Saturday Devotional - 7/13/13 "How Shall They Believe?" As a father of teenagers, I must admit that there are times when I expect my children to automatically know how to do certain things. Sometimes I catch myself taking these things for granted, and then expressing disappointment when I give them a task and the outcome isn’t what I expected. At other times, I know beforehand that I will need to provide some patient training, to share what I’ve learned, and to build some good habits into my children so that they can eventually take on those tasks and do them well independently. Instilling good habits through patience, practice, and consistency goes a long way in teaching children to wash a car, or to do some other work, and to do it well. The apostle Paul, with a heart broken for the unbeliever said, “How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?” (Romans 10:14-15) You have heard the good news. He is risen! Do you now believe? Who was it that loved you with such boldness that they were willing, by His grace, to preach the good news with words and actions that ultimately brought you to the Lord? And now, are you saved? Few are called to preach from a pulpit to a church congregation, but His words are for each and every one of us, “…Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). I am thankful that my wife encouraged me to receive Christ (before she would agree to marry me), but in retrospect I am eternally grateful that by God’s grace someone, anyone dared to love me enough to speak to me of His love. Does it matter ultimately who gives the good news? Paul, a man who made it his habit to labor more abundantly for the Lord humbly confessed, “…whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed” (First Corinthians 15:11). We are children of a God of amazing love and grace. Are you willing to do more? He is patient. He is faithful. And He will instruct us through each opportunity as a loving parent if we are willing to learn to share the good news of Jesus Christ, to complete the work that He has prepared for us beforehand, and to do it well. Robert Watkins Copyright © 2013 Wildwood Calvary Chapel Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Jul 2013 13:40:54 +0000