Friday, August 5, 2022

 

Friday, August 5, 2022

The fruit of a righteous person is a tree of life, and one who harvests souls is wise.  Proverbs 11:30(ERV)

You get a lot of think time when pressure-washing.  My machine is old, leaky, and was never a fun ride; but it works…and forces me to take note of what it teaches.  These are five thoughts about sharing your faith with others:

#1. Go Slow

It doesn’t help a pressure washer’s performance to “jiggle” the wand.  You may think so, but it then becomes more about your technique than what the machine was designed to do…clean throughly.  In sharing your faith with others, commit to taking on a project without jiggling.  Your friend’s soul is worth it.

#2. Remember What Does the Work

Like going slow (#1), letting the machine do the work will yield the best results.  The “machine” is a combination of your witness and willingness.  Sharing what has happened to you when God got through to your mind, heart, and soul, is what the Holy Spirit will use to reach another human soul. It’s never about fancy gimmicks; it’s all about God’s love, and our willingness to love others as He does.

#3. Keep the Gas and Oil Full

If the gas tank empties, you’re going nowhere in the cleaning business.  And if you don’t keep clean oil lubricating the engine, your machine may burn up – which, again, means you’re done.  Think of the gas as prayer.  As the engine depends on gasoline to keep going, so your witness depends on an uninterrupted stream of contact with God’s Holy Spirit.  And think of the oil as the reflecting pool God uses to help you remain functioning, and not overtaxed by the burden of the work.  My car is 10 years old and is approaching 200,000 miles…it still runs smoothly, quietly, and efficiently, because I missed zero oil changes!

#4. No Light Passes Over Hard Stains

There is a tendency to rush through any job, skipping over the hard stuff, just to get it done.  When you’re sharing Christ with the intention of helping another with his or her eternal soul, there are some things that will require much more attention than a simple exchange of information.  Be ready to hit the hard stains, some of them may be the tipping point of a new soul born into the Kingdom.

#5. Break Before You Break

My pressure washer always seems ready to serve, except when I make him work a whole day.  When that machine gets tired and overheated, it’s best to let him rest and cool-down a bit.  I’ve learned to work in 1-2 hour shifts, and give the machine a rest (along with the operator).  When sharing your faith, remember you are in the stressful arena of eternal soul matters.  Responsibility can make any machine overheat.  You’re no different, and God wants you whole and useful, and joyful.  Too much strain, without appropriate breaks can lead to a break-down.

For You Today

One of the best lessons I’ve learned is a pressure washer is not much good in storage.  Unless it is used, it will rust, and need a lot of repair before it is ready to help again.  Same thing with your witness…it was designed to be at-hand, and always at the ready to lend a hand to someone else’s soul-cleansing.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic explore some of these:  Churchspeak and Forgiven Witnesses

[1] Images:  WikimediaCommons     Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©   

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