“You Almost Missed Me”

August 2, 2011 Leave a comment

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise. (Proverbs 11:30, K.J.V.)

Dr. Louis Evans was the pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, California. He used to tell a story about his father, Dr. William Evans, who was also a prominent pastor. As the story went, one day a man came knocking on William Evans’ door and presented himself as a typewriter salesman. The salesman said, “Dr. Evans, I know that you write a lot, and I would like to show you this new machine that we have.” Evans said, “I’m sorry, but I’m working on a manuscript for a new book and I’ve got a deadline to meet. I just don’t have the time.” So the salesman went away.

A couple of days later the same salesman knocked on Dr. Evans’ door again. He said, “Dr. Evans, I thought you might have some time for me today to show you this machine.” This time Dr. Evans wasn’t as cordial as he had been the first time. He said, “I thought I made it clear to you that I don’t have the time. I’m pressed with this deadline that I’ve got to meet.” So the salesman went away.

A couple of days later, though, he again knocked on Dr. Evans’ door and asked to be allowed to show the new machine. Dr. Evans again declined the offer, but this time, just as he was about to close the door, the Lord spoke to him in that still, small, inner voice and said, “Why don’t you tell him about Me?” So, in obedience, Dr. Evans invited the man into his home and told him about Jesus.

And how did the man respond to the conversation? He broke down somewhat and said, “Dr. Evans, I’m so glad that you spoke to me today. I’ve come here three times now, but I’m not really in this kind of business. I’ve been coming here because I knew that you were a preacher of the word and I hoped that you would share with me. And Dr. Evans, you almost missed me.”

Tell me, Christian, have you recently found yourself in the somewhat unusual situation of consistently ending up in the company of a particular person? Well, have you gotten around to telling that person about Jesus? If you haven’t, be careful, you don’t want to miss them!

Filed under Evangelism, God's Work, Influence, Ministry, obedience, salvation, Witnessing Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

Swimming At Your Own Risk

July 28, 2011 Leave a comment

Okay, here’s one last post about our Myrtle Beach vacation. Indulge me with this one and we’ll move on to other subject matter in days to come.

Last Thursday was our final day of vacationing before we checked out and began the approximately seven-hour drive home. So that day we wanted to give the boys one more opportunity to enjoy the ocean and pool. This had been the first year ever that Royce, our youngest, had enjoyed splashing around in the ocean more than splashing around in the pool. He had even used some of his own money to buy himself a boogie board so that he could ride the waves properly.

Well, for a good while Thursday’s day at the ocean hummed along delightfully just as previous days had done. The boys played in the waves while Tonya and I laid on the beach. Then I joined the boys in the water and Tonya waded in a few minutes later. So there we were, all four Mckinneys splashing around in the ocean, enjoying every minute of it.

But then suddenly, out of nowhere, I felt a brief but intense sting on my arm. A jellyfish had stung me. I didn’t shriek in pain and head for the shore, but it did hurt, about like a bee-sting. Since I had no clue what to do and didn’t want to create a scene from Jaws as millions abandoned the water, I decided to stay in the water and let the salt water disinfect the sting. I found out later that my plan was a good one. The worst thing you can do for a jellyfish sting is pour fresh water on it. That causes the toxins or whatever they are to spread.

After a few minutes, some small whelks raised up on my arm and I began to feel a slight tingling in my fingers. I thought, “If things get any worse, I’m going to get some medical attention.” But, thankfully, that was the worst of it and before long my arm was virtually back to normal except for the small whelks. Event over, right? Not so fast.

About twenty minutes after I got stung, Royce rode an exceptionally large wave all the way into the shallows. But before he even fully emerged from the water, we heard the scream. And he kept screaming as he hurled himself out of the water, ran to our beach blankets, and buried himself in one of them. Honestly, Tonya and I would have feared that he had been bitten by a shark if not for the fact that I had been stung by a jellyfish just a few minutes earlier. So we had a pretty good idea what had happened.

As it turned out, Royce’s sting was much worse than mine. It was as if a jellyfish had wrapped itself around his leg and kept stinging. He had big marks on the inside and outside of his leg and they were already becoming whelks. The poor little fellow, no wonder he had gotten out of that water so fast. I wouldn’t have hung around in there either!

As Tonya raced to comfort Royce, I made my way to our female lifeguard and reported the two stings. She immediately grabbed a spray bottle of vinegar and sprayed down my arm. Then she went over to Royce and did the same for his wounds. By that time he was beginning to calm down somewhat, but he didn’t want any more to do with the ocean for that day. So we gathered up our things and headed for the pool.

Now, here’s the thing that you ought to know about those two jellyfish stings. All week long, as the crew and I had ridden those ocean waves, a warning sign had been posted just next to the lifeguard’s chair along the shoreline. What did that sign warn about? Jellyfish! You see, Royce and I, along with dozens and dozens of others, had been swimming at our own risk all week because jellyfish had been reported in the area and the warning sign had gone up.

And so here is the spiritual application to all this: God’s word, the Bible, is like that warning sign. When your actions go against it, don’t be surprised when you get stung. Oh, you might swim around for a while and get along fine. You might even have some fun and enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. But, ultimately, God will not be mocked and His word will not be ignored without consequence. Jellyfish stings hurt, but those stings are nothing compared to the hurt that we bring upon ourselves by sin. And just as Royce and I could offer no legitimate objection to us getting stung, neither can the sinner who has been warned by God’s word and blatantly ignored it.

Filed under Choices, Disobedience, God's judgment, God's Word, obedience, Rebellion, Scripture, Sin, Sowing and Reaping, The Bible Tagged with , , , , ,

Recalculating

July 27, 2011 3 Comments

In my last post, I told you that Tonya and I borrowed a G.P.S. system to use during our vacation trip. For the record, that system gave its directions via the voice of a woman. I don’t know if they all use a woman’s voice. I guess it’s possible that you have the set-up option to choose between the voice of a woman or a man. All I know is that the system we borrowed featured a woman’s voice. When I asked why it would be a woman’s voice, my son Ryan had a good answer. He said, “Well, since men never ask for directions, they probably figured that mostly women would be using it.” That’s good logic.

The more we drove, the more we became accustomed to having the woman in the van with us. Every so often we’d hear her say something like, “In 1.2 miles turn right onto Deer Park road and continue 3.6 miles.” It was pretty cool stuff. I even began to anticipate her voice piping up. When I knew we were coming to a turn, I’d ask Tonya, “Shouldn’t that woman be saying something by now?”

Unfortunately, though, there was one word that we heard the woman use a few too many times on the trip. That word was, “Recalculating.” Whenever we would miss a stated turnoff, she would go silent for a moment and then say, “Recalculating.” Then she would pick her directions back up from our new position. It got to the point where we would miss a turn and I would immediately say, “That woman is not going to like that.” Then right on cue we would hear, “Recalculating.”

I’m glad that when it comes to God’s guidance in our lives, He knows how to recalculate. If we do miss His will for a given situation, it isn’t the end of our walk with Him. He doesn’t throw up His hands and say, “You missed it. Now you’re on your own.” Instead, it’s as if He says, “Recalculating.”

Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying that missing God’s will is ever good or acceptable. He never grins about it and playfully says, “Oh, you little rascal, what am I going to do with you?” Missing His will is always serious, serious business, and there will always be unpleasant consequences for doing so. My point is simply that missing one of the turns of God’s will doesn’t mean the end of your journey with Him. If it did, we would all be hopelessly adrift as we move through life, forevermore cut off from the voice and guidance of our Maker.

I don’t know where this post finds you today, but maybe you are just coming out of a situation in which you really missed God’s will. Well, I”m not patting you on the back and saying, “There, there, honey, what you did was understandable,” but I am saying that God hasn’t abandoned you. Even now He is in “recalculating” mode concerning you, and He wants you to pick back up with Him right where you are and start following His new instructions. If you will do that, you’ll find that He can still take you to some wonderful places. Even more than that, there will be some great scenery for you to enjoy along the way.

Filed under Backsliding, Choices, Disobedience, God's Love, God's Omniscience, God's Will, obedience, Repentance, submission, Trusting In God Tagged with , , , , , ,

The Importance of Speaking Up

July 25, 2011 Leave a comment

Well, we made it to and from the beach safely, and I really appreciate those of you who prayed for us along those lines. Not surprisingly, my next few posts will involve stuff that I experienced while on vacation.

I’ll start with something that happened on our last night out on the town, the Thursday night before we checked out Friday morning. Since the boys had never been in the attractions and stores of Ocean Boulevard, we drove up there and made a night of the whole scene. Royce went into the Ripley’s Haunted Adventure while Ryan went into the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum. Then they both went into one of the arcades and played some skeet ball. That’s the game where you roll the ball up the ramp and try to make it jump into certain holes. Some holes are worth more than others, and in the end you are rewarded tickets based upon your point total. You then take those tickets to the counter and swap them for a prize. The more tickets you have, the better prize you get.

Okay, so Ryan goes to one lane and Royce goes to another. When Ryan finishes his game, his tickets start rolling out of the machine appropriately. But when Royce finishes his game nothing happens, even though he has accumulated enough points to earn some tickets. So now Tonya and I have a decision to make. Do we let the injustice go and chalk it up to bad luck? Or do we take the time to go and tell a worker what has happened? We decided to go and tell. (I’ll admit that our decision was helped along by the fact that Royce was none too pleased about not getting any tickets while Ryan did.)

After we reported the problem to the girl at the counter, she came over and very politely said, “I’ll call our maintenance guy, but this will take a few minutes. Will you wait?” At this point, I was beginning to regret saying anything. Who knew where this dude might have to come from? But as the old saying goes, “In for a penny, in for a pound,” so we agreed to wait.

Thankfully, the young man wasn’t too long in coming. He took a quick look at the machine and saw that it was simply out of tickets. He then pulled out a big roll of tickets and reloaded the machine. That’s when things got interesting. As he finished the reloading, he said, “Now get ready because whatever number of tickets this machine should have been giving out is going to come out, and your boy is going to get them all.” Ever the pessimist, I thought to myself, “Sure, sure. We’re probably talking four or five extra tickets here. The thing probably ran out just before Royce played it.”

But then those tickets started rolling out and spilling down onto the floor! My eyes lit up and so did Tonya’s. Royce squealed in delight. Ryan, the classic older brother, stood there green with jealousy because he had actually gotten a higher score than Royce and should have ended up with more tickets than him. On and on the scene went. A few seconds into it the worker grinned at us and reminded us, “Remember, I’m giving him all these tickets.”

So, what was that final total? We ended up with approximately 275 free tickets. To put that total into perspective, Ryan had won about ten with his game and Royce had earned even less than Ryan. Obviously, that machine had been out of tickets for a long time and a great number of kids had played it and taken their losses without reporting the problem. We ended up splitting the tickets between the boys and letting them go nuts cashing them in for multiple gifts at the counter.

And that brings us to the spiritual application to all this. It’s a simple one, really. Since God has called us Christians to be “salt” and “light” in this world, He will bless us when we take the role seriously and speak out when something is wrong. You see, He doesn’t want us to just sit back and let wrong go unchallenged. He doesn’t want us to act like the rest of the world and just accept things as they are. The state of things never gets any better that way. Somebody has got to put in the time and effort to say something.

Christian, could it be that you are right now in the throes of some situation in which you are wondering whether or not you should speak up? Could it be that you are the one whom God is burdening to throw out some salt or turn on a light? Believe me, I know that speaking up is not the easy thing to do, and I’m not trying to needlessly stir up trouble for you here, but the plain fact is that sometimes life’s skeet-ball machines don’t get fixed until someone points out the problem. And, Christian, there are times when that someone has just got to be you because the situation has your name all over it.

Now, will the person whom you correct appreciate your attempts? That’s tough to answer because it depends upon the person. But keep in mind that you aren’t responsible for how the person responds. Once you’ve gone to the counter and reported the problem, once you’ve thrown out the salt, once you’ve turned on the light, your job is done. And God will then reward you somehow or someway with some tickets of blessing. I can’t say exactly what those tickets will be, but you can rest assured that you’ll be satisfied with them.

Filed under Choices, Discipleship, Doing Good, faithfulness, God's Will, God's Work, Honesty, Influence, Ministry, obedience, Problems, Reward, Service, Sin, The Tongue Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

In Training To Be Used Mightily

July 7, 2011 Leave a comment

A budding young soloist went to a great Italian musician for voice training. The master handed him a piece of music and said, “Practice this for one full year and then return here.” The request seemed a bit strange, but for the next twelve months the young man faithfully did his practicing.

At year’s end, he returned to the musician, confident that the master would change his assignment and give him a new, higher grade of music to learn. But it didn’t happen. The master simply said, “Practice the same piece for another year and then return here.”

Somewhat discouraged, the young singer returned home and begrudgingly rededicated himself to his task. For twelve more months he practiced that same piece of music over and over again. Then he returned again to the musician. As he went, he thought, “Surely this time I will be given a new piece to learn.”

Once again, however, the master instructed him to work at the same piece of music for another year and then return. But this time the young man objected. He said, “No, I want to practice something new. I have worked hard, and I deserve to move on up to a more advanced lesson.” Stubbornly, though, the master held his ground, saying, “No, my son, the same lesson this year.”

So now the young man had a decision to make. Should he continue to trust in the great musician and keep practicing the same piece of music? Or should he question the musician’s expertise and seek training elsewhere? Two long years had come and gone. The young singer had worked hard and done as he was told, but he wasn’t seeing any fruit for his labors. Maybe it was now time to cut his losses with the supposed master and change everything.

The young man pondered the issue for quite some time, but in the end he decided to stick with the great musician’s training. So he went back to practicing the same old lesson and faithfully worked at it for yet another year. Then he returned to the master.

But this time the singer wouldn’t be given any more preparatory assignments. Instead, the great musician simply looked at him and said, “Go, my son. You have nothing more to learn.” The young man was both shocked and relieved, but he took the master at his word and began auditioning for singing parts. He nailed performance after performance, no matter how difficult the song, and eventually he rose to become the leading singer in all of Italy.

How was such a thing possible? It was possible because that one piece of music that the singer had so faithfully practiced all those years held within it a certain combination of notes, and that combination had allowed his vocal cords to be developed to perfection. The master, of course, had known this all along.

Christian, it may be that God has had you working on the same assignment for years now. And it also may be that you have grown very tired of singing it. So you’ve begun to long for something new, something different, something that will break you out of your rut. Perhaps you are right now even contemplating going off and doing your own thing because you are tired of living the life in which God has stationed you.

Well, let me ask you this: Could it be that for the past several years God has faithfully been preparing you to do great and mighty works for Him in the future? And, furthermore, could it be that even now your spiritual “vocal cords” are almost perfectly trained to handle these great works? You see, at this point, the last thing you need to do is short-circuit God’s whole plan by foolishly abandoning your master’s training and making some change that you shouldn’t make.

Call this a warning. Call it a word of encouragement. Call it what you will. But just know that God never sends out His servants unprepared, and if He still has you working on the same old assignment, then your training must not be fully completed yet. You ask, “How much longer will it be?” I don’t know. All I know is that there will come a day when God will send you forth to put all of your training to incredible use for Him.

Filed under Adversity, Choices, Commitment, Disappointment, Discipleship, Doing Good, faith, faithfulness, God's Timing, God's Omniscience, God's Will, Impatience, Ministry, Music, obedience, Patience, perseverance, Rebellion, Reward, submission, Teaching, Temptation, Trusting In God Tagged with , , ,

The Danger of Silence

June 27, 2011 Leave a comment

There are a lot of old legends out there, stories that did or didn’t happen. One of them is the account of the destruction of an ancient city. In those days, the cities were surrounded by walls, and watchmen kept guard atop the walls to warn if an enemy army was approaching. The watchmen of this city were particularly cautious and would sound the alarm anytime they saw something stirring in the distance. This, of course, led to many false alarms. Finally the citizens complained so much about the false alarms that the watchmen stopped sounding the alarm altogether. You can guess what happened. A real enemy army eventually stormed the city and destroyed it. Sometime later someone erected a small memorial where the city had once been. The epitaph read: “Here stood a city that was destroyed by silence.”

As Christians, we have the God-given responsibility to share God’s truth. This responsibility means that we cannot remain silent about the sin that surrounds our world and threatens to destroy it. We must speak out. We must instruct. We must warn. If we don’t play the role of watchmen, no one will.

The Legislature of the state of New York recently ruled to legalize same-sex marriages. That made New York the sixth state to do so. So should Christians stop sounding the warning that homosexuality (like adultery, premarital sex, incest, and bestiality) is sexual sin in the eyes of God? Should we just throw up our hands and say, “Oh, let’s cave in to the homosexual agenda and let them have their hearts’ desires?” Should we concede defeat and rationalize it by saying, “No one is listening to us anyway”? My answer is an emphatic, NO. True watchmen simply cannot remain silent when danger is at the door.

I’m not going to lie and say that we will win all the battles. The fact is, we may not. But if “winning” the cultural war is the only reason that we are crying out, then we are operating from the wrong motivation anyway. God hasn’t given us the mandate to “win” the war. Our mandate is simply to be responsible, diligent, effective, persevering watchmen. And no matter how much the citizens complain, that’s a duty that we must never shirk.

Filed under Adversity, Commitment, Communication, Criticism, Current Events, Doing Good, faithfulness, God's Work, Homosexuality, obedience, Persecution, perseverance, politics, Sin Tagged with , ,

Criticism

June 20, 2011 Leave a comment

Yesterday I heard Jack Graham, the pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Texas, tell a great story in his sermon. It went something like this:

A man and his wife walked into a store. A parrot sitting on a perch greeted them at the door by saying to the man, “Hey you, you’re stupid and your wife is ugly.” Shocked, the couple quickly moved away from the bird. But the bird wouldn’t let the matter go. Even as they moved toward another part of the store it said to the man again, this time a little louder, “Hey you, you’re stupid and your wife is ugly.”

At that point the store manager came out of the back, and the couple immediately reported what the parrot had said to them. The manager said, “Oh no, is that crazy thing doing that again? I’ve warned him about that.” Then the manager walked over to the bird, grabbed it by its neck, and swatted its backside a few times with his hand. The bird took its punishment and squawked in pain, after which the manager returned it to its perch.

Well, by then the couple was pretty upset about the whole episode and decided to just leave the store. So they headed for the door, which meant that they had to walk past the parrot again. And just as they opened the door to leave, the bird said to the man, “Hey you.” The man’s first instinct was to just keep walking, but curiosity got the better of him. So he slowly turned around and looked straight at the bird. The bird stared back at him for a second and then said, “You know.”

Graham’s point was that critics are everywhere. He’s right. So if you are doing something that you know is right, don’t let them get you down. Just keep on doing it.

Filed under Adversity, Attitude, Choices, Commitment, Criticism, Doing Good, faithfulness, God's Will, Humor, obedience, Persecution, perseverance, Problems, trials, Trusting In God Tagged with , , ,

The One Requirement Even The Christian Must Meet For Prayer

April 14, 2011 Leave a comment

Okay, this week I’ve been doing some posting on the subject of prayer. Here’s one last word. Did you know there is one requirement that even the Christian must meet to ensure that God will hear his prayer? As you read the following passages, see if you can spot it:

If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear. (Psalm 66:18)

One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, Even his prayer is an abomination. (Proverbs 28:9)

Then they will cry to the Lord, But He will not hear them; He will even hide His face from them at that time, Because they have been evil in their deeds. (Micah 3:4)

But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear. (Isaiah 59:2)

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. (1 Peter 3:12)

The requirement jumps right out at you, doesn’t it? Even if you are a Christian, the only way to guarantee that God will hear your prayers is to live a life of personal holiness. I’m not talking about some unattainable sinless perfection. That isn’t possible for born sinners such as us. But I am talking about making the confession of sins and the actual repentance of them integral parts of your walk with Christ.

I’ve known some Christian singles who chose to live with members of the opposite sex rather than get married. I’ve known other Christians who frequently got drunk on alcohol or high on drugs. I’ve known others who consistently conducted themselves in other sinful ways. Concerning these Christians, I’ve asked myself, “Is God even hearing their prayers?” Based upon the passages that I gave earlier, a solid case can be made to answer, “No, He’s not.”

I’m not trying to play the role of “Prayer Czar” here. God is God, and He can choose to hear any prayer that He wants to hear, regardless of how the person is living. But if His word means what it says, He has to draw some lines of division between the prayers of Christians who are trying to live right and the prayers of those who aren’t.

If this seems harsh, let me offer an illustration to help you better understand. Let’s say that a father has a son whose life is dominated by a lust for money and possessions. The young man wants everything the “good” life has to offer, even if it means bending a few rules or breaking a few laws to get it. Time and time again the father begs him to reprioritize his life and repent of his sins, but the son refuses.

Finally, with a broken heart, the Father says, “Son, I’ve tried to help you, but I‘ve grown to realize that you are dead set in your course. The only play I have left is to separate myself from you and let you hit rock bottom. You are still my child, and I will always love you, but there comes a time when love must be tough. Don’t call me, write me, or come see me again until you have changed your ways.”

Several months later, the son gets caught embezzling from his company. Not only does he lose his job, but if he doesn’t repay the thousands of dollars he stole, he’ll be formally charged and sent to jail. He goes to see his father and says, “Dad, I’m in trouble. I owe my former company a lot of money that I don’t have. If I can’t pay it, I’ll end up in jail. Will you help me?”

How do you think that father will respond? If He responds as God does, everything will hinge upon whether or not he sees true repentance in the son. If the young man is obviously broken and ready to live a different kind of life, the father will do whatever it takes (empty his savings, take out a loan, mortgage his house) to pay the son’s debt and keep him out of jail. But if it’s clear that the young man is just a somewhat less cocky version of his same old self, complete with the same priorities, attitude, and immoral streak, the father will remain staunch in his tough love and refuse to hear the son.

And the thing about God is that He always renders the correct verdict in regards to whether or not He will hear His child’s prayer. He knows the child’s situation before the child ever prays. He knows if repentance is on display. He knows if there is sincerity in the heart. Therefore, when He says either, “I’ll hear your prayer and help you” or “I won’t even hear your prayer,” His choice is the appropriate one.

Filed under Children, Disobedience, Fatherhood, Forgiveness, God's Holiness, God's Love, Greed, obedience, Personal Holiness, prayer, Repentance, Seeking Forgiveness, separation Tagged with , , ,

The Foolish Prince

March 21, 2011 Leave a comment

A prince left the ease and safety of his father’s castle in order to seek adventure in the world. He left all his riches behind and eventually reached such a low state that he was forced to dress in rags and scrounge for food wherever he could. He lived so long that way that he ultimately even forgot that he had once been a prince.

But then came the day when his father, who had been diligently searching for him for years, found him and took him home. As the father walked the prince through the castle, the prince’s memories refired and he slowly began to reclaim the life of royalty that had once been his. To his shame, he also began to realize just how foolish he had been for ever wanting to abandon such a lifestyle for a lower one.

You say, “Boy, what a stupid story. NOBODY would be as foolish as that prince.” Friend, there are Christians out there right now who have voluntarily abandoned the royal lifestyle of walking in close fellowship with Christ and chosen to live in the squalor of sin. There are Christian husbands who are addicted to alcohol, drugs, gambling, or pornography. There are Christian wives who are cheating on their husbands. There are Christian teenagers who are fully conforming to the world in their mindset, appearance, words, and deeds. Even the average Christian child knows far more about the latest SpongeBob SquarePants episode than he does the Bible.

So what about you? Are you a Christian? Well then, how is your lifestyle these days? Could it be that you have more in common with that foolish prince that you’d like to admit? Is your heavenly Father out looking for you, His wayward child who has broken off fellowship with Him? If that describes you in any way, please come to your senses.

Know this: The fellowship being broken off, even for a long time, doesn’t mean that the relationship has been severed, and God wants you back home with Him. He wants to take care of you and pour out His rich blessings upon you. But He can’t do that, prince, until the fellowship you once had with Him is restored. So, are you ready to get back to your castle and a higher way of living? The only person stopping you is you.

Filed under Backsliding, Change, Choices, Disobedience, Dress and Appearance, Eternal Security, Fatherhood, Forgiveness, God's Love, God's Provision, Husbands, obedience, Personal Holiness, Repentance, Seeking Forgiveness, Sin Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

The Next Day

March 10, 2011 Leave a comment

One day some of Napoleon’s officers came to him and recommended a young captain for promotion. When Napoleon asked them why they were suggesting the captain for promotion, they explained that he had used great courage and cleverness to win a victory several days earlier. To that Napoleon replied, “Good, but what did he do the next day?” And that was the last that was ever heard of a promotion for the young captain.

You say you went to church Sunday. Fine, but what did you do Monday? You studied your Bible Tuesday night. Okay, but what did you do Wednesday? You prayed a great prayer Thursday. Excellent, but what did you do Friday? You see, occasional flashes of brilliance in serving the Lord just don’t compare to a life that is wholly devoted to serving Him 24-7. So, how’s your case for a promotion right now?

Filed under Character, Church attendance, Commitment, Discipleship, faithfulness, God's Work, obedience, Personal Holiness, Priorities, Righteousness Tagged with , , , ,

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