Spiritual awareness in Christian preaching emphasizes the believer's ability to perceive and discern eternal realities beyond natural senses, often likened to having 'eyes for two worlds'—the earthly and the heavenly (2 Corinthians 4:18). Illustrations frequently use imagery of light, observation, and watchfulness to convey the necessity of vigilance and illumination by the Holy Spirit for deeper understanding and holy living (Ephesians 5:14).
Sunshine reveals dust but does not cause it, like God's light reveals sin's presence.
A young girl after sweeping the room, went to the window shade and hastily drew it down, saying, "It makes the room so dusty to have the sunshine coming in." She foolishly imagined that it was the sunshine which made the dust whereas it only revealed it.
Spiritual realities are true though unbelievers treat them as mere fanciful dreams.
"Carnal men hear of the beauty of holiness, of the excellency of Christ, of the preciousness of the covenant, of the rich treasures of grace, as if they were in a dream. They look upon such things as mere fancies, like to foolish dreams of golden mountains, or showers of pearls." "This their way is their folly." When scientific men describe to us their curious experiments and singular discoveries, we know them to be persons of credit, and therefore accept their testimony: why do not men of the world do us the like justice, and believe what we tell them? We are as sane as they, and as observant of the law of truth; why, then, do they not believe us when we declare what the Lord has done for our souls? Why is our experience in the spiritual world to be treated as a fiction any more than their discoveries in chemistry or geography? There is no justice in the treatment with which our witness is received.
Yet the Christian man need not complain, for in the nature of things he may expect it to be so, and the fact that it is so is a confirmation of his own beliefs. In a world of blind men, an elect race, to whom eyes had been given, would be sure to be regarded as either mad or false. How could the sightless majority be expected to accept the witness of the seeing few? Would it not touch their dignity to admit that others possessed faculties of which they were destitute? And would it not be highly probable that the blind would conspire to regard the men of eyes as fanatical dreamers or deluded fools? Unrenewed men know not the things which are of the Spirit of God, and it is by no means a strange thing that they should deride what they cannot understand. It is sad that those who are dreamers in the worst sense should think others so, but it is by no means so extraordinary as to cause surprise. O my Lord, whatever others may think of me, let me be more and more sensible of thy presence, and of the glorious privileges and hopes which are created in the heart by thy grace! If men should even say of me, as of Joseph, "Behold, this dreamer cometh," it will not grieve me so long as thou art with me, and thy favour makes me blest.
Earthly cares can blind us to eternal realities until death forces serious reflection.
We keep ourselves in such a continual hurry and crowd of cares, thoughts, and employments about the things of the body, that we can find little time to be alone, communing with our own hearts about our great concernments in eternity. It is with many of us as it was with Archimedes, who was so intent upon drawing his mathematical schemes, that though all the city was in alarm, the enemy had taken it by storm, the streets filled with dead bodies, the soldiers came into his particular house, nay, entered his very study, and plucked him by the sleeve, before he took any notice of it. Even so, many men's hearts are so profoundly immersed and drowned in earthly cares, thoughts, projects, or pleasures, that death must come to their very houses, yea, and pull them by the sleeve, and tell them its errand, before they will begin to awake, and come to a serious consideration of things more important.
— Flavel
Strong spiritual excitement brings clear vision and deeper understanding beyond ordinary insight.
The soul's hours of strong excitement are its luminous hours, its mountains of vision, from which it looks over the landscape of life with unobstructed gaze. And the observations it then takes, and the judgments it forms, as far transcend the scope and truth of its ordinary sight and reasoning, as the view from the seaward-looking mountain transcends the view from the pent-up valley. Beecher.
Like a beetle with two pairs of eyes, Christians must see both earthly and spiritual realities.
There swims on the surface of the summer brook, familiar to all dwellers in the country, a certain black beetle, which loves to hold insect conventions in some quiet eddy, and spend the hours in whirling round in all manner of tangled curves. One curious thing in the construction of this diminutive insect is, that it possesses two pairs of eyes, so placed, that, when it floats along, one pair is above the surface of the water, and the other below. All these eyes are designed to be used, — the one pair to view things beneath the surface; and the other pair, the things above it: the one looks for food, the other looks out for danger and for enjoyment. The two together fit the insect for its life on the dividing line between air and water.
— Dr. Crane
Certain triggers mysteriously bring past sins and memories vividly to mind.
The law of association of ideas is well known. Suddenly, when far away from the scenes and events of former years, some secret, invisible, and mysterious suggestion makes the past again a living reality. We know not how the suggestion is made. No trace of the connecting link can be found; but it reveals a wonderful power in our nature. Through it we are hurried back to some long-forgotten thought or word or deed, and made to confront it, after the lapse of many years, in some new form, or, till then, unperceived relation. Very simple indeed is the process, but most remarkable and sometimes terrific the results. The means by which it is effected may be exceedingly insignificant. A change of wind, the aspect of a flower, the position of the clouds, a peculiar tone of voice, the expression of a countenance, a single word, — any one of these may be quite sufficient for the purpose; but at the merest suggestive touch, as if by enchantment, the door of the past will fly open, and the deed with its attendant circumstances stand revealed in solemn reality.
— Dr. Thomas
Men's souls have partial light, but no one is fully luminous throughout.
Going into a village at night, with the lights gleaming on each side of the street, in some houses they will be in the basement, and nowhere else; and in others in the attic, and nowhere else; and in others in some middle chamber: but in no house will every window gleam from top to bottom. So is it with men's faculties. Most of them are in darkness. One shines here, and another there; but there is no man whose soul is luminous throughout. Beecher.
Nature reveals a calm, holy religion that uplifts the spirit without human creeds.
There is a religion in every thing around us, — a calm and holy religion in the unbreathing things of Nature, which men would do well to imitate. It is a meek and blessed influence, stealing in as it were unawares upon the heart; it comes quickly, and without excitement: it has no terror, no gloom, in its approaches; it does not route up the passions; it is untrammelled by the creeds, and unshadowed by the superstitions, of man; it is fresh from the hands of its Author, glowing from the immediate presence of the Great Spirit which pervades and quickcus it; it is written on the arched sky; it looks out from every star; it is on the sailing cloud and in the invisible wind; it is among the hills and valleys of the earth where the shrubless mountain-top pierces the thin atmosphere of eternal winter, or where the mighty forest fluctuates before the strong wind, with its dark waves of green foliage; it is spread out like a legible language upon the broad face of the unsleeping ocean; it is the poetry of Nature; it is that which uplifts the spirit within us, until it is strong enough to outlook the shadows of our place of probation; which breaks, link after link, the chain which binds us to materiality, and which opens to our imagination a world of spiritual beauty and holiness. Ruskin.
Understanding nature fully requires seeing it illuminated by God's presence and light.
Standing within a cathedral, and looking through its stained and figured windows towards the light, we behold the forms and colors by the light. Standing outside, and gazing at the same windows, we see nothing but blurred and indistinct enamelling. Thus, the soul, standing within the great cathedral of God's material world, and looking through it upward to the light, beholds the meaning of its forms and colors; but standing without, and studying Nature in detail, not with reference to light pouring through it from God, but for itself alone, there is nothing better seen than the mere material enamelling.
— Dr. Cheever
Distinction comes from vigilant observation, unlike listless indifference in most people.
Perhaps there is no property in which men are more strikingly distinguished from each other than this. The great herd of mankind, the "fruges consumere nati," pass their lives in listless inattention and indifference as to what is going on around them, being perfectly content to satisfy the mere cravings of nature, while those who are destined to distinction have a lynx-eyed vigilance that nothing can escape. Wirt.
Careful observation and learning from nature can lead to great accomplishments.
The Russian proverb says of the non-observant man, "He goes through the forest and sees no firewood." Dr. Johnson once said, "Some men will learn more in the Hampstead stage than others in the tour of Europe." Sir Isambard Brunel took his first lessons in forming the Thames tunnel from the tiny ship-worm. He saw how the little creature perforated the wood with its well-armed head, first in one direction and then in another, till the archway was complete, and then daubing over the roof and sides with a kind of varnish; and, by copying this work exactly on a large scale, Brunel was at length enabled to accomplish the work.
— Samuel Smiles
Recording observations carefully leads to valuable knowledge and wisdom.
A great statesman, being asked by a young gentleman what treatise on the art of government he could recommend as the best, replied, "A book of white paper. Take such a book, journey with it through the world, carefully attend to every matter, whether political or not, which appears to you remarkable, note it for the information of yourself and others; and in this way you will make an excellent work, from which you may learn much."
Our physical senses illustrate how God enables spiritual perception and connection with His creation.
The nervous filaments of the senses are finer than a spider's thread; yet they are the avenues of communication between the world without and the world within. They spread themselves out over a little space at the roots of the tongue, and all the savors of Nature become tributaries to our pleasure. They unfold themselves over a little space in the olfactory organs, and we catch the perfumes of all the zones. They are ramified over a little space in the hollow of the ear; and the myriad voices of Nature, from the shrill insect or the mellifluous songbird to the organ-tones of heaven's cathedral, the thunder, the cataract, and the ocean, become our orchestra. They line a spot in the interior of the eye so small that the tip of the finger may cover it; when, lo! the earth and the heavens, to the remotest constellations that seem to glitter feebly on the confines of space, are painted quick as thought in the chambers of the brain. By these senses, we hold connection with all external things, as though millions of telegraphic wires were stretched from every outward object, and came in converging lines to find their focus in our organs, and through these inlets to pour their pictures, their odors, and their songs into the all-capacious brain. Nay, better than this; for we have the picture, the perfume, and the music, without the encumbrance of the wires.
— Horace Mann
People often guard their strengths but neglect weaknesses where temptation easily enters.
Men are afraid of breaking down where they are strongest, but are seldom afraid of their weaknesses. If a man is hard, he fears mellowness. A proud man watches lest he should let himself down. A selfish man is vigilant against being unduly tempted by profuse kindness; and no man has a more salutary fear of rash generosity than he whose pores are sealed so tight, that all the suns of prosperity cannot open them. Men are apt to guard themselves where it is impossible for them to be overcome; but they are quite careless of those open avenues through which temptation comes and goes so easily, that they are unconscious of wrong-doing because they are not pained by it.
— Beecher
Familiarity with spiritual dangers without true escape can lead to destruction.
A blacksmith’s dog used to spend most of his time in the shop, and thus became used to the sparks from the anvil. Other dogs came in, too, but the moment the sparks began to fly they ran away in terror, but the smith’s dog would sleep in the midst of all, undisturbed. He would scarcely leave the shop, but used to stay in all night. One night the shop caught fire, and the dog perished.
A mother caribou teaches her calf to recognize danger by scent for survival.
This is an animal-story. It is about a caribou. A caribou is a kind of reindeer, and lives in Canada. One day a man was out in a stumpy pasture-field beside a woods in Canada, and he saw a mother caribou and her little calf feeding quietly down in a valley nearby. He was on a little hill some distance away, but the wind was blowing in the direction of the caribou. Presently the mother caribou raised her head, sniffed the air, and looked in the direction where the man was hidden behind a stump. She had caught the scent of a human being. That meant danger to her calf. Soon the mother caribou, leaving her calf in the valley, started in the direction of the man. He slipped from his hiding-place to another stump. On came the caribou till she reached the very stump behind which the man had first hidden. There she smelled the ground, and then a strange thing happened. She called her calf to her, had it smell the ground, too, so as to get the scent of the man. When that was done, she got behind that little caribou and butted it down the valley as fast as it could go. Why did she do that? It was to teach her calf that whenever it got that scent on the air, there was danger, and it must get away as quickly as possible. Ever after that, even before the calf knew that this scent belonged to a man, or had seen a man, it would run away from it. Your parents are constantly doing for you what that mother caribou did for her little one. When they tell you that such and such a thing is wrong, and you must not do it; when again they tell you there is danger in going to a certain place, or in chumming with a particular boy or girl, they are again doing the same thing for you. And when they punish you, as that mother caribou did her calf, it is because they know the danger far better than you, and they know that your safety depends upon keeping away from such things. Then, bye and bye, perhaps, as you grow older, you will begin to see for yourself what the danger meant, just as the little caribou might some day see a hunter for itself. And then you will no longer think your parents cruel or strict; you will be thankful that they were so wise and kind.
Many miss the infinite joy of appreciating God's spiritual works around them.
An infinite joy is lost to the world by the want of culture of the spiritual endowment. Suppose that I were to visit a cottage and to see its walls lined with the choicest pictures of Raffael, and every spare nook filled with statues of the most exquisite workmanship, and that I were to learn that neither man, woman, nor child ever cast an eye at these miracles of art, how should 1 feel their privation; how should I want to open their eyes, and to help them to comprehend and feel the loveliness and grandeur which in vain courted their notice! But every husbandman is living in sight of the works of a diviner Artist; and how much would his existence be elevated could he see the glory which shines forth in their forms, hues, proportions, and moral expression!
— WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING
A blind man perceives surroundings through a unique sense beyond the five physical senses.
Mr. W. H. Levy, who is blind, says in his book, “Blindness and the Blind,” that he can tell when he is opposite an object, and can perceive whether it is tall or short, slender or bulky. He can also determine whether it be a solitary object or a continuous fence; whether a close fence or an open one, and sometimes whether a wooden fence, a stone wall, or a hedge. None of the five senses has anything to do with this perceptive power, but the impressions are made on the skin of his face, and by it transmitted to the brain. He therefore names this unrecognized sense facial perception. The presence of a fog interferes with facial perception, and makes the impressions faint and untrustworthy; but darkness is no impediment. A noise which distracts the attention interferes with the impressions. In passing along the street he can distinguish stores from private houses, and doors from windows, if the windows consist of a number of panes, and not of a single sheet of glass. A remarkable fact, bearing on the subject of an unrecognized sense is mentioned by Mr. Levy. A naturalist extracted the eyes of several bats and covered the empty sockets with leather. In this condition the bats flew about the room, avoiding the sides and flying out of the door without touching the door-case. In flying through a sewer which made a right angle, they turned at the proper point. They flew through threads suspended from the ceiling without touching them, tho they were only far enough apart to admit the passage of the bats’ extended wings.--_Youth’s Companion._
Spiritual life has a deeper, heavenly dimension beyond the visible earthly experience.
As we drift along in a boat on the smooth surface of a river, we note many familiar appearances. Delicate winged creatures dart about, swallows flash to and fro, here and there fishes leap up, and zephyrs waft petals of flowers and seeds of plants over the placid mirror. In the shallow pool we note aquatic creatures and weeds growing among the pebbles, and thus we see the material depth. But suddenly there is a change. The bottom of the river vanishes, and there comes into view a second depth. The arched heavens are mirrored there, and we look down into measureless azure. When darkness comes the moon and stars are reflected in the depths.
It is so when we come under higher spiritual influences. These soon supersede the view of the things that are merely of the earth earthy. There is a second and heavenly depth of meaning below the whole superficies of this mundane sphere of experience.
True seeing requires a heart desire, not just a superficial wanting.
I once spent a summer day at the mountain home of a well-known literary woman and editor. She lamented the absence of birds about her house. I named a half-dozen or more I had heard in her trees within an hour--the indigo-bird, the purple finch, the yellow-bird, the veery thrush, the red-eyed vireo, the song sparrow.
“Do you mean to say you have seen or heard all these birds while sitting here on my porch?” she inquired.
“I really have,” I said.
“I do not see them or hear them,” she said, “and yet I want to very much.”
“No,” said I; “you only want to want to see and hear them.”
You must have the bird in your heart before you can find it in the bush. (Text.)--JOHN BURROUGHS, “Leaf and Tendril.”
Belief in unseen spiritual presence influences conduct and fosters purity and self-control.
The influence exerted by belief in invisible presences is illustrated by Mr. Lafcadio Hearn, who says that it is extremely difficult for a Western mind to apprehend the full meaning of ancestor-worship as a family religion, and cites as the nearest parallel the nature of the old Greek piety:
Each member of the family supposes himself or herself under perpetual ghostly surveillance. Spirit eyes are watching every act; spirit ears are listening to every word. Thoughts, too, not less than deeds, are visible to the gaze of the dead; the heart must be pure, the mind must be under control, within the presence of the spirits. Probably the influence of such beliefs, uninterruptedly exerted upon conduct during thousands of years, did much to form the charming side of Japanese character. (Text.)
When our kids were growing up, the early morning shift around our house was particularly exciting. I was getting ready for a full day, three kids were scrambling to have what they needed for school, my wife was playing maid, chef, valet, and chauffeur. In the rush, a lot of our communication was basically non-verbal. For example, one morning I was shaving and thinking through this endless list of things I had to do that day - all the Lord's work, of course. I was mulling over a sermon, radio programs, an important appointment that day, an event I was planning, and my son popped in. Now, I must have succeeded in telegraphing how much I had on my mind; he disappeared as quickly as he had appeared. Then, as I was praying about all the Lord's work I had to do that day, I remembered an important decision my son had to make that day - one that he probably needed to talk to his father about. I had just missed the Lord's work.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Right Under Your Nose.”
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from John 4:30. Jesus has just had a transforming conversation with this Samaritan woman He met at a well, and she goes back to tell her village about the Messiah she has just met. The Bible says, “They came out of the town and made their way toward Him.” The disciples, who have been in the village shopping for groceries, are just focused on trying to get Jesus to eat some lunch.
But with these unreached Samaritans streaming out of the village toward them, Jesus says, “Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest?’ I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” To Jesus' disciples, this village was just a rest and refueling stop. Apparently they were looking ahead to some great future ministry - and missing the ministry right under their noses!
Sounds like this father shaving, thinking about the ministry he had ahead of him - and missing a son who needed some ministry right there. All too often we are like I was that busy morning or the disciples that lunch time in Samaria. We miss the work of God that is right under our nose. In fact, you don't have to even leave your home to do the Lord's work. Actually, the work of God begins at home! That's one reason the qualifications for spiritual leaders in I Timothy 3 tell us that it must be someone whose relationship with their spouse and their children is healthy.
So we often fill up our lives with ministry responsibilities, only to reach other people's kids while missing our own, to bring blessing to God's house while neglecting our first responsibility - the congregation at our own house. Many husbands and wives and children and parents have been the victims of a distorted view of God's work - that you have to leave home before you start doing ministry. You know, your family may be the most important ministry that you have.
Now this doesn't mean you withdraw from every spiritual responsibility outside your home, but it does mean you take care of the Lord's work at home first. Maybe your unbelieving family member would be better reached by your staying home with them sometimes than by your going to a meeting to pray for them. Your mate, your child may need your ear, your encouragement, your counsel. And they may need it at least as much as anyone you're going to see at your meeting.
So look around your house for the needs that are there before you go charging off somewhere else to start doing the Lord's work. Sometimes the most important Lord's work you have to do is right there under your nose!
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Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"
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It wasn't that my wife and I were eavesdropping. Honest. It's just that the four well-dressed, older ladies at the restaurant table next to ours were so close we couldn't help but hear part of their conversation. One lady was recounting the beginning of her day. She said she was following her usual routine of getting up, taking care of some personal maintenance, and then turning on the TV for her morning Oprah fix - watching Oprah Winfrey's Show, that is. No Oprah. She began pushing buttons on her remote, increasingly more frustrated by her inability to find her morning TV companion. At that point, her daughter happened to call on the telephone. Mom began venting her frustration over how technology was failing her and soliciting her daughter's help. Finally she just sputtered, “Where's Oprah?” When her daughter could finally get a word in, she said, “Mom, it's Sunday! Oprah's not on - but church is!” Mom suddenly went into fast-forward mode - not with her TV, but with her getting ready for church; which she came very close to missing entirely.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “How to Miss What You Were Made For.”
Poor lady. She didn't know what day it was. So she didn't know what she was supposed to be doing. It's possible for many of us to make that same mistake - not about church, but about God Himself. It's possible for God to come your way and for you to totally miss what day it is - the day that God comes to touch your life and become more personal and more powerful to you than you ever dreamed.
It's been happening for 2,000 years, and it's happening today. There's an incident in the life of Jesus that reveals the awesome possibility of an unforgettable God-day in your life, and the awful danger of missing it with consequences that will last for all eternity. The account is in Luke 19, beginning with verse 41, our word for today from the Word of God. It says: “As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it and said, 'If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace.'“ He had just entered Jerusalem on what we know today as Palm Sunday, with multitudes welcoming Him with a royal celebration. Many of whom were, only five days later, in the same crowd that was screaming, “Crucify Him!” Now Jesus predicts disaster for them because, in His words, “you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you.”
That's a mistake God really doesn't want you to make because He really, really loves you. There comes this day in your life when Jesus goes by, offering Himself to you to be your personal Savior from your personal sin. There comes this day when He moves your heart to care about the sin in your life, to see that it will cost you heaven, and to understand that His dying on that cross was to pay the awful price for your sin.
He gives you a chance to put your trust in Him to have every sin forgiven; to trade the hell you deserve for the heaven you could never deserve. But you need to grab Him while He's close. The Bible says, “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near” (Isaiah 55:7). You may think you'll come to Jesus when you're ready. That's wrong. Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father draws Him.” (John 6:44)
You come to Jesus when He's ready - when He gets your heart ready for Him. And if you feel a tug in His direction today, He's ready now. This is your opportunity to belong to Jesus. Today is your chance. If you've never given yourself to this Man who died for you, you need to grab Him while He's close. You can do that right where you are - just by telling Him from your heart, “Jesus, my only hope with God is what You did for me on that cross when You died to pay for my junk. I'm dropping the junk to grab You with both hands. I'm Yours.”
As your life closes and your eternity begins, I pray Jesus will not have to say to you, “You did not recognize the time of God's coming to you.” If that time is now, don't miss Him.
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Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"
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Prayer opens spiritual eyes to God's grace and judgment beyond human understanding.
Elisha prayed not for help but for eye-opener. Need eyes open to God's grace (v. 17) and to God's judgment (v. 20). Christian on his knees can see more than philosopher on his tiptoes
Like insects with wide vision, we benefit from seeing all around in life and faith.
We would find it a great advantage in life if our mental apprehension was capable of including the entire horizon as the insect mentioned below is able to see in all directions.
A boy is often easily surprized by a playmate who approaches him stealthily from behind, but did you ever try the same game with a butterfly? I have, many a time. After getting cautiously so near to a butterfly at rest as to be able to distinguish between its head and its hinder extremity, I have quietly circled round it so as to approach it from behind, being at the time under the impression that it wouldn’t see me under those circumstances. But not the slightest advantage did I derive from this stratagem, for the position and construction of its eyes enabled it to see almost all ways at once.--W. FURNEAUX, “Butterflies and Moths.”
Well-balanced people perceive from many angles, like insects with multiple eyes.
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Many insects have a great number of eyes, because the orb of the eye is fixt; there is, therefore, placed over the eye a multiple lens which conducts light to the eye from every direction; so that the insect can see with a fixt eye as readily as it could have done with a movable one. As many as 1,400 eyes, or inlets of light, have been counted in the head of a drone bee. The spider has eight eyes, mounted on different parts of the head; two in front, two in the top of the head, and two on each side.
One mark of the well-balanced man is the ability to see in all directions.
When our kids were growing up, the early morning shift around our house was particularly exciting. I was getting ready for a full day, three kids were scrambling to have what they needed for school, my wife was playing maid, chef, valet, and chauffeur. In the rush, a lot of our communication was basically non-verbal. For example, one morning I was shaving and thinking through this endless list of things I had to do that day - all the Lord's work, of course. I was mulling over a sermon, radio programs, an important appointment that day, an event I was planning, and my son popped in. Now, I must have succeeded in telegraphing how much I had on my mind; he disappeared as quickly as he had appeared. Then, as I was praying about all the Lord's work I had to do that day, I remembered an important decision my son had to make that day - one that he probably needed to talk to his father about. I had just missed the Lord's work.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Right Under Your Nose.”
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from John 4:30. Jesus has just had a transforming conversation with this Samaritan woman He met at a well, and she goes back to tell her village about the Messiah she has just met. The Bible says, “They came out of the town and made their way toward Him.” The disciples, who have been in the village shopping for groceries, are just focused on trying to get Jesus to eat some lunch.
But with these unreached Samaritans streaming out of the village toward them, Jesus says, “Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest?’ I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” To Jesus' disciples, this village was just a rest and refueling stop. Apparently they were looking ahead to some great future ministry - and missing the ministry right under their noses!
Sounds like this father shaving, thinking about the ministry he had ahead of him - and missing a son who needed some ministry right there. All too often we are like I was that busy morning or the disciples that lunch time in Samaria. We miss the work of God that is right under our nose. In fact, you don't have to even leave your home to do the Lord's work. Actually, the work of God begins at home! That's one reason the qualifications for spiritual leaders in I Timothy 3 tell us that it must be someone whose relationship with their spouse and their children is healthy.
So we often fill up our lives with ministry responsibilities, only to reach other people's kids while missing our own, to bring blessing to God's house while neglecting our first responsibility - the congregation at our own house. Many husbands and wives and children and parents have been the victims of a distorted view of God's work - that you have to leave home before you start doing ministry. You know, your family may be the most important ministry that you have.
Now this doesn't mean you withdraw from every spiritual responsibility outside your home, but it does mean you take care of the Lord's work at home first. Maybe your unbelieving family member would be better reached by your staying home with them sometimes than by your going to a meeting to pray for them. Your mate, your child may need your ear, your encouragement, your counsel. And they may need it at least as much as anyone you're going to see at your meeting.
So look around your house for the needs that are there before you go charging off somewhere else to start doing the Lord's work. Sometimes the most important Lord's work you have to do is right there under your nose!
__________
Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"
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