December 01, 2010

Lame Duck Session

The current political talk is all about the lame duck session and whether or not anything will be accomplished in Congress. Actually we believers can fall into the same scenario as we get older. We get burned out in ministry and just want to bide our time until our committee term expires. Or our participation in meetings slacks off because we know new faces will soon be taking over. Maybe we’re set in our ways and don’t want to compromise and cooperate with a new direction. Certainly there are some saints who serve and minister for the Kingdom up to the point of death - and then there are some who are lame ducks.

1 comment:

Steve Corey said...

Gail;

-----“A bruised reed He will not break, and a dimly burning wick He will not quench; He will faithfully bring forth justice.” (Isa 42:3) Life in this world is a struggle. Even in a land so blessed with comforts as America, there are still circumstances which wear down one’s stamina. In spite of the Word‘s exhortation to, “Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord,” (Rom 12:11), many of us go through spells where down is easier than up, and the heart goes there, following the path of least resistance. To us, while in these spells, I can imagine the Lord saying, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matt 9:12-13) I believe in Christ’s bedside manners. “Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you; therefore He exalts Himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for Him. (Isa 30:18)
-----Yet, as a good physician, He does not just sit by the bed and do nothing. I believe His Spirit, combined with ours makes subtle contact with the other side of our minds. I view the heart and mind as an area of consciousness sandwiched between two dimensions and interacting with each. Since we have been given five senses and a functional body for interacting with the physical dimension, we perceive that side of the sandwich the most, maybe so much that we hardly at all perceive the interaction with the spiritual dimension on the other side. But it is in there that we have been made alive. And like goodness filtering through the cracks of a backdoor, the effects of that new life and the adjoining of His Spirit with ours sets a mood of comfort in our inner being. That mood effects thoughts and feelings. And while the down to which our minds have trickled may not allow these effects to raise up the body for physical services, the pressure of the down upon the mood of the Spirit can form gems of expression like coal is pressed into diamond. No matter how low we seem to sink from time to time, Jesus is so perfect that He yet finds something good and useful in our condition.
-----The beauty of His body is in its functionality through all who together make it by each functioning only in the little ability he has. No one in it can do all things; no one can do nothing. Even Terry Schaivo, unable to move any more than her eyes or do any more than swallow jello from a spoon, generated love in those who cared for her, and her condition exercised their compassions. “We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves; let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to edify him.” (Rom 15:1-2) For every weakness in one, there is a strength in another. When the two come together, each generates service in his own way.

Love you all,
Steve Corey