Today’s Readings: Psalm 83; Isaiah 63:1-5; John 5:1-15; Revelation 2:18-29; Psalm 62
As someone who grew up in a small town whose population was less than 2,000 at the time I lived there, I learned a saying that has stayed with me my entire life: “You’re either part of the problem or part of the solution”. The saying made sense because within the context of small town life, you didn’t have a lot of resources at your disposal to have things fixed for you. You either rolled up your sleeves and got to work fixing the problem yourself, or you sat back and allowed the problem to continue due to your complacency. I may have moved out of that small town when I turned 18, but that principle has guided my life ever since. When I moved to larger cities, I realized that principle wasn’t very popular. Most folks much preferred sitting back and complaining about things over taking the time to actually get involved and do something. You can see a little of this tendency evident in today’s reading from Isaiah. In the passage, the prophet starts by noting, “I’ve been treading the winepress alone. No one was there to help me … I looked for someone to help – no one” (Isaiah 63:3 & 5 from The Message). So what did the prophet do when he realized he was in it alone – at least from a human perspective? Did he give up and simply grow more bitter toward those who refused to fix his problems for him? No. He went ahead and did it himself. (For the sake of time, I’ll conveniently choose to ignore that he was motivated to do so by the fact that he was “fed and fueled by rage.” That will be fodder for another day’s entry.) Anyway… perhaps there is an area in your life where you have been sitting on the sidelines – hoping for change and yet unwilling to invest the time and/or energy to bring about that change. If you have such an area, I would encourage you to take some of the energy you spent complaining and invest it in actually trying to effect such change. With God’s strength and support behind you, you’ll be thrilled to discover that you’re no longer part of the problem – you’re now a part of the solution! Til next time…
As someone who grew up in a small town whose population was less than 2,000 at the time I lived there, I learned a saying that has stayed with me my entire life: “You’re either part of the problem or part of the solution”. The saying made sense because within the context of small town life, you didn’t have a lot of resources at your disposal to have things fixed for you. You either rolled up your sleeves and got to work fixing the problem yourself, or you sat back and allowed the problem to continue due to your complacency. I may have moved out of that small town when I turned 18, but that principle has guided my life ever since. When I moved to larger cities, I realized that principle wasn’t very popular. Most folks much preferred sitting back and complaining about things over taking the time to actually get involved and do something. You can see a little of this tendency evident in today’s reading from Isaiah. In the passage, the prophet starts by noting, “I’ve been treading the winepress alone. No one was there to help me … I looked for someone to help – no one” (Isaiah 63:3 & 5 from The Message). So what did the prophet do when he realized he was in it alone – at least from a human perspective? Did he give up and simply grow more bitter toward those who refused to fix his problems for him? No. He went ahead and did it himself. (For the sake of time, I’ll conveniently choose to ignore that he was motivated to do so by the fact that he was “fed and fueled by rage.” That will be fodder for another day’s entry.) Anyway… perhaps there is an area in your life where you have been sitting on the sidelines – hoping for change and yet unwilling to invest the time and/or energy to bring about that change. If you have such an area, I would encourage you to take some of the energy you spent complaining and invest it in actually trying to effect such change. With God’s strength and support behind you, you’ll be thrilled to discover that you’re no longer part of the problem – you’re now a part of the solution! Til next time…
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