Sometimes God shakes you and wakes you up. These are some of those verses and this is one of those days.
We continue to ask God for wisdom to see Him and to follow Him. Some of the roads we walk in life are well marked while others you have to choose carefully and even investigate. It is along many of those roads that God refines us, defines us and uses us. Have you been in a place where you encountered injustice or someone in trouble? Think about it this way:
Proverbs 24:10-12 (The Message) --- If you fall to pieces in a crisis, there wasn't much to you in the first place. Rescue the perishing; don't hesitate to step in and help. If you say, "Hey, that's none of my business," will that get you off the hook? Someone is watching you closely, you know— Someone not impressed with weak excuses.
The crisis, the trouble filling situation, the opportunities ... all of those and our responses to them define who we are. That is tough. But it is reality. Look back over those times. What do they say about you?
Paul said this about his friend Timothy:
Philippians 2:21-23 (The Message) --- ... I have no one quite like Timothy. He is loyal, and genuinely concerned for you. Most people around here are looking out for themselves, with little concern for the things of Jesus. But you know yourselves that Timothy's the real thing. He's been a devoted son to me as together we've delivered the Message...
"Loyal and genuinely concerned for you" characterized Timothy and also ought to characterize us. What excites me most about the people I get to work with is to see their real hearts and desires. Those situations open up our lives. I mean the trouble and crisis and opportunities. Watch them. Let God use them. And seek to be genuinely concerned for others.
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