Our Blog

Grow & Go - January 2025

Let Us Work While It Is Day

I recently led the annual Missions Study during the International Mission Board (IMB) Week Of Prayer at the monthly luncheon here at Oakhill Baptist Church. Afterwards, numerous people came up to me describing some of the interesting things they had learned about the Central Asian peoples and their beliefs from the study. One of the most interesting and profound things that were shared with me that had resonated with one of the hearers was not just about the sheer vastness of lost people that make up the Central Asian peoples or, the amount of people groups that inhabit these eleven countries. No, it was a surprisingly simple observation that was made concerning a 1-minute video about the Central Asian people. Within this video was a glimpse of a man, in a city some 6,000+ miles away just taking out a trash can. It was the same kind of old dirty plastic garbage can that we would have here and haul our garbage to the curb in. It was profound because he was doing the same routine that we probably do on the same day, every week, of every year. I am not certain how this affected the person who shared this with me, but it caused me to reflect simply on his humanity, how short our lives really are, and that while we have breath it matters that we do things from an eternal perspective.

The man we saw in this short 1-minute clip is made in the image of God (Gen 1:26-28), with infinite value, and infinite worth. He was doing his normal routine of things he likely does every week at the same time. And just like us, he probably has the same sinful urges, desires, wants, needs, and issues that he must face every day. What is striking about this, however, is unlike us, he probably has never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ where only 0.01% of the Muslim population who live in this part of the world are Christians. And likely, because he lives in a Muslim country that is closed off to the gospel of Jesus Christ, he is trying to work for his salvation by following the 5-pillars of Islam. Seeing this man in the video was just a simple reminder that in the ordinary, everyday stuff of life, the gospel is a reality and that all people have to respond to it.

There is not a person who lives on this earth who has breath that does not have a God- given purpose. Just like the man in the video, each of us has dreams and aspirations, things we want out of life. Jesus however reminds us in John 9:4 that “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.” There will come a time when we can work no more. A time when we will not have to toil and drag the dirty old trash can out to the curb again. Each of us must realize that the goals we have in this life are fleeting and perishing with us and the eternal is where we need to focus. And more importantly, there will be a time when Christ returns, and we will no longer be able to work to share the gospel.

This John 9 passage is about a man who had lived his entire life blind and in darkness. Then Christ entered the fold bringing both the man’s physical sight and the light of a new life, no longer to be separated from God by his sin. This “work, while it is day” (v. 4), is a reminder to us as we read that we need not waste the time we have remaining while there is still “light”. Why? Because Christ, “The Light” will return and people such as the man in the video and the lost people we know will no longer have time to respond to the gospel. The reality is, that the gospel is urgent because we as Christ’s followers only have the appointed time that God has ordained for each of us to share it. Let us make it a point this week to share the gospel with someone. I would love to hear about it! 

Grow & Go - December 2024

Lord, Help Us Find Rest!

In everything we do, we can always enhance the process and make it better. My encouragement is to consider how we can improve the frequency with which we practice spiritual disciplines and the quality of time we spend in relationships with our loved ones. In my own life, when I strive to do the first one well, the second seems to fall into place.

There was a time in my life before being transformed by the gospel when much of my spare time was given to promote myself and a small business. During that time, most of the energy I had remaining to spend with loved ones seemed to fade. What they received from me was the leftovers. They did not get the refreshed, charged-up, and rested version. They received the tired, inattentive, and distracted version. Is this you? Do you need to consider carving out time for more rest, for your family, and for the glory of God?

We can always use the reminder from Jesus himself, fully man, fully God, that we need to find rest. His words tell us “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt 11:28). Notice that Jesus’s words do not say when we need rest as we labor and toil in this lost and dying world to turn inward to ourselves. No, he says “Come to me”. I am tempted, we are tempted, if not careful, to rely on ourselves in the busy seasons of life. When we give others the shell or what’s remaining of our normal selves we are giving them our second best. One of the best ways that I find comfort is by resting in and practicing the spiritual disciplines during those seasons. Reading the Scriptures, spending time in prayer and personal worship, evangelism, serving, and finding quiet time can recharge us when we are overwhelmed by the everyday things of this life. When we come to the Lord and find rest in him, the time our families receive from us will likely be quality time.

Whether you are a husband, wife, child, grandma, or grandpa, we need the imperative words of Jesus to remind us where the source of our energy is found. Jon Bloom said in his article To All Who Need Jesus: How Jesus Welcomes the Weary in Desiring God that, “Jesus calls us to come to him, a command loaded with burden-lifting grace and mercy”. Remembering the grace and mercy that each of us has received, which we did not deserve, should be reflected in the way we spend time with the Lord and with others. I have found in my own life that when I do those things such as – praying, reading the Scriptures, and sharing my faith, I look more to the interest of others. When I spend time taking care of my own spiritual needs first, the quality of what others receive from me is much more God-glorifying.

Don Whitney’s book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life has been very helpful to me in my own sanctification and I encourage you to read it.