Saturday, June 11, 2011

Moving On

The verse for 6/11 is Mark 6:11, "But if any place refuses to welcome you or listen to you, shake its dust from your feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned those people to their fate.” (NLT)

Anyone who is a Christ follower is in ministry.  God calls us to live out a testimony and tell others about Him; to always be prepared to give an account for the hope that we now live for.  He even calls some of us to commit our entire lives to that end.  But not everyone is going to listen.

We can't save the world, no matter how hard we want to, or how hard we try.  God gave us all a free will to make our own decisions.  We can choose to follow Him or we can choose to go our own way.  It's always a difficult thing in ministry to think that we are not the ones that God will use to make the difference in someone's life.  It's not that He doesn't want to use us, as much as it is people not being ready to surrender to what He wants them to hear.  We always have to be prayerful as to when to move on and leave them to their own fate, but sometimes we have to do just that.  We can only be faithful to what God calls us to do and sometimes it means moving on to a place where people will actually listen and turn to God. 

Talking to deaf ears and running up against brick walls at every turn doesn't work for any of us.  When we are truly sent by God to tell others about Him, to let Him be seen in us, He will extend our journey to those who will eventually listen.  Sometimes that means dusting off our sandals in one place and moving on to another.  We can always pray for the people we've left behind, but we cannot make their choices for them.  Free will is a gift that comes with blessings and consequences.  Unfortunately, it will always be everyone's own choice to make.

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