Too High a Price

Two old prospectors wandered the desert for many years, searching for a silver mine. They had spent a long time in the desert, and their attitude toward matters of life and death was rather casual. That changed one afternoon when one of the prospectors disturbed a rattlesnake. He would not show any fear in the presence of his friend, so he gallantly said he could kiss the rattler before the snake could strike. He bent forward to plant his lips on the snake and was promptly bitten. The “kiss” had been successful! The snake’s fangs struck both his upper and lower lips.

The prospector panicked and sent his friend to the nearest town to get a doctor. The other prospector found the doctor, but he could not accompany the prospector back into the desert. He told him he could save his friend’s life by using his own lips to suck the poison out of the wounds. As the friend rode back, he thought about what he would have to do to save his friend’s life. When he finally arrived back at his friend’s side, the natural question was, “What did the doc say?” The old prospector took off his hat and somberly answered, “He said you’re gonna die!”

What a corny story! But it has a point: Are there times when we consider “the price of healing” to be too high? We are God’s representatives in the world. We are, in the words of a missionary doctor, God’s hands to heal. You may not be a physician, but you are God’s messenger of healing to a world that has been poisoned and is dying. And the great physician still makes house calls!  We  are “gonna die” and we Christians need to move out of “Our Comfort Zone” – and introduce people to the Divine Physician, Jesus.  How?  Not by kissing a rattle snake – not by staying in the penalty box like lots of professional Hockey Stars.  We can’t score point for Our Lord Jesus in “Our Comfort Zone.”

I read somewhere in time past that Robert E. Lee, while visiting his mother in Virginia; a mother brought her baby to him to be blessed.  He took the child in his arms and looked at it, and then at the mother and, slowly said:  “Teach him that he must deny himself.”

 “…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…” – Hebrews 12:1b-2a

Faith is like a muscle which grows stronger and stronger with use, rather than rubber, which weakens when it is stretched.  Stretch a lot of American “Christians” and they break. Our marriages are breaking, our emotions are breaking, and our commitments are breaking. Why? Could the reason be because we come to our churches and sit around like spiritual couch potatoes – some of us even “church surfing” from one place to another – but in reality, many Christians never do anything with what they know? We march into our churches and demand, “Feed me!” But we never exercise our faith! The world is starving for answers all around us but we leave our Christianity at the church door. If you want to get and stay hungry for God, you’ve got to take your faith out of church on Sunday and give it some exercise during the week! It’s hard to stay hungry for God when you don’t ever attempt anything that makes you need Him. Thanks Bro. Bob  for the heart steering message  last Sunday (Aug. 14) . Beloved, obligate yourself – do it today.

><))):>  In "HIS" Service  

 Bro. Roy