Challenge
Here is a short challenge for you! Check out the archive for past challenges!
Serve refreshments with your life
Have you ever been really thirsty? I mean really, really thirsty... the kind of thirsty that you feel like the inside of your mouth could act as sand paper? Your lips crack as you smirk; your tongue is swelling and stuck to the insides of your teeth? Not to mention that your entire body is sapped of all energy – longing for relief…
That's some serious thirst...and at that moment all you desire is some refreshment.
I remember one summer - my friend Tim invited me to his dad's warehouse to help him move some things for extra cash. Being a starving college student - I quickly agreed. upon arriving at this warehouse in central Tucson I saw the bay door open and backing up to the dock was this semi-truck. As the door swung open to the back of the truck - it revealed these grey bags stacked from floor to ceiling and front to back. I read on the side of the bag "charcoal - 40 lbs."
We began unloading these bags of charcoal onto pallets and tim's dad would drive the forklift with the full pallet away and replace it with another empty one. The morning was progressing slowly - when tim and i got this wild idea...maybe to encourage us to work faster, we'd stop taking water breaks until we'd finished half the semi...needless to say, we worked hard and our thirst got more and more intense. As we finally got to the half-way point, I was at the place of extreme thirst... and Ii remember lifting the water bottle to my parched lips and the incredible sensation as the water hit my mouth and instant refreshment swept through my entire body.
You know that feeling...
Well, the Apostle Paul wrote a short letter to a friend of his - where he describes this person, Philemon, as a type of person a lot like that feeling...
I always thank God when i pray for you, Philemon, because I keep hearing of your trust in the Lord Jesus and your love for all of God's people... I myself have gained much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because your kindness has so often refreshed the hearts of God's people. - Philemon 4:7
There was something about how philemon lived, interacted with others that brought refreshment and encouragement to them. I guess that catches my eye - because, I don't know how often people might think that about me after they've been around me?
I think we all have been around those who we just love being within proximity of - because they breathe hope, joy, encouragement into us. We walk away from our encounters with them uplifted. We've all also logged time around people who are what i'd call, "drainers". These are the people where when you walk away - you just feel drained and sapped of energy and life.
Paul makes this incredible statement about Philemon - one that intrigues me, got me thinking. Could it be - that we, as Christ-followers, are to be refreshment to those around us? You study the life of jesus and you can't help but notice how people walked away from encounters with him changed, renewed and refreshed.
Maybe, just maybe -- part of his dream for his followers, is that we'd be able to pass on that refreshment of the heart to those around us - like he did. Maybe, he established the “church” to be a place where people find renewed hope and refreshment instead of judgment and condemnation.
So — when people walk away from encounters with you… what’s the taste in their mouth? Are they walking away refreshed in their hearts?
I want to encourage us to take some practical steps in choosing to be people who are always breathing hope, grace, joy, kindness into the people around us!
It says, Philemon’s kindness… is what led to that refreshment of the heart ? let it be so with you!
this week:
Pray for unique and new ways to express God’s kindness and love to those you encounter. I believe that He longs to use you to impact your friends – you can do it, with Him!
Thanks for bringing refreshment to my heart – I sure do enjoy doing life along side you!
- Jack Challenge Archive
-Jack |
