"It doesn't matter where we are...home, church, work, you name it! People are satisfied with zero results...or maybe one or two results if we really stretch." I sat and listened. I agreed. We have somehow told ourselves that we are doing ok, but when you step back and look at things from another perspective, you see how empty and dead things are. It is like watching people walk into a glass door over and over again.
"I don't understand why nobody challenges this way of thinking! How can we look at ourselves in the mirror each day knowing that what we are doing isn't working? How do people just shrug it off? We can't share personal results because there are no results. Yet, I am the one that is labeled as having the problem. Hello, your results don't show me that you are right! If you can't show me...something...then you need to change...something!!!"
These thoughts have have been swirling through my mind ever since.
What are people doing with the verse in I Corinthians 10:31...Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. For those of us who belong to Christ, what are we doing with James 4:17...Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
What is even more troubling, we aren't teaching and challenging our children! We have swallowed so much of the world's philosophy on so many issues...flitting here and there to whatever tickles our ears and makes us feel good. 2 Timothy 4:3... For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
We use our own ideas as measuring sticks for what is right and what we think works and can't give a Bible answer for what and why we do what we do. We know what we don't like or don't want to do...and won't do...and we forget that we will be held accountable for every thought, word, and deed. I wonder...if we could hear ourselves when we talk to others or could view ourselves in action...would we be embarassed? Would we hear how weak and shallow we are? Would that prompt us to make some changes? I have been witness to several conversations and comments lately that have me shaking my head saying, "Do they realize what they just said?"
We are missing the mark in preparing the next generation...in our homes, schools, and churches!
We are missing the mark...because we are too busy, too selfish, and too lazy...and if you stop long enough to evaluate honestly...there is no denying it. We try to blame everyone else and give excuses.
"God gave us His Word. It is not just a Bible story. It is our guide Book for all of life. Every part is important and pertinent. But all our children hear and see is half-hearted relating of stories. The Bible will never be more to our children, if it isn't more to the teacher. Children need to hear the stories of these real people, who lived in real places, and had real problems...but they need something they can use the next day! So often our children come away from Sunday School and other Children's programs with nothing more than a nice story that they file away with Humpty-Dumpty and The Little Train That Could stories."
After a couple days of meditating on these thoughts, I don't want to have zero results in my life's work...at home, church, or wherever I am! If I am in a rut and things aren't happening, I want to see changes made...and I may have to admit to the fact that I am too busy, too selfish, or too lazy! I don't want to keep banging my head against the wall year after year. I want to hear my Heavenly Father say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant!" Status quo...isn't good enough...but God's grace is!
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