Today's Devotional

August 2, 2005

Subject:  Emphasis On Go

Matthew 22:9 - "Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage."

Sometimes it is quite necessary for God to move us out into the world to proclaim His message.  I thought about that on yesterday as we distributed free bar b que along the main road in Prairie View, Texas.  The giveaway was scheduled to happen the day before, but there was little to no traffic on Sunday, although we did get a few opportunities to give out free chicken, hot dogs and some side dishes.  However on yesterday, it was completely different.  With almost 50 bar b que chickens to give away, they were gone in an hour.  The flow was steady and many simply wanted to pay for it.  While the traffic flow definitely made the difference, God made clear that there is another point that we should understand when it comes to ministry.

The first day that we tried to give away the bar b que, we did it off of the main road in a shaded area because it was very hot.  Although we had signs up, many didn't see us in the back and few people stopped by to take advantage of the delicious and free food.  Yesterday we did something else in addition to moving right onto the main thoroughfare, we set up a bar b que pit as a prop so that people could see us cooking and smell the smoke.  We had to sacrifice a few pieces of chicken, which we did by throwing them onto the pit in the middle of the fire to get maximum smoke effect and one driver said he turned around because he smelled it.  Others said they simply saw us and were on their way to get something else, but decided to stop by for the "free stuff."  

What's the point?  We can't sit back off of the main road of life in the shade, though comfortable to us, and expect that people are always going to come to us in our comfortable area to receive the free gift that God has to offer.  That's why Christ said in the parable from the passage above to "Go..."  We need to get out of our comfort zones and into the world so that they can see our smoke and smell what's cooking.  However, we must ensure that our lives are lives of sacrifice, because if they aren't, we'll have nothing to burn and there will be no smoke or aroma to make others stop by.

Carlen