BACKYARD CHRISTIANITY [2 Samuel 16:7; other topics - Carnality; Sin; Transparency; Walk; World]
Pilots will understand when I say that Christian lives are often like the disparity between the front and backyards of many California homes.
On bright sunshiny days, when you’re blessed to be dancing with the clouds, you’ll be amazed to see the stark difference between the front and backyards of numerous homes.
You’ll see beautiful lush, green, landscaped front yards, one after another, like a Irish giant’s checkerboard quilt, but every third backyard or so will be Sahara-brown, weed-covered and trash-littered. It may be difficult for us to see a man’s backyard but a pilot has no trouble.
Likewise, the soul and spirit of a man is as hidden from other men, as his backyard is hidden from the passerby. It may be impossible for one man to see the inner reality of another, but from God’s perspective, it’s no trouble at all.
FOR APPEARANCE SAKE [Matthew 10:24-33; other topics - Easter, Fear-Fearlessness]Today we all know about computers; even in the most undeveloped nations on earth, great numbers of people know about computers. Yet, many folks, are scared to death of them.
Take a kid who’s never seen a computer into a room with one, leave him alone for a couple of days, come back later and you’ll be amazed at what he’s learned on his own. On the other hand, leave a grown up and you’ll have a nervous wreck in two hours. What’s the difference?
In the case of the former, there is no fear. It may be an unknown to them but they are filled with a fearless “can-do” attitude. The later are filled with terror, not of the machine, not of the software, or the firmware, or the hardware ... no, none of these. What then?
It’s the fear of failure and the fear of embarrassment; the fear that they might somehow look bad to others, that they might somehow seem to be foolish or worse, stupid!
Every year Easter brings this human quirk home to me; for this season of the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension ought to cause all believers to witness for Jesus. But they don’t! Why?
Consider for a moment the differences between the kids and the adults above: youth brings a kind of fearlessness which says, “I don’t care what other people think, I’ve gotta do this!” Age, on the other hand, brings with it a deep concern for appearances. Doesn’t it? We get all hung up on what others might think.
Sandi Martin is a critical-care nurse who has a red dot on the face of her wristwatch. In hospitals people are very conscious of blood-borne disease, many patient’s and staff assume blood has splashed onto her watch.
However, when asked, Martin’s quick response has always been, “... don’t worry; this blood is 2,000 years old. This dot reminds me of Jesus, who paid for my eternal salvation with his own blood.” Most respond with a smile and nod while gazing at the dot.
Witnessing is so simply many times. People are not offended so often by our attempts to share Christ as they are by the way in which Christ is shared. If what Jesus has done for you, means something to you, then tell people what it means to you. Follow that up with what He will mean to them.
I don’t recommend witnessing gimmicks, but a gimmick such as Nurse Martin’s, when based on a personal truth, will bear much fruit.
[Adapted from “Red dot on wristwatch opens doors for witness,” by Barbara Denman; Baptist Press, 4/14/99]
The Big Rocks! [Haggai 1:6; other topics – Priorities, Idols, Lusts, Greed, World]
To make a point, a time-management expert gave his highly placed students a pop quiz. Taking a big wide-mouthed jar, he positioned it on the table in front of him. He then took several fist-sized stones and carefully positioned them in the jar until they reached the top. He then asked, "Is the jar full?"
Everyone looked at each other then, shrugging their combined shoulders, said, "Yes!" "Really?" He asked, as he pulled a bag of pea gravel from under the table. Taking the jar he cautiously poured gravel into the open mouth of the jar, regularly shaking it to get the gravel to settle. Again he queried, "Is it full?"
A voice from the back of the room whispered, "Probably not!" "Good," the expert said. This time he pulled out a child’s sand bucket and carefully poured sand into the open mouth of the jar, again shaking it to get the sand to settle. "Is it full?" He challenged.
"No!" A combined class voice responded. "Good," he said as he took the water pitcher from the table and filled the jar to the brim. "Is it full?" He inquired.
"It sure looks like it," replied several members of the group. "Not good," the teacher chided, as he took a sugar bowl from the table and scooped spoon after spoonful of the white crystals into the saturated sand mixture.
When the surface became clogged with sandy sugar, he gently shook the jar until it dissolved. He repeated this until the sugar bowl was empty. "What’s the point?" He prompted.
One zealous young executive blurted out, "No matter how full the schedule, there’s always room for more, if you try!"
"No!" The speaker shot out. "No! This object lesson teaches us two things: 1.) if we don’t put the big rocks in first, we’ll never get them in at all; and 2.) once the big rocks are in, an orderly introduction of everything else accomplishes more than a random introduction."
What are the big rocks of your life? God? Family? Ministry? Charity? Others? Dreams? Country? Education? Health? Or are your big rocks of your life the things of this world? The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the boastful pride of life?
If you sweat the small stuff you’ll fill your jar too fast, and with low priority things. Where your heart is there your treasure will be also. Where’s your heart?
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