It Makes Sense to God
God has a history of asking us to do things, that to us, just don’t make sense. Think about it for a minute. He asked Noah to build an ark because a flood was coming, and it had never even rained. He took Moses, a man who couldn’t even speak well, and made him a leader. Spoke to him from a burning bush, led him to walk through the middle of a sea on dry ground and gave him the 10 commandments! He told Joshua and his Israelite army to march around Jericho 7 times and then shout the walls down. He chose a virgin, Mary, to give birth to His only son. He asked his disciples to feed 5000 people with just a few fish and loaves of bread. He died for US! He ROSE from the dead! If I took the time to list all the things God did that didn’t make sense at the time, it would fill up several books! You see for us….if we don’t understand what the purpose for something is, or what the outcome will be, then we think it is just not logical and it doesn’t make good sense. To give you a personal example; when Scott and I answered the call to Pine Valley Baptist in Wilmington, NC, it didn’t make sense for us to leave Crossville, TN. We lived near our family. We left a 10 year ministry, a well established music program, a community in which we were both well-known and respected, not to mention many dear friends. We put our home on the market in the worst possible time in history. We pulled our kids out of schools they had attended almost their entire life, away from friends they had known since early childhood, and I left a job that I truly loved. It didn’t even make sense to us at the time, much less anyone else! But in God’s world, it made perfect sense. He knew what He was doing. He knew that even though we would face many challenges, like foreclosure and bankruptcy, it was through these experiences that we would grow stronger. He has a plan He is carrying out, for our own good, and however long our ministry at Pine Valley lasts, we are here for a reason. The many blessings He has already given us here are proof of that. I’m not telling you this to brag, and say, “look what we did, aren’t we saintly”, but simply to make a point. God knows our past and sees our future. He’s the guy with the map…the one that MADE the map…and if we belong to Him, He is never going to leave our side. That doesn’t mean we won’t have problems, what it DOES mean is that He will be there to bring us through those problems. I’ve been in church my entire life. I’ve been a minister’s wife for 23 years, and because of that I know a few things about the happenings in churches. One of the worst things that can happen to a church, in my opinion and from my experience, is for members take their eyes off of Jesus and start focusing on their circumstances. Remember when Peter stepped out onto the water? As long as he kept his eyes on Jesus he walked right on top of that water. But as soon as Peter started looking around at his circumstances, he realized what he was doing didn’t make sense, and he started to sink. When churches start worrying and bickering about things, concentrating on things that are trivial, they take their eyes off of Jesus, and through lack of faith, they start to sink. I’ve seen it happen more than once. The sad thing is, a lot of times, they don’t even realize they are sinking until it’s too late. Creating a church budget is an act of faith. You don’t have a predetermined amount of money that you absolutely know is going to be coming in each month. That is why, as far as church budgets go, you have to start at the other end. You have to start with what GOD wants to do, PLAN for what GOD wants to do, and then…. step out of that boat and walk on that water. If your hearts are focused on doing God’s will, doing WHATEVER it takes to reach the lost, GOD WILL PROVIDE!! It’s not how many people you have that are giving. It’s not having lots of rich members. It’s having members that are completely surrendered to God, completely dedicated to serving God, completely dependent on God to provide. Once that happens, there is nothing that can hold that church back! Support your church staff, be willing to step out on a limb with them and do something different, be willing to do WHATEVER it takes to reach the lost, instead of fussing that you’ve never done it that way before. Get out of that comfort zone that is lulling you to sleep! The church staff members have dedicated their education, their lives, their families, and their futures to serving God. God has called them to your church for a reason…HIS reason. There’s no big “secret” to evangelizing the lost and growing a strong church….it is so simple. Keep your focus on GOD’S will, dedicate yourself to serving Him, and HE will take care of the rest….even when it doesn’t make sense.
* If you read this I challenge you to go forward this Sunday and dedicate yourself to keeping your eyes on God instead of the circumstances around you, to seeking God’s will in all that you do, and to doing whatever it takes to reach the lost.
