There is a 100,000 square foot home for sale in California. I heard about it on Christian radio. It has a 45 seat theater, bowling alley, four swimming pools, night club, 30 car garage, etc. The hosts were stunned with the magnitude of it all and finally said, “What would you do with it?!”
My thought was, “What couldn’t you do with it?” Family nights, teen outreaches, couples’ retreats, host Christian comedians and musicians in the night club. . . my mind exploded with the potential.
Why don’t we see many Christians walking in abundance? Maybe it’s because of what I heard on the radio: “What would you do with it?” There’s little to no room for thinking outside of the box. Not to mention, the church’s seemingly overall view of prosperity has somehow become synonymous with evil.
I heard a minister once ask, “Who wants to be a millionaire?”
I nearly hollered and jumped out of my seat in excitement.
“Not me-e!” she declared. “Just think of all the trouble it would bring. And what would you do with it all?”
Really? She couldn’t think of what to do with a million dollars? Does she realize how little a million dollars is in today’s economy for someone with vision? Ah, there it is: She lacked vision.
Write the vision. Make it plain. (Habakkuk 2:2) But we’re not having visions let alone writing visions. Where is our passion? Where is our excitement? Where is the dream? For various reasons, I’d say it’s all in a box, tucked away, out of sight and out of mind. There’s safety in the routine. Ah, but is there? I can think immediately of two businesses in our area that shut down and left many people without jobs. What’s more, without enough years in the businesses, employees lost all/some of pensions/retirements, too. What we anchor ourselves to here is subject to change. The only immovable thing we have to hold to is a God who loves us and would meet our wildest expectations if we’d agree with Him and follow Him. But, oftentimes, that’s scary; we’re afraid. It’s hard work; we’re lazy. I attest to that myself.
Which leads to . . . two year olds don’t get keys to the car. It doesn’t pay to get sassy with God because things didn’t work out the way we planned in the time we planned. He’s working all things out for our good but only if we love Him and we’re called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28) Do we? Are we?
It might behoove us to pray like the psalmist did and ask God to search us. Is there any wicked or offensive way in us? Know our thoughts. Know our hearts. (Psalm 139:23-24) That takes work and quiet. But our lives are too busy, noisy and distracting. You know what living that kind of life gets us? That gets us looking at the immeasurable benevolence of God and asking, “What do we do with it?” Our grieving Father has no choice but to retract the hand holding out the gift to us and clutch it back to His chest. We’re in too much unbelief and too much noise to realize the blessings that He extends to us. So we must wait. Actually, from where I’m sitting today, I say God must wait. . . for us. How sad that we keep Him waiting. If only we grasped the magnitude of what He has for us and just say “Yes”.
Join me and the psalmist today in some soul-searching. Let’s ask God, unafraid, What is it that You would have me to do? Help me, and I’ll do it. Dangerous, life changing prayers, that’s what these are. Are we courageous enough to accept the challenge? Or will we forever wander aimlessly here on earth, wondering what might have been? Please, let’s dare to be examined and cleansed. Then let us be used so that the Father might be glorified in the Son. (John 14:13)
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