Sitting on the Bleachers


"For this I toil struggling with all His energy that He powerfully works in me."
Colossians 1:29


Micah's baseball game last week got me thinking about something...and, since I am still "chewing on it" I figured I might as well share!:) As the game began I couldn't help but think...the outcome has already been determined for this game in eternity past. The winner of this championship game was determined long before it was even a glimmer of a possibility in our minds. Knowing that truth could have made it easy for me to just sit quietly...to cheer very little or not at all....why use up my energy on something that has already been determined...something that all the cheering in the world cannot change?!

But oh, what fun I would have missed out on if that had been my mindset! It was SO exciting, so fun, and so rewarding to scream my head off, to wave my sign high up in the air, to give my all to supporting and encouraging the boys...to doing "my part". It made the victory that much sweeter...I had been apart of it...I had joined in!

I think, just maybe, we do that sometimes with our relationship with God and with those around us. Oh well, if we forget to pray...God's going to do what He's going to do anyway, right? Someone else can do that...I just don't want to be bothered right now...after all, if God wants it done, He will use someone in the end. Boy, that project that our church as got going on sounds so neat. I can't wait to see how God will use it to glorify Himself and save others...but I just can't give right now...I'd have to dip into our vacation fund and, well, come on...everyone needs a vacation! If God's going to accomplish this goal, He'll do it with or without me. Everything belongs to Him!

Don't for a minute think that these examples come from other people around me...they come straight from my own heart! These are the lies I sometimes believe...the lies that keep me "sitting on the bleachers quietly" instead of "cheering my heart out"!I use God's sovereignty as a "crutch" instead of as the motivation that fuels everything I do.

As believers, we know that the victory is already WON!!! God wins EVERYTIME!!! And, what is even more amazing is that He uses US to accomplish His purposes! Job says in Job 23:13-14, "But He is unchangeable and who can turn Him back? What He desires, that He does. For He will complete what He appoints for me, and many such things are in His mind." We have been created for good works! We have been appointed to do things for the glory of God...to be apart of God's sovereign plan...to do many things which "no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him"(1 Cor. 2:9)

God has chosen to accomplish His purposes through our participation...through our obedience...through our prayers. Regarding prayer, Sam Storms says, "We must never presume that God will grant us apart from prayer what he has ordained to grant us only by the means of prayer". And I love what JC Ryle says in his book "Duties of Parents" regarding parenting (but I think you can apply it to all areas of life):
"I know that you cannot convert your child. I know well that they who are born again are born, not of the will of man, but of God. But I know also that God says expressly, "Train up a child in the way he should go," and that He never laid a command on man which He would not give man grace to perform. And I know, too, that our duty is not to stand still and dispute, but to go forward and obey. It is just in the going forward that God will meet us. The path of obedience is the way in which He gives the blessing. We have only to do as the servants were commanded at the marriage feast in Cana, to fill the water-pots with water, and we may safely leave it to the Lord to turn that water into wine."

The path of obedience is the way in which He gives blessing...what a great thought to ponder!

I guess what I am trying to say is that we have been enlisted in God's Army...we have been given the privilege of fighting in a battle that we know has already been won! My prayer is that you will join me in living a life full of hope knowing that God will accomplish all that He has planned and that you and I will not sit quietly on the side lines but will joyfully, exuberantly, prayerfully, and faithfully toil! How sweet the toil will be!

Comments

Juli said…
You have no idea how much this post ministers to my soul this evening. Thanks for being obedient to the Sprit's prompting in writing it.
For His Glory said…
Kristin that was written so beautifully! I loved the verse from JOB and just how God used that game to give you yet another "Bible Study" post (ha ha) but serioulsy, I loved what you shared! Thank you...

PS How cool is that live feed thingy!!
Anonymous said…
Kristin, A beautiful post full of truth, conviction, and encouragement! Thank you for sharing how God is working in your heart and mind.
Great post today. It ministered to me, also! Thank you, again, for blessing my heart.