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The Lord is my shepherd. I will always have everything I need. He gives me green pastures to lie in. He leads me by calm pools of water. He restores my strength. He leads me on right paths to show that he is good. (Psalm 23:1-3)
No matter how much food or 'things' we have, if we aren't washed, refreshed, and made new by the waters of God's grace, we are just not going to be going very far in this life! One of the things a survival expert will do when he is in a new place is find an appropriate place to shelter. He must decide, based on his surroundings, whether he wants a shelter off the ground, within a cave, in the tree line, or on some flat space. He sets out gathering wood, leaves, branches, and vines with which to construct his shelter. He finds water, looks for things in the area he can use for fire building, and might even scout out a few things he may eat from the land. What do survival skills have to do with our walk with Christ? We are kind of "dropped into" a world we are a little unfamiliar with when we first come into this relationship with Christ. We kind of find our way around this newfound faith by experimenting with the various "tools" we have at our disposal. We read a little bit of the Bible because we know it is supposed to be a source of nourishment for us. We spend a little time in prayer because we are told it becomes a place of rest and release. We don't really know what all we have access to in Christ until we spend a little more time getting to know our "new placement". We don't know what is at our disposal until we begin to look around, experimenting with what we have been given, and then the real journey begins. What we receive in Christ is not by our own doing - although we sometimes get this a little confused and still go about trying to accomplish things within our lives only grace can really provide.
As a survivalist stays a little bit longer in their environment, he begins to experience it with eyes and ears that see and hear things he begins to recognize as good or bad. He has roamed freely and found resources which will benefit him, while being keenly aware of those things which must be guarded against in order to remain well, protected, and in the "survival" mode. He may have a few challenges that are harder than others. It often takes us a while to "dig in" when it comes to our Christian walk - finding all kinds of resources, but not really understanding how we access them, what benefits they will have for us in the long run, or what to do with them once we have them. A coconut in the tree is good - in our hands is even better - but finally opened up and enjoyed is like heaven! Until we possess and access the bounty within, it is merely a "resource" untapped. In our daily walk with Christ, we have lots and lots of resources - many "untapped" as of yet. Our goal today is to examine the resources we have been given, look closely at how it is we access them, and then to do more than just possess them. We need to go to the next level with those resources - such as the survivor does when he digs the small purifying "well" next to the body of water, or the rubbing of sticks together to produce the fire which will function to purify that water. God doesn't expect us to do all the work but trust me on this - the "effort" we exert in obtaining what God has put at our disposal and actually beginning to "use" or "employ it" in our lives is worth it! Just sayin!
No matter how much food or 'things' we have, if we aren't washed, refreshed, and made new by the waters of God's grace, we are just not going to be going very far in this life! One of the things a survival expert will do when he is in a new place is find an appropriate place to shelter. He must decide, based on his surroundings, whether he wants a shelter off the ground, within a cave, in the tree line, or on some flat space. He sets out gathering wood, leaves, branches, and vines with which to construct his shelter. He finds water, looks for things in the area he can use for fire building, and might even scout out a few things he may eat from the land. What do survival skills have to do with our walk with Christ? We are kind of "dropped into" a world we are a little unfamiliar with when we first come into this relationship with Christ. We kind of find our way around this newfound faith by experimenting with the various "tools" we have at our disposal. We read a little bit of the Bible because we know it is supposed to be a source of nourishment for us. We spend a little time in prayer because we are told it becomes a place of rest and release. We don't really know what all we have access to in Christ until we spend a little more time getting to know our "new placement". We don't know what is at our disposal until we begin to look around, experimenting with what we have been given, and then the real journey begins. What we receive in Christ is not by our own doing - although we sometimes get this a little confused and still go about trying to accomplish things within our lives only grace can really provide.
As a survivalist stays a little bit longer in their environment, he begins to experience it with eyes and ears that see and hear things he begins to recognize as good or bad. He has roamed freely and found resources which will benefit him, while being keenly aware of those things which must be guarded against in order to remain well, protected, and in the "survival" mode. He may have a few challenges that are harder than others. It often takes us a while to "dig in" when it comes to our Christian walk - finding all kinds of resources, but not really understanding how we access them, what benefits they will have for us in the long run, or what to do with them once we have them. A coconut in the tree is good - in our hands is even better - but finally opened up and enjoyed is like heaven! Until we possess and access the bounty within, it is merely a "resource" untapped. In our daily walk with Christ, we have lots and lots of resources - many "untapped" as of yet. Our goal today is to examine the resources we have been given, look closely at how it is we access them, and then to do more than just possess them. We need to go to the next level with those resources - such as the survivor does when he digs the small purifying "well" next to the body of water, or the rubbing of sticks together to produce the fire which will function to purify that water. God doesn't expect us to do all the work but trust me on this - the "effort" we exert in obtaining what God has put at our disposal and actually beginning to "use" or "employ it" in our lives is worth it! Just sayin!
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