Monday, August 3, 2009

Where do you put a light?



John 4:35-38 "35I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. 38I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."


Written in 2001


I've not had the opportunity to watch a lot of kids grow and develop on a daily basis, just the two God has blessed me with. We have a ten-year-old son and a three-year-old daughter and they are as different as night and day. Steven is a lot like me, his attention span is about as long as a Jamaican bobsled team win streak. Brittany, on the other hand, is the most focused three-year-old I know. If something has her attention, it's practically impossible to get her to notice anything else. Barney himself could walk in the room and she wouldn't notice.


Have you ever seen people like that before? People that are that focused can be a great asset, providing they are focused on the right thing. Several years ago, I was listening to a pastor preach and he related the following conversation he had with one of the member of the church. It went something like this;

"Pastor John, I need you to pray for me"

"How can I pray for you?"

"Its about my job. I'm really having some intense struggles there"

"Really, what are you struggling with?"

"Well, you see, I'm the only one who's a Christian there."

"Mary, where do you put a light?"

"You don't understand Pastor, It's really getting me down. It's like I'm all alone!"

"Mary, where do you put a light?"

"Pastor, I'd just like you to pray that I can find another job that has more Christians, or that He would bring more believers to my current job."

"Mary, where do you put a light?"

"What do you mean? I'm just asking you to pray for me!"

"Mary, where do you put a light!"

Finally, a very frustrated Mary replied,

"Well, you put a light where ever it's dark."

"Exactly, could it be that God has specifically put you there to be a light in a place that's very dark?"


Suddenly, the lights when on in Mary's mind and she replied,"I never thought of it that way!"Over the next two years, Mary had the opportunity to see ten of her co-workers pray to receive Christ.


You know, there are times we can be so focused on the minute details of our lives, our own little problems, or even our own big problems, that we miss the incredible harvest God has placed before us. That was the case with Mary. She was so focused on the darkness before her, that she completely forgot that she was a very powerful light, already plugged into the ultimate power-source, Jesus Christ. In a very real sense, the Pastor said, "I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest."


A few months ago we bought our son Steven a new reading light for his bed. It’s really cool. You can bend and contort the neck any direction you want. It all depends on where you want the light to go. In many ways, we are like Steven's reading light. There are a whole host of different directions we can shine our light. We are already plugged into the most incredible power-source available, but God doesn't dictate for us where we shine that light. That choice he leaves up to us. We can either focus our light on ourselves, or we can focus the light on the field ripe before us. Can I ask you a question? Can you see what God has laid out before you today? If your anything like me, it's very easy to focus so much on the day to day details of your life that you miss a field ripe for the harvest. Look around today. Could it be that God has put you in a specific place to be a light for Him and reap an incredible harvest? "I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest."


One light to another,


Jim Canady

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