I didn’t go fishing last week, but I did go to the annual meeting of the Kansas-Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptists and catch a cold. So, from Wednesday to now, I’ve been in survival mode.
These annual meetings are for the purpose of conducting the business of the convention; electing officers, approving a budget for the coming year, etc. But, there are also sermons and Bible studies that both challenge and encourage us. Today, I’ll share just a couple of thoughts that caused me to examine my own life.
One statement was this: We need more dish towels, and fewer show towels. In every home, there are usually some show towels. You just know they are put on the towel bar for show. They are purely decorative, and not to be used for drying. But you also find dish towels. They are placed where they can be used for drying the dishes. If you want something dried, you find the dish towel.
In Christian service, there is a need for ‘dish towels’. We are to be useful in service to the Lord, not just hanging around for show. Jesus is our example, as he washed the feet of his disciples on the night of the Last Supper.
The other comment from one of the speakers that struck me, was the following: “If you ain’t dead, you ain’t done.” This relates to my thoughts last year when headed to Good Samaritan Hospital on a helicopter, in the middle of the night.
I realized that if I survived whatever was wrong with me, that God must still have work for me to do. I did survive, and I am now in relatively good health. Although I retired from the pastoral role in my church, I am convinced that there is still more for me to do in the line of ministry. I will wait now to see where my Lord leads me. There is a hymn with these words: “Where He leads me I will follow. I’ll go with Him, with Him, all the way.”
These are the words of Jesus: “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant will also be” (John 12:26). To all of His followers, His command is, “come, follow me.”
Do you know Him? Are you following Him? Remember, “If you ain’t dead, you ain’t done!”
Just thinking,
Pastor Jerry