Practice Well

This Sunday I had the honor of speaking to our congregation at CornerStone.  It is always exciting to share the fire inside my heart I have for God with others.  This Sunday I shared about a personal experience I had on a trip I just had to my fathers house in Washington State. 

I had taken the trip to spend time with my father and grandfather who is 92 years old and doesn't have much time left with us.  I try to get up there as often as possible but with not having funding over the past year it has been hard.  My father had offered to bless me by paying for a ticket so I could come.  So I found a great deal and booked my flight.  I notified my sister who lives up there to give her the good news and she was excited to see me as well. 

About a week after letting her know I was coming I received a phone call from her.  She said she wanted to ask me a question.  Now as a brother and sister go we are pretty close yet we do have our times of rivalry and this statement brought me on guard.  She then proceeded to tell me that my father was not going to ask me since he would feel bad.  So she came out with asking if I would allow my father to have a few days respite from my grandfather, who has Parkinsons disease.  I knew what she was asking and I was a bit frightened by images of changing adult diapers and cleaning dentures.  I proceeded to give her the standard pastor response of "Let me pray about it".  I already knew the answer I needed to give but for an instant my flesh cried out in my mind.

It said, "No way this is supposed to be a vacation not a servant retreat."  I then proceeded to run every excuse I could think of through my brain.  But of course the love of our Father in heaven rained true and I knew what I had to do.  I started to pray, not for excuses but a solid heart of service.  I knew I needed to bless my father and grandfather with this gift I could give.  I wanted to go there and help out as needed.  I had told my father that the trip was to help him in the first place and here I was trying to be selfish.  So I prayed and asked God to change my heart.  To work His love all through my soul. 

Of course I went and let my father have the days he needed to catch up on some needed repairs at our family cabin. Those three days are etched into my heart forever.  I learned that our hearts matter to God.  2 Chronicles 25:2 sums up what God is looking for in us. 

2 Chronicles 25:2 (New Living Translation)

² Amaziah did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, but not wholeheartedly.

God wants our whole hearts.  I used this verse Sunday to drive home a this point.  God wants us in the game.  If you were to play a sport you would practice for the games.  You wouldn't just show up.  But that is what a lot of us do, who say they are Christians.  We some times just show up on Sundays.  Monday through Saturday our hearts are not God's.  With God the practice is more important than the Game itself.  He is looking for us to go all in.  Later in 2 Chronicles Amaziah gets asassinated.  God takes our hearts very seriously.  I challenged our congregation to pray God will help them change their hearts like I did when I was asked to help out by my sister.  God is expecting you to do the same thing.  Get in the game.  You don't know who or what God has in store for you.

It's about time we start practicing for game day and show up ready to play.

God Bless 
 

New Living Translation (NLT)Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers.