Lessons are all around us, in every season. My wife gets happier as the days grow longer and spring is almost here. I recently moved a water hose and yes, it had kinks in it. Ever squeeze the trigger on your spray nozzle and watch the water just drip out? Why? There was a kink in the hose. Spring, kinks, and missions share some links!
Jesus’ high priestly prayer is recorded in John 17. You may remember His disciples slept while He prayed. He closed His prayer:
I made Your name known to them and will make it known, so the love You have loved Me with may be in them and I may be in them, (John 17:26, emphasis added).
Get The Kinks Out
Christ’s love for us is cause for celebration. But we miss the full importance of it if we only see ourselves as recipients. God’s love is not meant to terminate in you or me. The same giving, self-sacrificing love God exhibited in Christ’s death on the cross is supposed to be evident in our actions and words. As my garden hose will soon be used to shower water on garden sprouts, we are to shower God’s love on those around us obchod. The problem is, we have ‘kinks in the hose.’
If I squeeze my sprayer and get nothing, I check to see
if the water is on. Then I look for the kinks. If others are not being showered with God’s love, the problem isn’t that God does not love because He is love. The problem isn’t that Christ has not demonstrated His love for us because He did that on the cross, (see Roman 5:8). If people around us are not showered with God’s love, the problem has got to be the ‘hose.’ That’s you and me.
None of us can possibly identify all the kinks because our hearts are deceitful and we cannot fully know them. However, the Holy Spirit can identify the kinks and help us deal with them. Please ask God to show you your ‘kinks.’ Ask Him to take any ‘kinks’ out of our mission teams as they prepare to for mission. EquipUs has teams on mission in March, April, May and June. Other EquipUs teams are also preparing. We need ‘kink free hoses’ in order to fully love God and love people.
Soli Deo Gloria!
I dare you: Remember this post the first time you unkink your garden hose. Ask God to unkink you!
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