As The Deer

Every Tuesday morning, our Minister of Music and I get together for a time of prayer. Mark is bivocational, so this time serves as our "staff meeting." It is also a time of Spiritual accountability and sometimes worship. Lately, we have been driving just to the edge of town where several whitetail deer live. We see them almost every time we go out. This morning as we were checking out the deer (and the police were checking us out) I thought of the 42nd Psalm - "As a deer longs for streams of water, so I long for You, God."
As we pray for Revival in our church, I am confronted with this question "Do we?" "Do I?" Do I really long for God. The deer will go to every length to find nourishing water. The deer will cross busy highways, slip by playgrounds, dog pens, and get out in broad daylight - whatever it takes to have water. The reason we do not have Revival is because we do not really desire it that much. Just this weekend I had the reality of how much we need Revival, and how much we do not seriously desire it when I was confronted to the pettiness of God's people. May God first make us thirsty, then Revive us.

The Main Thing

My friend, Hershael York, is a professor at Southern and the pastor of Buck Run Baptist in Kentuckey. He just wrote on his blog about leading a lady to accept Jesus as her Savior and how that never grows old. (http://hershaelyork.blogspot.com) When I read that I had a couple of thoughts. First, it has been a while since I have had the privilege of leading someone to Christ - I have been busy, but what about the main thing? Second, though some of Dr. York's blogs generate lots of comments, this one will not. Why? Even preachers are guilty of forgetting the main thing. We can get our blood boiling to dangerous levels as we discuss proper baptism, who may take the Lord's Supper, or what version of the Bible we use, but where is our passion (my passion) for the Gospel?

Don't misuderstand. There are discussions that we need to have on theological topics. Some want to say "Don't worry about doctrine, we will cooperate through missions." This idea always leads to a confusion about the Gospel and missions. What I am saying is that we should reserve our hottest passion, our zeal, and our energy for the main thing. Thank you Dr. York for reminding us of the main thing.
Steve