July 18, 2008
Hibernation
I was responding to an email on my computer when the screen went black for a moment and then it informed me it was preparing to hibernate. I wasn’t ready for the thing to take a nap, so I nudged it from its slumber and completed my reply. It wasn’t more than 10 minutes later that once again the computer told me it was preparing to hibernate. I think I’ve met some believers who share a striking resemblance to my computer. Over the years many talented, mature and servant qualified believers have joined my church, but their membership comes with the same caveat. Tired and burned out from their previous ministries, they just want to hibernate. So the question is, how long can one self-hibernate before you begin to lose the gifts that God has given you?
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Gail;
-----Paul wrote us to never flag in zeal. The writer of Hebrews tells us to spur one another on to good works. Peter tells us to employ our gifts for one another as good stewards. It is clear that we are to stay on our feet and continually push forward, forgetting what lies behind, not counting our losses as anything to regret. After all, God gave us those gifts.
-----But He also assigned to each of us a certain measure of faith. (Rom 12:3). Many have faith to do much for the Lord at some time in their lives, then not much later. Many do not do much at some time, then do much later. Many weave in and out of the production line, while many others are continually hands-on and efficient. And although some are hardly ever there, what is of paramount importance is that it is the Lord Who has assigned a measure of faith.
-----Yet, the Word does not tell us to step away from those of weak faith. It tells us not to bother them about their faith, but to please them for their good and edification, and to do good to them. We are to respectfully encourage them and kindly spur them on to good works. Yes, we are even to comfort them and gently convince them of sins that are actual sins. For we are brothers alongside them. At some time in our lives, we have been them, and may even be them again.
-----Therefore, we are to be humble enough to recognize when our brother does the same for us, for inevitably, God has measured to some greater faith than to us. And so, we are all bound together into a loving body, walking together through a treacherous world foreign to all principles of love and goodwill. It would just as soon trap us by our own desires and suck the life out of us. Although we all have the world’s soda-straw stuck into us, some more than others, and some less, the point is not as much about who isn’t pulling hard enough; it is more about who needs a hand in this march through the desert to His home of safety.
Love,
Steve Corey
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