‘’We should do ________ for the Lord.’’
“I really need to get involved in the community, to share Christ.”
“We should have a __________ for outreach.”
Ideas are a wonderful thing. But, if the ideas go no further than the initial thought they are pointless.
We speak regularly of needing to get into our communities to share the gospel, to reach out to our neighbors, to hand out Bible tracts, have a Bible study… etc.
Ideas don’t reach lost souls. They don’t comfort and lift the spirit of a fellow brother or sister in Christ who could really use a visit or a chat on the phone, they don’t draw you closer to God because you had an idea of how to study your Bible more.
We tend to talk a lot about what needs to be done, ideas we have for such needs. Why aren’t we doing them? Have our lives become so engrossed in our own cares and desires of the world that we are unable to do them because of lack of time? Are our schedules so jammed packed that we have no time for the things of God? We console ourselves with a Sunday morning spent in the pews, pat ourselves on the back if we make it to the midweek service, and then go about our lives chasing our version of the ‘American Dream’. Houses, cars, better jobs, vacations…etc. All the while we have some amazing ideas for the Lord, but we’ll get to those later, maybe next year when things slow down.
I have some bad news for you, things won’t slow down. If busy-ness is our excuse now, the enemy will have a field day with it, and until you stand up against the distraction of a busy life, you’ll never find time for all those ‘great ideas’.
How many souls will you pass by, while focused on self, while chasing more money, while getting that bigger home.
How many brothers or sisters in Christ will slip through the cracks while you're too busy to check on them, to encourage a soul that is struggling, to weep with someone who's weeping? Do you even know they are weeping? Or has time gotten so out of hand that you have no idea.
We must make a conscious effort to realize that busy-ness is a great weapon of the enemy. And once we have allowed it a place in our life it will take work, and strength that will only be gotten at the feet of Jesus, to root it out.
If God has laid an idea on your heart, follow it by an action.
Ideas don’t bring souls to Christ.
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? Romans 10:14
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:20
But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. 2 Timothy 4:5
Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 2 Timothy 4:2
Ideas don’t seek out the lost sheep.
“What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. Matthew 18:12-14
Ideas don’t lift the spirit of a fellow Chirstian.
Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Romans 12:15
But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? 1 John 3:17
I urge you this week to not let busy-ness be your excuse. Start with time in The Word, get close to Jesus, listen to the calling of the Holy Spirit. And be ready for action. Reach out to a brother or sister in Christ. That great idea you had for community outreach, get the ball rolling on that. Our time here is but a vapor, all the excuses, desires, and dreams that we chase will mean nothing in eternity, unless they were done for Christ.
Only one life, it will very soon be past.
Only the things we did for Christ, will last.
And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. 1 John 2:17
Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, Cease from your consideration of it. Proverbs 23:4
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