Yesterday afternoon, I met with Howard Chapman and Nate French. Howard
and I make up the Discipleship Council for Liberty Park Baptist Church;
Nate is our staff liaison. One question that came up is an extremely
important one:
"What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus?"
Read the question again.
Now one more time.
It's a really heavy question.
And
it came during hour 21 of a 25-hour lesson that God had been giving
me. He used two of our class members and a sports radio call-in show to
drive a point home to me. What's the lesson?
BE A BLESSING TO OTHERS.
Do I need to connect the dots for you? OK.
Dot
one: You received an email from Christina about a family
who is going through a real tough financial time. We are taking up a
collection for them.
On Wednesday night, one of our class members gave Christina some
money for the family. That class member saw me later when no one else
was around and asked me a question. She asked, "We can't afford to give
much. Is what we gave enough?" I assured her that anything given
would be appreciated, and we moved on to a different topic.
But my answer, while correct, was way too shallow. Here's what I
should have said: "Your gift will be a blessing to that family. They
will thank God for your generosity and your sacrifice. God will do
mighty things with your gift. What matters is your giving spirit."
That's what I should have said. Because it's true.
The second dot came from another class member. It was a simple
email I got. It asked a simple question. But through that email, I
knew he had been praying for me. That small email was an encouragement
for me. He was a blessing to me.
The final dot came from a most unlikely source--the Paul Finebaum
Radio Show. For those that don't follow sports, Paul Finebaum has a
sports radio call-in show. I can't listen when callers are giving their
opinions, but Paul is one of the best interviewers in the business.
His
guests were Carson Tinker and Dr. Kevin Elko. Carson Tinker was the
long-snapper for the University of Alabama national-championship-winning
football team (is my enthusiasm subdued enough?). Dr. Elko is a sports
psychologist who speaks to the Crimson Tide football team regularly.
When
the massive tornado ripped through Tuscaloosa in 2011, Carson was
riding out the storm with his girlfriend, Ashley Harrison. The tornado
hit the house they were in. She died; he survived. His is a wonderful
story of both faith and action.
On the radio show, Carson spoke
of how Dr. Elko had helped him through the loss. He said that when Dr.
Elko comes in to speak to the football team, he always begins with a
Bible passage. Then, he explains how that Bible passage is relevant to
them.
Carson said that way he was able to survive his loss was to
be a blessing to others. He's been in the forefront of helping
Tuscaloosa rebuild.
Is this a different way of saying that we can work our way to a right relationship with God? Not at all.
But when our hearts are pointed to God, our actions will point that way too.
I
don't know where God is leading me with this, but I know it will be
great. So here is my gift to you. It's the message God gave me and
you:
BE A BLESSING TO OTHERS.
Now to quote the great philosopher, Forrest Gump: "That's all I got to say about that."
Our
lesson this Sunday (9:50 am of course) is "The Kings: God Raises Up
Kings to Lead His People". God's original plan was for Him to be the
only King. God tapped judges to lead the Jews, but that wasn't good
enough for the people.
The people wanted to have a human king like all the other countries
did. And they pestered God until He relented. He warned the Jewish
people about the downside of human kings, but the people told God in
effect: "We don't care about the repercussions, we want what every other
country has".
Our scripture passages will be 2 Samuel 7:11-24 and 1 Kings 8:54-61. Give it a read. You may be surprised at how relevant this lesson is to us.
Finish Friday strong. Enjoy Saturday with your family. See you Sunday!
Loyally yours,
Darren Bayne
“If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up
with anything original.” Ken Robinson
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