marriage – View From My Shoes

Passionately Share Your Faith

I love sharing my food and allowing others to enjoy. Why do we not share Jesus with the same passion?

When you get your food at a restaurant, do you sometimes want everyone at the table to try it? I know, some people like to share food more than others. Scott and I share bites almost every time we eat out somewhere new. I find myself saying, “You have to try this.” Scott of course will do the same. It isn’t because we don’t want to eat what we ordered. It is because the food is amazing, and we want each other to taste it and enjoy.

Shouldn’t we feel the same about our experience with Jesus. Most of you reading this blog, have experienced what it is like to be with Jesus. You have experienced what it is like to feel His peace in the midst of a crisis. You know what it is like to see Him miraculously meet your financial need. You remember a time when He made the impossible happen. If we know and have experienced something this wonderful, why do we not passionately share it with others? For me, I personally want my friends to know and understand how peaceful it is trusting that God has a plan for my life. I want them to know that they can rest with Him. We don’t have to figure this world out on our own.

In John chapter four, Jesus meets up with a woman at a well. After their conversation she goes running back to town telling everyone about what she just experienced. She isn’t keeping this life changing event to herself. She is telling everyone she knows. Verse 39 states, “Many of the Samaritans from the town believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony.”

If you know Jesus, you have something to share and tell others. You should be actively looking for ways to tell others about what you have. Make a list of times God has been there for you. Write down what He did that others need to know. Then like the woman at the well, tell anyone you can when God gives you the opportunity to do so.

I do want to point out one major difference between sharing food and sharing Jesus. When sharing your food, there is a limited supply. By sharing with others at the table, you give up what would be yours. This isn’t the case with Jesus. Telling others about Jesus and sharing your faith, does not take away anything from you. Jesus’ love, forgiveness, grace… is unlimited. Share it!

God is our protector

Like our phones, we have a protector. God is always there to keep us safe.

Recently I had to buy a new phone. I’m not the techie type of phone person who buys a phone every time a new version comes out. I hold on to mine as long as I can before investing in a new one. While I don’t often buy a new phone, I do like a cute case and change them often. So, as they were transferring everything over to my new phone, I was shopping for a cute case. There were no cases in the AT&T store that I was even willing to carry until I could get some ordered, so I headed to Target with my new phone. I was a nervous wreck; my phone felt very vulnerable as I walked through Target without it in a case. It’s funny how much security a phone case offers. I drop my phone all of the time without worry, but I knew I could not drop it now because it was unprotected.

I can think of so many times in my life I felt vulnerable, unprotected, all alone, or even abandoned. You may feel this way right now. You have a bill you cannot pay, or a problem bigger than you can fix. Your latest doctor visit didn’t go as planned. It feels someone at work is out to get you. I don’t know what problem you might be facing, but you are not facing it without the protection that God offers us.

In Exodus 14:14 the Israelites see the Egyptian army closing in on them. They had to feel unprotected, vulnerable. However, Moses told them to stand still. God was their protector and would fight for them. All they had to do was stand and watch. We are also told in Psalms 91:14, “The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name. When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them. I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.”

Think about how safe and comfortable you are throwing your phone around when it has a cover on it. We should feel the same sense of safety knowing we are covered by the Blood of Jesus. We are safe. We are protected.

Entangling Vines

Scott and I went on a hike over spring break and about half-way through our hike, we came upon a tree with a large vine growing around it. The vine had been wrapped around the tree for so long that the tree was growing around and over the top of the vine. I couldn’t get its deformed image out of my mind the rest of the hike.

Now, I understand that the tree itself doesn’t have the ability to get rid of the vine, but what bothered me the most was the way the tree appeared to have become very comfortable even adapted to the entanglement of the vine around it. The tree just kept going on with its life which for a tree means it just kept growing up and out. However, because of the vine, it grew in a different shape than designed.

I believe as Christians, we often do the same thing. There are sins or hindrances in our lives that instead of removing them, we just become very comfortable with them. We adapt and move on with the choking vine preventing us from normal growth or the growth God has planned for us. I know one of mine is the entangling vine of busyness. One night last week I had a cancelation, so after dinner was fixed and put away, I found myself with an unscheduled hour and half. I embarrassingly really didn’t know what to do with this free time. In Ecclesiastes 4:4-8 we are told that it is a fool who toils to please others. Now, in this story, Solomon warns that we shouldn’t just fold our hands and do nothing, but one handful of quietness is better than two handfuls of working all the time just to gain what others have.

Right after the evening with some unexpected free time, I was reading the book Emotionally Healthy Spiritually. The last few chapters of this book focuses on spending quiet time in God’s presence and keeping the Sabbath. When you are as entwined with busyness, as I have allowed myself to be, you cannot keep the commandments of the Sabbath, and your life begins to look like the tree we spotted on our hike. God has so much more for us when we live without vines in our life.

Reflecting on this, I realize I also struggle with always wanting more. Not always new things, but also more work. As soon as I get one job around the house finished, I find another one. If I can get this done, the yard will look better. If I paint that wall, that room will be complete. “If only” is a vine that chokes and twists around us like none other. Hebrews 13:5 speaks to this. “Let your conduct be without covetousness be content with such things as you have.” Always wanting more can be another choking vine.

Enough about all the vines I have in my life. What vines are twisted around you in your life? Vines we just live with every day. Vines we just work around because we have become very comfortable with them. Vines we don’t even recognize as holding us back from what God has intended for us. I pray that you find your vines and prune them from your life, so you do not become misshapen as the tree in this picture, but can grow into the beautiful tree you were created to be.