Stale

Reading Luke chapter 12 this morning and in verse 35 Jesus says, 

"Be ready for service and have your lamps lit.  You must be like people waiting for their master to return...."

One of the things that sets into our lives subconsciously at times we are not even aware of is stagnation.  The word stagnation literally means, "...having stopped, as by ceasing to run or flow, a foulness or staleness, a failure to develop, progress, or advance..."

To be "stagnant" is to be in a place of danger and not even know it, we have no direction and no purpose.  Life has become stale and we are not sure why.  It is because we have become stagnant.  The Dead Sea is dead because it has no outlet.  If you have ever been to a swamp or have encountered non-flowing water that has sat there for a long period of time I would say do not try to drink it.  When the flow of our lives stops, death begins to set in.  Maybe not immediate physical death but death of our dreams and passions, those things that God placed inside of us that make us who we are.  We need to be persistent and intentional in keeping from being stagnant.  Proverbs 11:25 says, "He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed."   

If we are not feeling refreshed it is because we are not refreshing others.  We are consuming everything and giving nothing.  Just like it is not healthy to eat for three months and never go to the bathroom.  If that were to happen our bodies would become toxic and we would die. There has to be flow in our lives in order for there to be true life.  If you are feeling dead, give something.

In Zephaniah 1:12 God warns Israel by saying, "...I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish men who are stagnant of spirit..."  (NASB)

God loves people.  He reaches people through people (2 Corinthians 5:18).  And just as God said He would search Israel I know that His Spirit even now and in this day is searching "the church".  His people. It is important to keep the big picture in mind.  The fact that this earth is ALL about a single story.  A God who wanted to relate and be with the people He created and when that relationship was broken he made a way for it to be made right again.  But God is reconciling the world to Himself through Christ and through our effort as we put Him first in our lives and reach others for Him.  What all of us need from time to time is to remember that there will be an end to this story.  There is a day, if we do not give up, Jesus Himself will commend us for being relentless in our service towards each other, in our love and in our submission to a greater agenda.  His agenda.  What is His agenda?  To know us intimately, to be our all in all, to free us from addictions and to bring a freedom and a hope into our lives to a degree that we can barely contain ourselves!  To save us from our selfishness.

We are most fulfilled when we are functioning the way God has created us.  He created us to love, to serve and to be submitted to him and to each other.  Let's engage the day we are living in, which is today and make a decision not to allow ourselves to become stagnant in life.  To not lose our passion to pursue Him or our passion to serve each other and definitely not lose our devotion to the Great Commission!  Which is to preach Jesus and see the world come to know Him as Savior and Lord.  Let's commit to join the story of giving, after all God gave first. John 3:16.

Joel