Playing Marbles With Diamonds
Luke 12:34 (Msg) It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.
High up among the mountains of western Brazil sits the city of Ouro Preto. When the Portuguese first came to Brazil, the town mushroomed because of the gold ore found nearby. Once that played out, it went back to its sleepy small town existence.
One day a man from Lisbon, a mining engineer, came into town. Stepping off his horse in the town square, he allowed the animal to drink his fill of water from the central plaza's fountain, a remnant of the earlier glory days.
He happened to notice some children playing nearby, and wandered over to ask where to get a bite to eat. The kids were playing a spirited game of marbles and as he walked up, one flew out of the circle and rolled to a stop at his feet.
Picking it up, he thought he saw something in the smooth stone. He rubbed it against his clothing for a moment or two, and what he saw changed his life. The children, poor and ragged like the town they lived in, were playing marbles with diamonds.
We're in America, not Brazil. Our children for the most part aren't ragged, or poor, and neither are we. Our access to almost everything that we could want is unparalleled in the history of man.
Freedom? We have more of that precious commodity than anyone who has ever lived. But what's happened is we've taken all the precious gifts given us and used them for our own selfish pleasure. In our own way we're playing marbles with diamonds too.
Friend, look at the indicators of where your life's priorities are - your checkbook, your calendar, your relationships with people, your relationship with God.
I've spent some time in our VBS "town square" this week, and too many of the richest kids in the world are poor in the things of the Spirit. We're doing everything we can as a church to help them understand what a priceless gift God's love through Jesus Christ is, but nothing would make more of an impact than a mommy or daddy, aunt or uncle, grandmother or granddaddy, teacher, librarian, fireman or friend in love with Jesus Christ.
Make a decision. Live the life.
Grace!
David
This devotional is written by David Wilson, pastor of New Hope Baptist church in Valparaiso, FL. If you find you have received this via a forward and would like to receive it regularly, or find you no longer wish to receive it, drop me an email at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I'll make the change to the list. If you'd like to know more about New Hope, visit our website at www.newhopevalp.org . May God bless you.
Thursday, July 22, 2004
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Misplaced Boundaries
It was the last day of my summer job before I was off to college. Let's be kind and say I was in a frivolous mood. (we could turn hard and say I was a jerk)
Having spent the morning unloading bags of concrete, the early afternoon cutting concrete pipe with a pick, and now having finished digging a ditch with a shovel, I was tired too. Then my eyes saw them - stakes with brightly colored ribbons on them, where the surveyors had just finished laying out the confines of another building's foundation.
Something within me saw that as an opportunity to thumb my nose at my bosses, and have some fun too. So I went over and carefully moved each stake. Not a whole lot, maybe a foot here or there. And I was careful to not leave evidence of what had happened.
I went off to school, came back the next summer to the same construction area. But this time I didn't get a job with the construction crew. No, this time I was hired by Gostin Surveying.
Yep. Same folks.
As the summer went by, I learned a lot about the science of surveying. How precise it had to be, how trusted the surveyor was, and how everything depended on his ability to trust old, sometimes in the eyes of an 18 year old, ancient, boundary markers.
You could say my perspective changed.
The last day of the summer, I summoned up enough courage to tell Mr. Lester what I had done. To my great relief, he laughed for a good minute and finally told me "we spotted it the next day. Once you know what's right, where the boundaries are, you just know."
Folks, the next time you meet someone whose not a believer in Jesus, think about this story.
They've heard so many times, seen so many times - the "Christians" around them not living up to their Master's standards that they sometimes break those standards too, just because they want to prove no one will ever lay down a boundary around their life.
Then love breaks through.
Acts 3:26 (Msg) But you are first in line: God, having raised up his Son, sent him to bless you as you turn, one by one, \nfrom your evil ways."
As they become believers, meet Jesus and understand how His love and sacrifice didn't draw those lines until He first laid His life on the line for them, and everything changes.
They live to please God, to obey His Word, not because they are afraid of Him, but because they see life - their life, through His eyes. Friends, the best way you can help your neighbor home is by being true in your own walk with Jesus. Earn the right to be heard by your actions, and once the door opens, tell them about Jesus.
Grace!
David
It was the last day of my summer job before I was off to college. Let's be kind and say I was in a frivolous mood. (we could turn hard and say I was a jerk)
Having spent the morning unloading bags of concrete, the early afternoon cutting concrete pipe with a pick, and now having finished digging a ditch with a shovel, I was tired too. Then my eyes saw them - stakes with brightly colored ribbons on them, where the surveyors had just finished laying out the confines of another building's foundation.
Something within me saw that as an opportunity to thumb my nose at my bosses, and have some fun too. So I went over and carefully moved each stake. Not a whole lot, maybe a foot here or there. And I was careful to not leave evidence of what had happened.
I went off to school, came back the next summer to the same construction area. But this time I didn't get a job with the construction crew. No, this time I was hired by Gostin Surveying.
Yep. Same folks.
As the summer went by, I learned a lot about the science of surveying. How precise it had to be, how trusted the surveyor was, and how everything depended on his ability to trust old, sometimes in the eyes of an 18 year old, ancient, boundary markers.
You could say my perspective changed.
The last day of the summer, I summoned up enough courage to tell Mr. Lester what I had done. To my great relief, he laughed for a good minute and finally told me "we spotted it the next day. Once you know what's right, where the boundaries are, you just know."
Folks, the next time you meet someone whose not a believer in Jesus, think about this story.
They've heard so many times, seen so many times - the "Christians" around them not living up to their Master's standards that they sometimes break those standards too, just because they want to prove no one will ever lay down a boundary around their life.
Then love breaks through.
Acts 3:26 (Msg) But you are first in line: God, having raised up his Son, sent him to bless you as you turn, one by one, \nfrom your evil ways."
As they become believers, meet Jesus and understand how His love and sacrifice didn't draw those lines until He first laid His life on the line for them, and everything changes.
They live to please God, to obey His Word, not because they are afraid of Him, but because they see life - their life, through His eyes. Friends, the best way you can help your neighbor home is by being true in your own walk with Jesus. Earn the right to be heard by your actions, and once the door opens, tell them about Jesus.
Grace!
David
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
The Church of Perpetual VBS
Okay, so everyone whose currently working in our VBS has just suffered a massive coronary... but those of you who have completed yours a while ago ought to be over it enough by now to at least smile. And those of you who haven't been in VBS for years need to hear this too.
Church should always be like VBS.
Philip. 4:4 (Msg) Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him!
VBS is when the church is more biblical than any other time of the year. Why?
Everybody's welcome.
Dress doesn't matter.
You're expected to have fun - if you don't, we failed.
You're expected to learn things about God you'll remember forever.
You'll have an opportunity to sing songs that make you move - in heart and body.
Psalm 32:11 (Msg) Celebrate God. Sing together—everyone! All you honest hearts, raise the roof!
And everyone you meet that's serving as a host, teacher, cook, or leader is there doing whatever they do for one reason - to help you find God, learn about God, and love God just like they do.
2 Cor. 13:9 (Msg) We don't just put up with our limitations; we celebrate them, and then go on to celebrate every strength, every triumph of the truth in you. We pray hard that it will all come together in your lives.
VBS is when people go the extra mile, do the silly dances, sing the new songs, give the hugs, laugh the loudest, enjoying being Jesus' arms around the children He so loves.
That's why kids love it, and why VBS is the single biggest way they begin their walk with Christ.
Church should always be like VBS. It can be - come and see!
Grace!
David
(BTW, our VBS continues Wed. night and finishes with an explosion Sunday morning!)
This devotional is written by David Wilson, pastor of New Hope Baptist church in Valparaiso, FL. If you find you have received this via a forward and would like to receive it regularly, or find you no longer wish to receive it, drop me an email at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I'll make the change to the list. If you'd like to know more about New Hope, visit our website at www.newhopevalp.org . May God bless you.
Okay, so everyone whose currently working in our VBS has just suffered a massive coronary... but those of you who have completed yours a while ago ought to be over it enough by now to at least smile. And those of you who haven't been in VBS for years need to hear this too.
Church should always be like VBS.
Philip. 4:4 (Msg) Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him!
VBS is when the church is more biblical than any other time of the year. Why?
Everybody's welcome.
Dress doesn't matter.
You're expected to have fun - if you don't, we failed.
You're expected to learn things about God you'll remember forever.
You'll have an opportunity to sing songs that make you move - in heart and body.
Psalm 32:11 (Msg) Celebrate God. Sing together—everyone! All you honest hearts, raise the roof!
And everyone you meet that's serving as a host, teacher, cook, or leader is there doing whatever they do for one reason - to help you find God, learn about God, and love God just like they do.
2 Cor. 13:9 (Msg) We don't just put up with our limitations; we celebrate them, and then go on to celebrate every strength, every triumph of the truth in you. We pray hard that it will all come together in your lives.
VBS is when people go the extra mile, do the silly dances, sing the new songs, give the hugs, laugh the loudest, enjoying being Jesus' arms around the children He so loves.
That's why kids love it, and why VBS is the single biggest way they begin their walk with Christ.
Church should always be like VBS. It can be - come and see!
Grace!
David
(BTW, our VBS continues Wed. night and finishes with an explosion Sunday morning!)
This devotional is written by David Wilson, pastor of New Hope Baptist church in Valparaiso, FL. If you find you have received this via a forward and would like to receive it regularly, or find you no longer wish to receive it, drop me an email at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I'll make the change to the list. If you'd like to know more about New Hope, visit our website at www.newhopevalp.org . May God bless you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
