30

Jump Start # 1465

Posted on October 30, 2015 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 1465

Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

  Jesus came at a specific time in world history for a specific reason. He was on a divine mission to save mankind from a destiny of Hell. He came to save and redeem. In Revelation it states that He “went out conquering and to conquer.” God sent Jesus to save us. That is the theme of the Bible. That is what the Bible is all about. There are two thoughts to be shared from this:

 

First, Jesus stayed the course. His mission was to seek and to save. He did just that. Have you ever thought how difficult that must have been for Jesus? Not just doing the will of His Father, but being God on earth. God knows everything. How difficult it must have been for Jesus not to stray off His mission to help mankind in other areas. It would take centuries before modern medicine would come up with vaccines for polio and smallpox. Jesus could have told people in the first century what to do. It would take years and years  before surgeries were developed and understood. Jesus could have shared that information.  Teaching about water purification, sharing engineering principles, communication technology—so many things that are a part of our world, just imagine if Jesus had spread that information. Imagine what the apostles could have done if they had live streaming, Facebook and email. Imagine how fast the word would have read about Jesus  if the apostles had copy machines available to them. Imagine if Paul had a plane to travel in. Jesus didn’t share any of those things. He came to seek and to save the lost. He stuck with His purpose and His mission. That is impressive!

 

Sometimes we would do better if we stuck to our mission, as individuals and as congregations. We can get bogged down with stuff that really doesn’t matter. We get side tracked. We get doing so many things that we can forget what the main thing is. We must stick to our mission as well. We have a job to do and we need to do it. There was a lot of good that Jesus could have done just to improve life but He didn’t. He wasn’t sent to be a cure to all diseases. He wasn’t sent to improve mass travel. He wasn’t sent to help us eat better, live longer and improve the environment. Those would have been useful things, but that would not helped His mission. He came to seek and to save that which was lost.

 

Second, Jesus completed His mission. He finished what He came to do. Upon the cross, Jesus uttered, “It is finished.” Not, “I am finished,” but “It” is. The “it” was what He came to do. He fulfilled the plan. He did it.   John records Jesus saying in His prayer to the Father, “having accomplished the work You sent Me to do.” Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. He did that. Salvation is in Christ. Hope, freedom and forgiveness are a part of that wonderful grace that God has extended to those who believe and obey His message.

 

Finished. Done. Completed. We know the feeling. A big project at work is finally completed. The student finally finishes the long paper he had to write. The highway that has been under construction for what seems to be years and years, finally is finished. No more orange cones. No more snarled traffic. Paul used similar language when he said, “I have finished the course.” Finished. Done with school, what a great feeling. Finished with therapy. Finished changing baby diapers. Finished is a milestone of accomplishments.

 

You are I are not finished with Heaven’s work. Not yet. God will call us when He is ready. Until then, it’s to the work we go. There are folks to be encouraged. There are people who need to know about the Lord. There are men who need to be developed to be the next elders. There are classes to teach, sermons to preach and articles to write. The work carries on. We must be busy in His work. There is so much to do and so little time to do it. Being organized and being efficient are valuable tools. We can waste too much time just looking for stuff. Times a wasting and we need to get at it. We can waste time by being lazy. We need a fire lit under us to move us and keep us going in the right direction. Living with a plan, as individuals and as a congregation, helps keep one on course.

 

Jesus came for a reason. Jesus finished what He came to do.

 

It would help us to remember those thoughts.

 

Roger

 

29

Jump Start # 1464

Posted on October 29, 2015 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 1464

Matthew 18:15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.”

  Our passage today is a difficult one. It’s not the understanding that’s hard. It’s not words that we are  not familiar with. It’s the application part that’s a real killer. Doing the right thing is hard. Jesus deals with relationship issues. What’s the right response when one has hurt another. There are three verses. There are three levels of actions. It has the potential of ending well or it could get ugly. It depends upon the hearts involved.

 

The passage begins with, “If your brother sins…” Most texts footnote this expression and add the words, “against you.” This seems to be a personal problem. This is an issue between two people. This is not a difference of opinions. This is not differing views. The Lord says “your brother sins.” Something was done that was wrong. We can imagine all kinds of things from gossiping, to lying, to stealing. There many be other sins.

 

Someone has hurt another. Someone has done wrong. On top of the wrong done, it appears that the person did not apologize, ask for forgiveness or try to make things right. We are not perfect and we do hurt one another. It seems that in this case, nothing was done. That adds to the pain. Did he realize what he did was wrong? Did he know the damage done? Did he know that he hurt and possibly ruined the relationship? Does he care? Those thoughts only make the situation worse. The hurt party goes over the damage in their mind. Over and over they dwell upon it. Each time, they become more and more upset.

 

Now some thoughts from what the Lord says.

 

The Lord wants the sinner to do right. Sin doesn’t go away. Time doesn’t heal sin, especially with God. One cannot say, “It’s alright.” No, it’s not. It’s never alright to sin. If things remain unchanged, a soul is in jeopardy and a fellowship will break. God wants us to help each other. This is not a matter of being the spiritual police of a congregation. This situation was between two people. Our verse said that it was to be handled “in private.” No one else needs to know. But to do nothing does not help the situation.

 

The Lord wants the wounded party to go and show the fault to the other. This is where we struggle with this passage. It makes sense for the person who was wrong to come to the person that was hurt. That’s not the flow of this passage. The wounded goes to the offender. He shows the fault. Showing the fault may involve taking along a Bible and showing why the action was wrong. The intent is to get the offender to repent. He is in the wrong and he needs to be right—first, with God and then with the person that was hurt.

 

The Lord wants this done in private. That makes all of this even harder. We want to take a posse with us. We want to stack the deck. We want to surround the offender and outnumber him. We want to put him in a position where he must surrender. Boy, that makes sense to us. That’s not what the Lord said. The wounded party goes and in private, this matter is discussed. Just the two of you. Scary. We can think of so many ways that this could go wrong that we simply want to skip this step. The next step involves bringing two or three others. The final step is revealing this to the church. This is where most want to start. Let’s tell the church and let’s force this person to change. That’s not the direction of the passage. The wounded can be guilty of mishandling this.

 

Go to him in private, is what the Lord says. If he listens, you have won your brother. If he listens, he will apologize. If he listens, he will ask for forgiveness. If he listens, he will stop doing wrong. If he listens, his soul will be forgiven. The “listening” involves more than just hearing. It involves understanding, changing and making things right. When he doesn’t listen, then the next step is necessary. We can convince ourselves that he won’t listen, even before we go and show him the fault. We can be ready for steps two and three when we haven’t even worked through step one yet.

 

How you show him the fault is important. Does one come pointing fingers, shouting and with both guns raised? Is it confrontational? Is it ugly? That approach will fail. It will lead to more trouble. Correcting with gentleness is taught throughout the New Testament. Remember the golden rule? How would you want someone to talk to you? That’s your model. That’s how you go.

 

If he listens, then the hurt party needs to be willing to forgive. The listening involves changing. The listening involves acknowledging the sins against the other. When that takes place, forgiveness must follow. If the hurt part is unwilling to forgive, then he is not ready to “go to his brother.” The purpose is not to tell the other off. The purpose is more than to get him to see what he has done. The purpose is restoration. Sins forgiven. Changes in the heart. That’s the goal. The wounded must be willing to go there, or he may as well stay home. To get the brother to listen, but to have the wounded remain unforgiving is a violation of this passage. The brother is only “won” if the relationship is restored and forgiveness and grace have been extended. Making demands, unwilling to extend grace can be just as wrong as the sin that was committed. Grace is never deserved. It’s that way toward us and it’s that way from us to others. No, he doesn’t deserve it. If he did, then grace wouldn’t be involved. You extend the grace because you look beyond yourself. You look to the way God has treated you. You look to doing what is right. You stand where the prodigal’s father stood. You stand where God stands with you. I’ve seen too many that have gone to another, the offender was broken and apologetic but the hurt party wanted to continue to make the other feel miserable. No forgiveness. No grace. No restoration. Then the situation turns. What does a person do when they have apologized but the other party doesn’t want to forgive? We go back to this verse and just change the roles. Now the hurt party has become the offender and the offender has become the hurt party. What a mess. Nothing like what the Lord intended.

 

Doing the right thing isn’t easy. It never is. The easy way through life is often not the best way. It’s easy to flunk. I could go to any university in the country and enroll in any major and flunk out. Piece of cake. Just don’t show up. Don’t take the tests. Don’t do the assignments. After one semester, you’re done. You will have flunked out. Now to make the dean’s list, that’s hard. The same goes with work. I could get fired from just about any job, even preaching. It’s easy to get fired. Don’t show up. Don’t do what you are supposed to do. Break the rules. You’ll get fired sooner or later. Now to get a promotion, that’s hard. It’s easy to destroy a marriage. Just don’t come home. Don’t ever talk to the other person. Be selfish. Be rude. Break the vows. The marriage will end. That’s easy. But to have a long lasting great marriage, that’s hard. It’s easy to make people mad at you. Quit your job and leave burning the bridges behind you. Folks will be upset. Gossip about your friends. They will be mad at you. Take advantage of others. They will not like you. But to get along and have great relationships, that’s hard.

 

The easy thing to do when someone has hurt you, is to hurt them back. Talk about them. Spread things about them. Ruin their name. Ignore them. Isolate them. That’s easy. The hard thing to do is what Jesus says in our passage. It’s uncomfortable. We can think of so many ways that it could go bad. The right way isn’t always the easiest.

 

Go. Show. Listen. Win. That’s the Lord’s plan.

 

Roger

 

28

Jump Start # 1463

Posted on October 28, 2015 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 1463

2 Corinthians 10:5 “We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”

  Our verse today shows us that Christians aren’t sitting passively on the sidelines of life allowing anything to happen to them. There is an aggression about them. There is a militaristic assault taking place. The Christians were on the move. They were not barely holding on, hoping not to lose ground. Instead, they were taking position away from the enemy.

In this section of Corinthians Paul tells the brethren:

  • To be courageous against some (2)
  • We war, but not according to the flesh (3)
  • We are destroying speculations (5)
  • We are ready to punish all disobedience (6)

 

Paul was not rallying the troops to march upon those who disagreed with them. He was not inciting riots, encouraging civil disobedience, nor was he wanting violence. This would be contrary to the Lord’s instructions to love and pray for your enemies. Paul’s call to arms was against theories, doctrines, ideas, teachings that were false. How they would destroy these things was through the teachings of Christ. Truth destroys error. Christ always triumphs. Christ wins. Put any false theory against Christ and it will be destroyed.

 

There are a couple of thoughts for us here:

 

First, we must be careful what we feed our soul. It doesn’t take much poison to ruin our hearts. We can recognize foul language in a movie, but too many cannot recognize foul teaching that comes from a religious book or a blog. That can be even more dangerous. Changing ideas. A new way of looking at things. A different perspective. Seeing things outside of the box. The problem with all those catchy expressions is that a person must understand what’s inside the box before he can start thinking about what is outside the box. Many don’t know. They gravitate to the new and the different. They like to be on the cutting edge of different thinking. They will toss out generations of thoughts that careful Bible students have come up with. Especially today, just about anyone can write what they want on a blog, myself included. Truth will be manifested in consistent and thorough teaching of God’s word. I’ve known some recently who want to consume just about everything an author writes. He is being praised as one of the greatest thinkers in modern times. His books sell. He is radical on so many fundamental thoughts. Bring those things captive to the obedience of Christ. Compare what is said with what the Bible says. Don’t change the Bible. Don’t buy this “re-looking at the Bible.”

 

So, this is a concern. This is a concern of parents whose grown children are influenced by others. This is a concern of shepherds as they notice their flock being influenced. Not too far from where I live, is a small cemetery. There is a special grave in that cemetery. Her name was Nancy. She died along time ago. In the village she lived a sickness spread. It wasn’t something like smallpox. Instead, many drank tainted milk from cows. The cows ate a poisonous plant, called milk weed or snake weed. That poison got into the milk. Nancy was a young mother who got sick. She died. She would have been forgotten through history except for her son. His name was Abraham. He grew up to become the President of the United States. Abraham Lincoln’s mother died from the milk weed poison. Paul’s words were about a spiritual poison. Some of it is passed around innocently. Friends talk. Things are taught and explored. Today, folks share blogs and websites. Books are read. Without an anchor of Biblical teaching, these lofty ideas take hold. They are not challenged. Instead they are accepted and believed. They are not brought captive, as our passage states. Instead, the heart of the believer is held captive by these strange and new ideas. These speculations are not being destroyed. They are being accepted and taught. This is how error spreads through a congregation. Just as the milk weed disease spread through a village long ago, error finds it’s way into the hearts of a congregation. Folks get confused. Fingers are pointed. Tempers flare. People leave. Radical ideas explode among those who left. In time, what little faith they had  trickles out. They are gone. They have allowed speculations and lofty ideas to win.

 

We must be careful what we feed our souls. Just because something is written in a religious book doesn’t make it so. Wolves in sheep clothing can be disguised as truth in a bookstore, when it’s really nothing more than lofty ideas that are against the teachings of Christ.

 

Secondly, we must be active in fighting against these things. It’s not the hatred of the enemy before us but the love of the brethren behind us that compels us to dig in and destroy these lofty speculations against Christ. The battleground takes place first within our hearts. We must decide what is true and right. We must stand upon the word of God. We must understand principles. We must take our study of God’s word seriously. Satan can fool us by thinking we are religious and we are believers in Christ even though what we are doing and believing cannot be supported by Scriptures. We are not dancing to the moon. We are not sacrificing babies. We can be so close to right, that we think we are right. We can be close, but still not there. Satan can get us. So, we must teach God’s word. We must measure everything but the standard, God’s word. We must know God’s word. Our time must be spent in that word. Know it so well that we can recognize when something isn’t right. Those that work in banks are trained to recognize forgeries. They have special ways to tell if money is the real thing or a fake. We must do the same with God’s word. Those in charge of leading God’s people must teach the basics. We must go over the fundamentals. We must help folks to know what is right.

 

Speculations and lofty ideas that are against Christ—this was a greater threat to those early Christians than the Romans. This remains a great threat today.

 

Tell me the story of Jesus, write on my heart every word.

 

Roger

 

27

Jump Start # 1462

Posted on October 27, 2015 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 1462

Ephesians 2:3 “Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”

  The second chapter of Ephesians is the great chapter that tells us that we are saved by God’s grace through our faith. We cannot do it on our own. We cannot earn Heaven like we earn a paycheck. At the end of the pay period, your company has to pay you, whether they want to or not. You have a contracted deal with them. You work and they pay. There is no grace in that. If they don’t pay, they get in trouble. Salvation is not like that. God doesn’t owe us forgiveness. It’s His choice. It’s His love. We are saved by His grace. Does that mean we do nothing? No. If that were the case then everyone would be saved and no one would be lost. We are saved by His grace. That’s God’s part. But it is through our faith, that’s our part. Our faith isn’t earning things nor the same as getting a paycheck each week.

 

Paul paints two pictures in this chapter. First, how bad we are, especially the Gentiles. The chapter begins by saying, “you were dead in your trespasses…” Later he described the state of the Gentiles as “having no hope and without God in the world.” That’s a terrible place to be.

 

The other picture Paul paints here is of the saving Christ. Those far away Gentiles were brought near by the blood of Christ, he would write. God saved them.

 

In the midst of all this it is interesting to notice the pronouns. Paul talked about “you,” when referring to the Gentiles. You were dead in your trespasses. You were without hope. But then we come to our verse. The “You” now becomes “we.” We too lived in lusts. We too indulged the desires of the flesh and mind. We too were children of wrath. We too. The “we” included the Jews. The “we” included Paul.

 

Sometimes it is easy for us to forget about the “we.” It’s easy to talk about “them,” and exclude the “we.” This can lead to the thinking that “we” are better then “them.” They have the problem. They need Jesus. They are a mess. They need help. But the reality is, it is a “we” situation. We, too, need Jesus. We, too, are a mess. We, too, need help.

 

All of us have a story. All of us have a past. All of us have a journey that we are on. The specifics of our stories may differ but the overall picture is the same. We rebelled against God. We were lost. We learned about Jesus. We became obedient to that Gospel call. We have a similar starting point. We are working on a similar ending point.

 

There are some who forget where they came from and where they started. Their attitudes can make you believe that they have always been a follower of Christ. They can be smug toward those who struggle spiritually. They can lean toward self-righteousness. One can get the impression that they are so together now that they don’t even need Jesus. This spirit makes fellowship hard. It strains things in the church. Some of us have come from good homes and we have had godly people around us for a long time. The Bible and worship have been a part of our lives since we were born. With all of that, we still rebelled and sinned. But others were not so blessed. They came out of broken homes. Abuse, neglect and ungodliness were common. Spiritual activities were not a part of their upbringing. They don’t know the Bible stories well. They stumble around trying to find the books of the Bible. They are fuzzy on some Biblical principles. Their life was hard lived. Sins were many. They knew the dark side of things. Yet, by God’s grace and patience, they found the Lord. They, too, became obedient to Christ by faith. They came a long, long way. They don’t know preachers. They don’t know many brethren in other places. They don’t know the history of congregations. They don’t know of the struggles, battles and troubles that happened generations ago. The self righteous group can feel like they have an upper hand upon these folks. Forgetting the “we” part of this passage, can make one think that they are better than others. They are not. They are not loved less by the Lord. They are not a second thought. They are not  accepted with reluctance. They are equal. The “we” brings us all together.

 

Every congregation faces two streams of believers. Some are first generation believers. No one in their family before them professed Christ. They grew up knowing the wrong things. They bring a fresh insight to a congregation. They help us to see what it’s like to be a visitor or someone new to a congregation. We can learn much from their perspective.

 

Others, including myself, have grown up in a family that always went to worship. Some are many generations deep with the Lord. Parents, grandparents, great grandparents—all loved the Lord and followed His way. Some have deep memories of going to worship as a child. I do. It’s easy for folks like me to take things for granted. We’ve always known this. We have always seen the difference between truth and religious error. It’s hard for to understand why everyone can’t see the difference. It seems so obvious to us. But again, we never grew up where others have. We never had to work our way through the maze of religious confusion. We were taught what was true at a young age. Our faith is strong and deep. But it is easy for us to forget the “we” in our passage. It is easy for us to just assume. It’s easy for us to have little patience with those who are struggling to grasp the same truths we have known for decades.

 

Two different streams of believes. Both have advantages and disadvantages. Both bring great insights to a congregation. But both need to realize that both are needed and both are the same in the eyes of the Lord.

 

“We too,” is what Paul said. We too were a mess. We too did wrong things. We too needed Jesus. We too had to start at the beginning.

 

Don’t ever forget the “we too.”

 

Roger

 

26

Jump Start # 1461

Posted on October 26, 2015 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 1461

1 Kings 19:10 “He said, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken  Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.’”

 

Poor Elijah. Our verse finds him hunkered down in a cave, hiding. He is scared, discouraged and alone. Just the chapter before, he stood alone against all the prophets of Baal. The nation would not acknowledge that Jehovah was God. In a mighty contest, he not only demonstrated the power of God, but that brought the courage back to the nation and they hunted down Baal’s prophets and slaughtered them. He had people behind him. But now, wicked queen Jezebel has ordered the death of Elijah. He runs. He hides. He wants God to take him.

 

The “Elijah syndrome” is something that many experience. It’s tough to deal with. One moment it seems things are going well and the next he is depressed and hiding. He wasn’t bi-polar. This wasn’t a mental issue. It was a faith problem.

 

The “Elijah syndrome” is felt in:

 

  • Homes: this is often the feelings of many moms today. They get the impression that they are the only ones who are doing anything in the home. The man comes home and flops in front of the TV watching ESPN until bedtime. The kids are running through the house making messes everywhere. And there’s poor mom. She’s cooking, cleaning, and chasing the kids. She goes from one mess to the next. At the end of the week she’s ready to find a cave, like Elijah, and just escape. She can’t seem to get the kids to help. She can’t seem to get her husband to help. She feels all alone.

 

  • Churches: this is often felt by the preacher. He’s the one that spends most hours around the church building. He’s the one that must be around when the copy repair guy shows us. He’s the one that prints the bulletin and often picks them up off the floor on Monday mornings. He’s the one that is always teaching. He’s the one who is always trying to motivate folks. Like Elijah, he feels that he is the only one around the place that really cares. There are days that he is looking for a cave to go hide in. The elders can also feel this way. The folks that clean the church building also feel this way. Why doesn’t anyone else ever clean this place? Why don’t folks pick up stuff when they leave? Do they think that this is a ball park?

 

  • Concerned citizens: these are the ones who care about how the neighborhood looks. These are the ones who are concerned about boarded up businesses. They worry about a growing drug problem in the neighborhood. They want the community to grow and be safe. But it seems that they are the only ones who care. Everyone else seems too busy to even notice. The thought of moving has crossed their minds. They like the area but it seems, like Elijah, they are the only ones who care.

 

The Elijah syndrome can affect us. It really pulled the covers over Elijah’s head. The context tells us that he didn’t just have a quick rest in the cave. The word used is “dwelled.” Elijah was planning on staying in the cave for awhile. In our day, he would have bought carpet and put out a mailbox. This is my new home, the cave. Dark, dreary and alone—just like Elijah was feeling on the insides. Alone with his misery. Alone singing “Doom, despair and agony on me.”

 

God wouldn’t have it. He called Elijah to come out of the cave, to take care of himself and to go appoint someone king. God wasn’t finished with Elijah. There were things God needed him to do. Hiding in the cave was not one of them. When we are discouraged, we don’t feel like being around others. When we feel alone, we feel like quitting. Elijah did. He wasn’t suicidal, but he certainly was ready for God to take him. God’s words here are the best ways to beat the blues. Get out. Eat. Take care of yourself. Get around people. Do something good for others. Talk to God. Those things work.

 

What God didn’t tell Elijah, not in this chapter, is that his problem was over. Later, God deals with Jezebel. Her ending isn’t pretty. But in this chapter, she’s still a threat. In this chapter, nothing has changed about the order to execute Elijah. This is the key to trusting and obeying God. We want God to solve our problems. We want to stay inside the cave until all is save and things are back to normal. That’s not what happened here. The order from God to get out of the cave, eat and go appoint Hazel king, was spoken under the shadow that the problem was still there. We want God to remove our problems and often, God wants us to go on even though the problem remains. Get out of your cave. Get out and do what God wants.

 

There are two factors that we must see here:

 

First, the human factor tells us that we “don’t feel like it.” That, “we don’t feel like it,” governs what we do. It shouldn’t. It never is a factor in the Bible. When God told Noah to build the ark, he was never asked, “How do you feel about that?” It didn’t matter. When Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac, he was never asked, “How do you feel about that?” It didn’t matter. When Jesus faced the cross, He was never asked, “How do you feel about that?” It didn’t matter. There were things that just had to be done. We don’t go to worship because “we don’t feel like it.” We stop reading our Bibles because “we don’t feel like it.” We allow how we feel to govern us. The human factor leads us to a cave and like Elijah we park it there. There we remain, for some it’s been decades, and we are still in our cave. We won’t leave until we “feel like it.” Do you think Elijah felt like it, knowing that Jezebel was still looking for him? We must move past “how we feel” about things and do the right thing. If we never felt like it, then we would never apologize nor forgive someone. We wouldn’t give, because we don’t feel like it. We wouldn’t say the right thing, because we don’t feel like it. Put your feelings to the side and do what the Lord wants. In doing that, your feelings often change.

 

Second, the God factor. Elijah was depressed in his cave, wanting God to end it all, thinking he was the only one who was doing right. He saw all the problems and he felt that he alone was doing right. What he didn’t know was that there were more than 7,000 who were with God. Seven thousand were not bowing to Baal. Seven thousand were loyal and true to God. Seven thousand. That’s a huge number. That’s larger than most high schools. That’s larger than most congregations. That number would make an impressive army. Seven thousand.

 

Elijah didn’t know that. He had not seen them. He didn’t know  where they were.  He wasn’t the only one. He wasn’t the lone right one. There were many. There were thousands that were with God. When we are down, we tend to exaggerate things. We often make things worse than what they are. We get the “Woe are we” complex. There are others all over this world today who are doing things for the Lord. You and I may never know about them. We don’t have to. There are those who are wonderfully using their talents, even in the congregation where you are that you may not know about. We think we know everything that is going on, but we don’t. There are prayers said every night, silently about the church that we may never know about. There are those who at work and at school are showing others the way of the Lord that we may never know about. There are people being invited, talked to and encouraged that we may never know about. God  knows and that’s all that really matters. So get out of the cave and get back to doing what you are supposed to do. Don’t stop because you think you are the only one. Don’t stop teaching. Don’t stop caring. Don’t stop doing what you are capable of doing. There are others all around that need you. God is counting upon you and you are not the only one.

 

The “Elijah syndrome” is powerful. Don’t let it get to you. Don’t go cave shopping. Don’t stop because of the Jezebel’s in your life. Keep doing what you know is right.

 

Roger