April 14, 2021 – Click here to listen
I had some fans in my new house that were malfunctioning. So I went in and tried the in wall switch and the fan remote and nothing happened. So I got a little bent out of shape and started violently pushing buttons as fast as I could.
Nothing . . .
Finally in disgust I walked upstairs and forgot about it. In a few minutes my wife came in and asked how I got the fan in the downstairs bedroom to work.
Huh?
It turns out that after I left it just started working on its own. How weird is that?
So I was thinking about this today and it reminded me of witnessing to non-believers and teaching the Gospel. In our instant-gratification-microwave culture we expect results immediately and to borrow a few lyrics from the band the Doors, “We want the world and we want it now!” seems to fit.
The Bible refers to witnessing to others using a metaphor of planting seeds. We don’t plant them and the watch them suddenly spring up out of the earth. It takes some time for a seed to germinate and arise from the earth. We should be keenly aware that our job is to simply plant the seeds; the Holy Spirit takes it from there and it may take a while.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the seeds that don’t instantly spring forth are necessarily “bad seeds.” Speaking from experience it took me years to believe in Christ and many gave up on me and labeled me a bad seed. They forecast that I was a lost cause and waste of time to minister to. Guess what? Like the fan that mysteriously started working after I walked away, I emerged from the darkness and my faith grew strong. You see God never gave up and His Holy Spirit kept right on working to convict me of my sins until successful.
Don’t give up on those souls that you are trying to win for Christ! Keep praying for them and asking the Holy Spirit to bring them into the fold. Don’t ever give up hope. Jesus personifies hope. Face each day confidently with an awareness that the victorious Lord is on your side. Know with all assurance that God never fails and His good promises to you will come to pass.
Isaiah 40:8
“The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”