03
Jun '24
June 3, 2024
03
Jun '24
Upon entering a little country store a stranger noticed a sign saying “DANGER! BEWARE OF DOG!” posted on the glass door. Inside, he noticed a harmless old hound dog asleep on the floor near the cash register. He asked the store’s owner “Is that the dog folks are supposed to beware of?” “Yep,” the proprietor answered, “That’s him.” The stranger couldn’t help being amused. “That certainly doesn’t look like a dangerous dog to me,” he chuckled. “Why in the world did you decide to post that sign?” “Because,” the owner replied, “before I posted that sign, people kept tripping over him.”
32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.” Mark 13:32–37 (ESV)
Are people tripping over you? Like the store owner’s old hound we can become lazy in our relationship with Christ. We can take for granted the blessings and gifts that God has given us. We can believe those gifts are for our own prosperity instead of being a blessing for others. We can forget that it is God who has given us all that we have in life. Or we can be like a tree planted by a beautiful stream of water that gives shade and life to those who are under it. What will you choose: to be a curse or a tree of life to all those around you.
Pastor Aaron