weeks material tonight for the The Man God Uses: Moved from the Ordinary to the Extraordinary Bible study. We’ve complete five weeks now, with two left.
The week was titled Made for Crises and we discussed several issues that affect us today. The week walked through several of the things that I’ve been thinking about lately but mostly focused upon keeping our relationship with God growing. Blackaby listed several people of previous generations, Luther, Edwards, Wesley, etc. and how they had overcome obstacles to do God’s work.
That’s one of the things that always strikes me as odd, God doesn’t use perfect men, He uses men that are very much flawed. And that is the hope that I have, that He can use someone like me.
One of the things that LB brought up was that his friend asked him a question, or really, pointed out a dichotomy about works. She noticed that all of the churches she’s been to really don’t help the people that she thinks they should help. Her specific point was the fundraising activities that you see around town for people that have cancer, big hospital bills, their out of work, whatever. She noticed that it was the bars around town that were doing the work, not the churches.
I think she has a point but not the whole picture. No question, bars do provide these functions. I wrote about that here a while back.
But that is only half the picture, if that. Most churches, and Christians, go about their business without fanfare. If I give money to someone, I don’t go tell the world about it. Same with churches, although I do agree that we could do a better job of helping the needy.
Two more weeks of this study, then we are going to take a couple of weeks off, then hit it again with a service oriented study. That should be interesting.
I’ve been thinking a lot about God’s choices too. Moses stuttered and couldn’t speak in front of folks……. but oh my look at him when he came down off the mountain. Mary Magdelen, etc. In your second post dated Oct 16, I am amazed at the change this man was able to realize. I don’t work in an office type setting, but try to be kind and caring with the folks I call on. I still have huge faults……..and not much desire to change ( shakes head at self)
AW, you don’t have to work in an office setting to change your world. You can show the world that does see you a glimpse of integrity that they aren’t used to seeing. Shine a little light where there is darkness.
And ask yourself, self, why don’t I have the desire to change? The answer will come straightaway.