for the same city for which Abraham sought?

I hope you don’t mind if I relate a story my nephew told me last week:
One of his best friends through school was attending church with him on Sunday evenings, after which they went out to eat, discussing Christianity. A couple weeks ago this friend was under conviction, and according to my nephew, the conversation got pretty heavy. He told his friend to write down his questions and they would meet with the singles pastor of the church. So a couple days later they met at a local restaurant and the most important question asked was, ‘How can I be guaranteed that I can have eternal life?’ That evening he bowed his head and asked Jesus to save his soul. I rejoiced with Jeff when he called me to tell me about it. Now his job is discipleship.

So what can you do? Well, like Jeff, you can pray and witness to your friends. Then ask your pastor where you can serve. You may be surprised at how God is able to use you if you are willing. A case in point is after Kathy and I had been attending a church in Findlay for 6 months, we were asked to take over the Children’s Church ministry. I wasn’t sure whether we were cut out for working with squirrelly kids in grades 1-3, but we were willing. For the next seven years we had what I consider an outstanding ministry, ‘pastoring’ these kids. Although I’ve been away from it for some time while working in Awana, I have missed it and recently have been privileged to take on this ministry again.

We need to step out of our comfort zone and get passionate. It is not enough to stay within our boundaries and be safe. We must stretch into unfamiliar territory, allowing the Spirit of God to lead us. It is a good and rewarding life, and at the end we will see the smile of the Savior, as He invites us to share the rewards promised those who serve Him.

1 comment:

  1. I admire the honeybee as it goes "through its motions".

    The bee, like plants and just about every living creature, has a circadian clock that is reset daily to run in time with the solar cycle.

    Flowers of a given species all produce nectar at about the same time each day, as this increases the chances of cross-pollination. The trick works because pollinators, which in most cases means the honeybee, concentrate foraging on a particular species into a narrow time-window. In effect the honeybee has a daily diary that can include as many as nine appointments — say, 10:00 a.m., lilac; 11:30 a.m., peonies; and so on. The bees’ time-keeping is accurate to about 20 minutes.

    Honeybees really are nature’s little treasures. They are a centimeter or so long, their brains are tiny, and a small set of simple rules can explain the sophisticated social behavior that produces the coordinated activity of a hive.

    Honeybees have their own built-in global positioning system and a language that enables them to refer to objects and events that are distant in space or time.

    Bees have the ability to learn the time of day when flowers start secreting nectar and visit the flowers at appropriate times. The species of flowers in bloom this week is likely to be replaced by a different species at a different location next week. The bee is flexible, with a dynamic appointment system that it continually updates.

    Bees synchronize their behavior with daily floral rhythms, foraging only when nectar and pollen are at their highest levels. At other times, they remain in the hive, conserving energy that otherwise would be exhausted on non-productive foraging flights.
    Bees, like humans, cannot sustain long-lasting periods of activity without circadian rhythms.

    There is mounting evidence for increased pathologies and deterioration in performance when around-the-clock activity is imposed on humans.

    Consider the bee.

    [A circadian rhythm is a roughly-24-hour cycle in the biochemical, physiological, or behavioural processes of living entities,]

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