This past Sunday on the back of our bulletin I wrote a piece in regards to the dropping of the baton (stick) during the Olympics. It was almost surreal as both our men's and woman's 400 meter relay team dropped the stick. Rather than repeat what I wrote, let me offer these thoughts.
THE ONE THING: Think about this one thing: What is in your hand? (Exodus 4) What has God asked you to do? Has He nudged you lately? Of course we know God did not need Moses' help - God knew full well what Moses had, but He wanted Moses to catch it. We could say to Moses ( since we know his story) "Moses, God will use you and as great as you are you do not want to miss the opportunity to pass on your baton to the next generation and currently to the next miracle. God will use you Moses to do great things. He i s even going to use your stick - give it to Him and watch what He does. If you hold on, you will miss it all. But if you let go, God will do great things with what you have."Significance in life does not come from status because there is always someone who has more than you. It does not come from salary, there are others who will always make more than you. it comes from serving. It comes from laying down what God has given you for His usage. It comes from giving yourself away. No matter how great our skills are, if we cannot get the stick handed off to God and handed off to others, we cannot finish our race and live out our calling. No matter how fast our US athletes can run - they were disqualified for dropping the stick. We cannot drop our assignment, our faith and or minimize our gifting and calling.
Giving your life away. If you will only allow God to use what you have available to you, He will make it into whatever it needs to be in order to fulfill the task He has called you to.
The story: Moses throws down the staff and it becomes a snake and then he picks it up and God turns it back into a staff. What do you possess? Moses is a shepherd and he was busy pursuing shepherding and it is in sheep he finds his fulfillment. His staff is also a symbol of his influence. He moves the sheep - that is what he does and his future is contingent upon a good sheep market. But God wants him to lay it down. God wants to do some things through Moses and what he possesses but He cannot do it without surrender. You make the connections here to your own life. What do we do with what we have been given? What are we passing onto God and onto others? Who of the next generation are we impacting so that they might run their race? We have an option, just like Moses did. We can let go and trust or hold on and contend on our own. What if Moses would have held on? If Moses had held on to the staff he would have remained a shepherd of sheep. He would have spent the rest of his life protecting and counting sheep. Here's the bottom line: if you hold on to whatever is in your hand you'll never experience the miracles God wants to perform right in front of you and through your stuff. There is too much at stake to not let go to God and give away to others. There is a race to run and we must run it - TODAY, Tomorrow and equip those beyond us to run it too.
We are running for so much more than Gold, Silver or Bronze. We are running for the Lord. Pastor Bernie
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Also consider Peter's action upon his first encounter with Jesus as recorded in the Book of Luke Chapter 5. Peter an ordinary fisherman first heard the teaching of Jesus from his boat, experienced a miracle (financial blessing) in his life by the great catch of fish in the nets. Peter recognized his unworthy sinful human condition and exclaimed to Jesus I am a sinful man please leave me alone. Jesus however looked beyond Peters self doubts and saw his great potential and said to him “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” He put his boat on the shore left everything and followed Jesus. Peter writing later in his life to the churches stated, Blessed be to God who in His great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Peter left everything he thought was of importance to follow Christ and gained eternal life with Him. Jesus does not look at our potential to fail but only sees our success. He has a great plan for you. All things are possible to those who believe.
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