July 31
Purpose
As I look into my rear view mirror, my greatest memories of church life are times when the church was unified toward a common goal. When I was a child our small church in Edmonson, Texas had a revival I don’t mean a revival meeting, I mean a revival. We extended the meeting over a several week period because of the overwhelming response. So many people accepted Christ that during the final service all we did was baptize the new converts. Though I was only a young grade-schooler, I too was active sharing my faith with my friends and some of them came to faith in Christ through my efforts. In some ways the fire of that revival meeting are still burning, because that was the first time I heard God speaking to me about becoming a Pastor.
The movement of the spirit was amazing. I certainly remember that, but I also remember that we were doing this together everyone was participating.
When I was Pastoring in the Central Valley, our church had an annual Memorial Day Weekend Campout. One year, over 200 of us spent the weekend together and enjoyed a time of rich fellowship. Less than a hundred stayed behind and some of them came up for a day trip to join their church on the adventure. The baptism we had in the river is among my fondest memories of my time at that church.
Space does not permit me to mention mission trips or building programs that stick out in my mind, suffice it to say, that the church is at its best when it is doing something together.
We have an opportunity for togetherness. Starting July 18, our members of the church are going to explore God’s purpose for our lives. I pray that no one will opt out. Let’s do this together!
Purpose
Psalm 139:14 (NIV) “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
Recently, a 29 year-old nurse, Melanie Stevens, found a cello lying beside a trash bin and put it in her trunk and left it there for a couple of days. She decided she wanted her boyfriend, a cabinetmaker to put a hinge on the front of it and to install little shelves inside so she could use it as a CD case.
What she didn’t know was that this instrument was a A 320-year-old Stradivarius cello valued around $3.5 million. As it turns out, the primary cellist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic left the instrument outside his home and a bicyclist stole it. No one knows why he later abandoned it, but he did and as fate would have it, Stevens found it.
Luckily, before her boyfriend got a round to making the CD case, Stevens saw a news report about the missing cello and returned it. The cello made in 1684 was one of about 60 made by Stradivari in his Cremona, Italy works. The Los Angeles Philharmonic bought it about 30 years ago. According to Associated Press, Robert Cauer, a Los Angeles-based instrument restoration specialist says the valuable instrument is damaged but repairable and should be back in service by this fall. Cauer added the prospect that the prized instrument could have been turned into a CD holder “is so abominable, I get sick when I hear it.”
Imagine something worth $3.5 million dollars being used to store CD cases, Cauer is right, it is abominable. A noble instrument like this one was designed for a much higher purpose than holding recorded music, it was made to create it. I wonder what Stradivarius would think about this?
God has created you. He created you for a purpose. I am confident that He wants you to fulfill the purpose for which you were created. Too many people settle for the common the ordinary, when God had much more in mind when He created them. They become CD racks, when He designed them to be a unique, one of a kind masterpiece.
Are you fulfilling the God’s purpose? If not, will you make a commitment today to discover His purpose and fulfill it?
Quality Time
Wearing a fresh shine on his shoes, a suit his wife gave him on graduation day and a determined look on his face, Brian stood outside his new office. It wasn’t the corner office, but it looked pretty good to him. The smell of new leather from his chair and the warm glow of sunshine streaming through the window greeted him as he positioned his alligator briefcase on the corner of his mahogany desk.
Click, click. Brian opened his briefcase and took out three items—a hammer, a nail and his college degree. “Hello, Brian.” Mr. Pensky, Brian’s new boss said as he extended his right hand, “Welcome to Acme Widget, Inc.” Still holding the hammer, Brian reached out to shake his employer’s hand. “Excuse me, sir,” Brian said, noticing his mistake. He sat the hammer on his desk, shook Mr. Pensky’s hand and said, “It’s good to be here sir.”
Mr. Pensky smiled, and turned to leave. As he was walking out of the room he said, “We’ll be having a staff meeting at 10:00 this morning in the conference room, I’ll introduce you to everybody then.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but that won’t work for me.” Mr. Pensky spun, reentered the room and stood motionless in his grey flannel suit. “What do you mean that won’t work for you?”
“We’ll,” Brian explained, “I’m planning on leaving the office around 9:30 this morning to go fishing with some friends. You know what they say, ‘it isn’t the quantity, but the quality of time that matters.’ I won’t be spending much time in the office while I’m working for you, but I assure you the time I spend will be high quality.”
It takes more than “Quality time” to keep a job, and it takes more than “Quality time” to raise a family. It takes real time—the combination of quality and quantity.
Jim L. Wilson, Fresh Start Devotionals (Fresno, CA: Willow City Press, 2009).
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