Saturday, February 12, 2011

Take More Pictures!

     I love how there are studies of "birth order." Being a middle child, I enjoy giving my mom a hard time about the photo album. There are not as many pictures of me as there are of my older and younger sister (their excuse: "The camera broke." So much I can go with on that one). I was determined not to have this happen to my child! Then, when we had our third kid, life overtook my efforts! Too busy with work, a one year old, two year old, and now a baby, I did not have as many professional pictures taken of him. On top of that, the pictures I did take with my new digital camera disappeared when the computer crashed!Thankfully, family and friends gave me some that they had of him. What a horrible feeling not to be able to go back in time and photographically capture those moments for a lifetime of memories!!!

     How about this for a horrible feeling? You are flipping through your mental photo album of your spiritual children, but there aren't many. You had planned to do better, but life overtook your efforts. You worked, had kids, served in the church, and acted as team mom. It just wasn't convienent or comfortable when the opportunity arose. Your relationship with God was broken at the time causing you to be ineffective and unmotivated. All of the sudden, you look back at when you could have made a difference in a person's eternity, but you can't go back and capture those moments. You can't even borrow from friends.

     We as children like to joke with our parents,"You just must not have loved me as much." I would venture to say on the other side of eternity there will be no joking, only questions of "why didn't you tell me?" Luke 16:20-31 tells us of the rich man, spending eternity in hell, who begged Abraham to allow Lazarus (the beggar whom he ignored on earth who was now in heaven) "to dip the tip of his finger in water" to cool his tongue. Of course, this was not possible, and the rich man begged again for Abraham to allow Lazarus to go back to his father's house and witness to his family so that they would not have to endure the torment of hell.

     Maybe someone in hell right now is begging you to tell his family member about Jesus or wishing you had taken the opportunity to tell them yourself. People will not always believe you or accept what you have to say, just as for years, this rich man and his family ignored Moses and the prophets. But it is still our responsibility to tell others about Christ. My Pastor said last week, "While the methods of sharing Christ may have changed, the message is still the same." Take advantage of the many new ways of witnessing. Anything from posting verses on clothing, cars, or signs to hosting a mom's morning out to blogging to facebooking to having a block party. Reaching the whole world for Christ requires you to step out of your own little world. "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?" Romans10:14  Newsflash: You are the preacher!! You can sow and reap in your own hometown everyday!

     Don't let life overtake your purpose as a Christian. Someone out there is counting on you to capture the moment not just for a lifetime, but for eternity.

Luke 10:2 "The harvest is truly great, but the laborers are few." 
John 4:36-37 "One sows and another reaps..."so..."that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together."