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Standing In One Place Too Long

by Jerry Ousley  
1/31/2009 / Christian Living

It was a very nice sun-shiny afternoon perfect for a ball game. A bunch of friends and I headed to the ball field for a good old fashioned game of softball. I've never been that good at the game but I used to love to play it. I mean, how much better can it get being with a good group of guys out on a field in a little game of competition?

I was playing in the outfield which is where I usually played since I wasn't that good of a catch. Anyway, I guess I had drifted off into a nice relaxing daydream when all of a sudden I heard someone shout, "Heads up Ousley! It's coming your way!" It startled me. Not that many balls ever came my way and to be honest about it I was glad. Shaking my head for a moment in order to slip out of the daydream and back into reality I said something like, "Huh?" That fraction of a second was all that was needed. Had I been paying attention and watching the ball I might have been able to raise my mitt and make a spectacular catch without even running around trying to figure out if I was under the ball or not. But I didn't. Instead about half a second after I had asked, "Huh" I felt a sharp thud on my head. I'm not sure who named the softball but let me tell you that it isn't true to its name when it comes out of the sky and thuds on your head it isn't soft at all. That ball bounced off my head and hit the ground. With stars in my eyes I managed to pick up the ball and throw it and hoped I'd thrown it in the right direction. It didn't really matter because right about then I was struggling really hard to stand up. I guess I had stood in the same place too long.

Ephesians 6:13 tells us that after we've done everything in our power, to stand. It's talking about standing firm on the truth of God. There's nothing wrong in standing still in a case like that. But all too often Christians arrive at a place in their experience with the Lord where they seem to simply stop. While we need to stand still allowing the Lord to do His work in our lives we should never be satisfied to stand still in our Christian experience.

In Matthew 8 Jesus told the story of the sower. In Biblical times they planted seed by walking along with a big bag on their shoulders, grabbing a handful of seed and scattering it across the field. In this process some seed fell on stony ground and could not take root. Some fell on the path where the ground was hard and beaten down and the birds swooped down and ate it. Some seed fell in the weeds where it began to grow but soon the weeds and thorns choked it out. But some fell on good ground, took root and grew to produce an abundant crop. Later in that chapter Jesus explained the meaning of the story.

If we are like the seed that falls on the path, in the weeds or on stony ground we may do well for a while but soon we've been in the wrong place too long and we will cease to grow. We've got to make sure we let the Word of God be planted in the good soil of our hearts so that it will not only thrive and begin growing but never stop growing. I don't believe that we ever graduate from God's school just because we've been a Christian for a number of years. We never stop learning and growing in Jesus Christ.

I've often thought about the River Jordan. It originates from the mountains in the northern part of Israel. As it flows it meets other streams and soon turns into a large river with a bountiful crop of plant life and animal life along its banks. It follows through the Sea of Galilee abounding with fish and life. It flows out of the Sea of Galilee still going south. But in the southern part of Israel it empties out into the Dead Sea also called the Salt Sea. That is one of the lowest points on the earth. It goes no farther. The Dead Sea has very little life in it and is so salty that you can just lay down in it and float. It has many mineral deposits but very little life. That's because the water has stopped moving. It is a good example of our experience with Christ. As long as our relationship with the Lord keeps moving we also yield life all around us. Our witness is strong drawing men and women to the Gospel. But when we stop we too begin to stagnate. Don't stand in one place too long and don't let your experience with Jesus Christ stop in a Dead Sea. Instead keep on moving, growing, and going in the Lord and your life will be an abundant life - I guarantee it.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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