TODAY’S SIGNATURE VERSE ••• By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. (John 15:8 ESV) • Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. (James 4:8a) • “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go.” (Isaiah 48:17b) • For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)
PRAISE & PRAYER PROMPT ••• Yesterday morning, I decided to make salads for supper with some grilled chicken. I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with chicken. The love part comes when it’s done well, I like chicken quite a bit. The hate part is actually cooking it. I don’t like touching it and usually, forget to set it out to thaw, so my cooking options are pretty limited. Typically, the chicken I make at home is pretty boring. I never understand how chicken in a restaurant tastes so flavorful when mine is always so “Eh” (unless I’ve made it as a part of a soup or casserole).
But I was super-proud of myself. I got the chicken out to thaw in the morning… Then, I did what any self-respecting woman would do and googled some marinade recipes. I found one that was dubbed, “The BEST Ever Chicken Marinade.” I’m always skeptical of that kind of claim, especially when the recipe lists some ingredients I’d never think about putting together on purpose. But it had one thing going for it — I had all the ingredients. So once the chicken was half-thawed, I made the marinade. I had time to marinate it, grill it, then refrigerate it again to get cold in time for our salads. The salads turned out quite tasty, and the marinade was great; not sure I can say “BEST,” but I will definitely make it again in the future.
As I thought about what to write this morning, I started thinking about last night’s supper. When I had a problem and needed a solution, I went to Google. Someone on the internet claimed to have an amazing marinade recipe, and I decided to trust them and fix it for Wayne and I’s supper. There wasn’t any worry or hesitation on my part — I just did it.
Yet, when it comes to REAL problems, we go anywhere and everywhere before we go to God’s Word or even to our knees in prayer. We save those things for last minute. And when someone reminds us that the BEST news is found the Gospels, we doubt. Or, we simply take it for granted. Why is that? Have we reached a point when we trust Google more than we trust God?
We have two points going on here, but let’s start with the latter. If we agree that the Gospel is the BEST news ever, how much are we sharing it? Do we tell our friends who don’t believe? Do we tell them that Jesus is alive and coming back someday? Do we tell others about how Jesus died for us and rose again? Do we tell people how much God loves us? Do will volunteer to share what God is doing in our lives? Or do we save that for pastors? Do we reserve that responsibility for missionaries? Do we let the bloggers of the world try to get the Gospel out there?
It’s not a job for the professionally trained or the unqualified-but-writing-anyway bloggers of the world… If we believe this to be true, we have to realize that Jesus didn’t give a list of prerequisites, and we have a commission to fill (whether we fill qualified or not!). Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). And when we believe this… When we share this… Guess what? We go back to the former point and remember ourselves to go to God first. To pray first. To seek Him before all other advice, guidance, help, and support.
Win-win-win! God is glorified (John 15:8). Our relationship with Him is strengthened (James 4:8). And He directs us according to His plan for us (Isaiah 48:17, Jeremiah 29:110!
Everything we do should start with God! And He cares enough to be included in every aspect of our lives (1 Peter 5:7). No one else in the world can offer us what God offers. Salvation through Jesus Christ (Romans 10:9)! The chance to truly be free (2 Corinthians 3:17)! The chance to have eternal life (John 3:16)! If that’s not worth sharing, then I don’t know what is.
If you’re willing to share recipes, home improvement projects, life hacks, and other good ideas, be bold enough to share the BEST news about Jesus.
Today, as you pray, thank God that He is always available and the perfect source for anything and everything we need. Thank Him for the BEST news we could ever be told — that Jesus loves us enough that He died for us. Ask the Holy Spirit to equip you to share the Gospel boldly, and as you do, remind you to take your problems to the Lord before you take them anywhere else.
SHARING ••• Please share with others! Visit www.MyGraceFullLife.com to read past blogs. ***Unless noted otherwise, all Scripture references are from the ESV translation.
