WE WILL WIN!

 

I am a competitive person. I hate losing. I think this has been a topic of more than a few blog posts over the years. When I watch sports it is not for entertainment. I want my team to win. This is not always a positive trait, just ask Stephanie. In many ways I wish I could just sit down and watch an IU football or basketball game, or a Yankee ball game for its entertainment value. It just doesn't happen. I have that same competitive spirit in ministry. I hate to even think about the lost and those that will perish. Not to really compare myself to God, but I think he is pretty competitive too. He hates to lose even one life:

"The Lord isn't really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent, but the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment." (2 Peter 3:9-10, NLT)

God hates losing even one! Being created in his image, I guess I know where I get my desire to see everyone join the KINGDOM. 

In Isaiah 5 there is a beautiful SONG, a poem, about the LORD'S VINEYARD that speaks to me about the heart of God doing everything he can to achieve a bountiful harvest.

"Now I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard:

My beloved had a vineyard on a rich and fertile hill. He plowed the land, cleared its stones, and planted it with the best vines. In the middle he built a watchtower and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks. Then he waited  for a harvest of sweet grapes, but the grapes that grew were bitter. Now, you people of Jerusalem and Judah, you judge between me and my vineyard. What more could I have done for my vineyard that I have not already done? When I expected sweet grapes, why did ny vineyard give me bitter grapes?" (Isaiah 5:1-4, NLT)

God has done everything for us. He blessed us abundantly, created this world as a blessing for us. He gave us "his best vines," he built the best watchtower, and provided for the "state of the art winepress." We had access to all his wonderful resources, but we still abandon him, reject him, and think we know better than the Creator of the Universe. Are WE the bitter grapes of his harvest?

WHAT MORE CAN I DO?

Like the POEM, my EXPECTATIONS are a HARVEST of SWEET GRAPES! I expect this ministry to BEAR FRUIT. I will give everything I have to the LORD, I will serve with my whole life, so that SOME may JOIN HIS KINGDOM. My question is WHAT MORE CAN I DO? I am never satisfied that the work is done. The end goal of ministry is not "butts" in the seats. It is not about beautiful buildings, it is not about budgets, or well crafted sermons. ALL of those things are USELESS unless the KINGDOM expands. That is my competitive nature. I want nothing but SWEET GRAPES and an abundance of that harvest. 

Lord, please use me for YOUR KINGDOM. Until my dying breath I will give you all that I have so that SOME might come to know you. Take MY LIFE as an offering to be placed upon YOUR ALTAR. VICTORY is only through a life saved. please use me so that others my come to faith in you, repenting of their sins, and realizing YOUR SACRIFICE on the CROSS. THAT is my ONLY GOAL, the purpose of my life! Thank you Lord for the wonderful opportunity to serve in your mission that ALL will live with you in paradise. WE WILL WIN because of YOUR POWER AND MIGHT! Amen!