More and more I have noticed the number Facebook posts asking if you spot the difference found from one picture to the other; how do you prefer your meat cooked; or some other post as what number is missing from one to twenty. Of the eight most wasted time wasters that kill a person’s productivity, number one is that an average person spends 118 minutes per day on social media! Mt. 23:23 tells us, “For you are obsessed with peripheral issues…yet you ignore the most important duty of all…”
The question for this CRA Moment is, ‘What will you do tomorrow?’ Do about what? To answer that question take a brief look with me at a story of Gordon Maxwell a missionary to India. The story is that when he asked a Hindu scholar to teach him the language, the Hindu replied: “No Sahib, I will not teach you. No man can live around you and not become a Christian.” What a powerful testimony he had for the Hindu man to be convinced as to what would happen should the people be around him and hear truth being taught by way of their own language!
Think of this! How amazing it would be to see someone’s faith in action so loudly their words were not necessary! I submit this is what God wants from all His followers, including you and me, and the only way we can have this kind of testimony is by allowing Jesus to live in and through us. It was President Theodore Roosevelt, who said; “There is nothing brilliant or outstanding in my record, except perhaps this one thing. I do the things I believe ought to be done. And when I make up my mind to do a thing, I act.” That describes the kind of life Maxwell demonstrated by way of attracting others to the words of the Bible.
In 2 Cor. 5 we read of those who belong to Christ and have become a new person being reconciled to Him as a gift from Him. Then Paul tells us that we too have been given this wonderful message of reconciliation as Christ’s ambassadors, and we’re to do something with it. The gift given to us is being reconciled — restored —to God! Consequently, we are to be reconciled to others. Who are the others? Anyone where anger, un-forgiveness, and division has broken a relationship, with one party or the other being unwilling to forgive. Jesus said in Mt. 5:23, “This is how I want you to conduct yourself, If you enter your place of worship and…you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to your friend and apologize and be reconciled. Then, and only then, come back and work things out with God.” We find other words to explain the word ‘reconciled’ as being: settled, reunited, resolved, squared up, to bring together, and even to patch up.
Dr. Dale Turner was a pastor, columnist, speaker, counselor, athlete, who had given wise advice as he conducted over 4,000 weddings. Dale said, “It is the highest form of self-respect to admit our errors and mistakes and make amends for them…a mistake is only an error in judgment, but to hold fast to it when it is discovered shows weakness of character.” Paul tells us in 2 Cor. 5:19, “For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them,” however, if we’re not careful, often the words we may speak can end up being like seeds planted that cause a root of bitterness to grow in another’s heart. If possible, try to set the record straight with those you have left festering over a situation and now feel differently about. It’s humbling, but you won’t feel right towards God until you attempt to make the offer of reconciliation.
What will you do tomorrow, or today, in taking the first step towards reconciliation with another? You may have had a great idea of doing that someday while in the shower, but only a few step out, dry off, and do something about reconciling with someone today!
Blessings, Psalm 20:7 Dale & Jeannie