“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” 1 Corinthians 15:58
Our Church sets off a major road, which provides our sign ministry a great opportunity to reach a lot of people with the Word of God. Which is something we have been known for over many years…several times even making national news! But the road goes both ways and it is no longer shocking to find evidence of that conflicting truth.
Going to the Church recently, all I could do was bow and shake my head in wondering sorrow. There on the ground, DIRECTLY in front of our trash can, lay the remnants of a full meal from a local fast food restaurant. The crumpled bag, empty cup, wrappers, used napkins and empty condiment packages littered the ground. It was evident that someone had driven in, sat in the shade of the oak tree, ate their meal and then tossed their trash out the window as they sat there! But strangely, I was MOST shocked at my own reaction!
Being a passionate fellow, I have a tendency to get angry when I see injustice, evil and irresponsible behavior. My parent’s spent a LOT of time teaching me right from wrong, and I paid a LOT for my willfully rebellious and snail paced learning! But with God on the team, their combined effort finally paid off. Over the years I have had many opportunities in youth groups and scouting to pass on the lessons. Now, with trash lying at my feet, I simply felt like a failure!
Oh, I did what I usually do. I picked up the trash, threw it away, prayed for the perpetrators and went about setting up the church for our next meeting. My lack of anger was gone, but replacing it was a sick feeling of, “I don’t want to care anymore!” A SCARY thought I had to fight to push away!
At Bible Study, names of Old Testament prophets came up. Names like Elijah, Isaiah, Daniel and Jeremiah. These were men who loved, and were called by God to go to, or live among, irresponsible people and to ‘tell it like it is.’ And they DID! Discouragement became part of their job. But I have to remind myself of this…It never CANCELED their job!
There is a LOT of trash out there in the world today. And the way I see it, God has called all believers who USED to be trash throwers, to “go into the world!” The mission is to KEEP going until it is either ALL changed, or He comes back and picks US up instead! My heavenly Father doesn’t like ANYONE considering His kids failures. Even me! TRASHPERSONS… UNITE!
