Day 79
Matthew 9:32-34 As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a man, mute and demon-possessed. And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke. And the multitudes marveled, saying, "It was never seen like this in Israel." But the Pharisees said, "He casts out demons by the ruler of demons."
I say black, you say white. I say good, you say bad. I say the sun is shining, you say look at the clouds. Does anyone come to mind as you read this? You know, that person who is always looking at the negative side of things. Why is it that, every time something good is taking place, there is always someone waiting in the wings to point to the negative, even when they would benefit more from the positive? In this case, Jesus is completely transforming and making new the life of another human being. No longer is this man trapped and unable to do anything without permission of the enemy, but rather he is suddenly free to be all that God has made him to be! He can now express the great joy of freedom in Christ, and having received the greatest of all gifts, he is now faced with people who would steal all of his joy, hope, and victory, and for what?
For over a decade, my first wife (now deceased), and I would put on camps for fourth- through sixth-grade children. And while every camp had its own flavor and personality, they all had two very distinct things in common. One was that the youth, in almost every case, experienced closeness with God and an awareness of who they were in Christ; they would open up like a flower in the spring, ever ready to receive all that God would have for them. Some would arrive at camp open and ready, and for others it would take sometimes days for them to be open to receive from the Lord. But by and large most of them would eventually open up to see and feel, many for the first time, the power of God in their lives, and the transformation was ever so obvious. The second common occurrence was the reuniting with their parents or guardians and the result of this meeting. For a few, as they shared the excitement of camp, the parents/guardians would take the time to listen and encourage them, and for them, the experience of camp and the encounter with God lived on. For others, their parents/guardians were so determined to get the kids back to town and on to the next occurrence in life that they never even paid attention to the child. Their response was more like that of the Pharisees; yes; uh-huh; oh, that's nice honey; or, here's a great one: oh honey, God doesn't really do that, what were they teaching you? Quite often, for these children, the experience has immediately lost all credibility, and suddenly, God has become a figment of their imagination, nothing to ever be taken seriously. You could watch them close back up.
You see, when God is blessing people, no matter how little we may be blessed by it, we must recognize that they are. We need to encourage, not discourage. We need to bless, not burden. We need to guard our tongue and take a chill pill. You see, there is a lot at stake here; people are waiting for someone to encourage them, yet expecting people to discourage them. Try proving them wrong and watch what God can do–the biggest change will come from within.
Daily Prayer: Father, help me to be a positive influence on the people around me. Protect me from taking the road of discouragement and negativity; after all, it is not the road you travel. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
"Avoid the path of discouragement; it is filled with potholes and ends in death."
Pastor Gene Burroughs
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