Wheelbarrows and Sawdust

Wheel Barrows and Saw Dust?

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” -Rom 12:2

This the story for this devo is adapted from the daily strength website at www.rbc.org. I want to give credit where credit is due.

I work in a school system as many of you already know. We are getting ready for the big test (MSA). We raise and fall on this test. If we do not do well we could be labeled as a “failing” school. So we do a lot of pre tests to determine what are the children’s strengthens and weaknesses. We observe a lot of teachers, in order to make sure that they are doing the correct things in their classroom. (pacing, hands on instruction, academic rigor, etc..). We do all these things because we are told what gets monitored gets done. If you are not monitoring something then it is likely to fall through the cracks. I read this story today….

Os Guinness tells a great story about a Russian factory worker in the days when Khrushchev was the prime minister. Because of the enormous economic strain in those days, employees would steal tools and just about anything else they could get their hands on. To stop the thefts, a KGB officer was placed at every factory gate where each worker was carefully searched for contraband. Petrov, a long-time laborer, pushed a wheelbarrow loaded with two large sacks of sawdust out the factory doors every day. Each day the guard searched through the sacks of sawdust but consistently found nothing. Weeks into this routine the frustrated guard finally said, “Hey, Petrov, I promise not to tell anybody. I can’t get what’s going on here. I don’t know why you need all this sawdust. What are you stealing?” Petrov grinned and whispered, “Wheelbarrows.”

We as Christians can easily fall into this trap. We monitor soooo many things that we do. We are always thinking about our ideas, thoughts, beliefs and attitudes. I believe that these are great things to monitor but a lot of those things can be thought of as saw dust. The main thing that we need to check is our hearts. Let me ask you, how is your heart. How is your wheelbarrow that contains your ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes? Let’s not get distracted by our saw dust.

Matthew 15:1-10
1Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2"Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!" 3Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' 5But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,' 6he is not to 'honor his father' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: 8" 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'"10Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand. 11What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.' "

Questions:

(1) What small areas of sin in your life (saw dust) are causing you to miss the big areas of sin (wheelbarrow) in your life?

(2)Why is it sooo easy to become ritualistic in your walk with Christ?

(3)Describe the state of your heart with Christ.

Are You in a Rut?

Are you in a Rut?

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. -2 Corinthians 4:16

Do you feel like you are in a rut? Do you feel as though you are not hearing from God? Are you frustrated in your service and/or spiritual growth at your present church? Do you feel like you have done things to fix it but just to return to the same position again? Have you thought about fasting?

Biblical fasting is a spiritual discipline which was encouraged by Jesus, Himself, while He was on earth. When questioned as to why the Pharisees and the disciples of John the Baptist fasted while Jesus disciples did not, Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast”. Jesus was indicating that fasting would become a necessity when, the bridegroom (Jesus) was taken away. While Jesus, who was God manifested in human form, was still on earth, His followers enjoyed a close fellowship and friendship with Him. Jesus bestowed power and authority on them to the extent that they had limited power to preach, heal the sick, and cast out devils. Similarly, when Jesus sent them out to minister to the populace, He instructed them to take few provisions. “Then Jesus asked them, ‘When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?’ ‘Nothing,’ they answered. He said to them, ‘But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one’”. Jesus was teaching that after His departure, the entire dynamic would change and the disciples would need a different type of preparation and provision. Fasting was to be a vital part of this new preparation. The new covenant is based on the truth that we have received everything in Christ, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ”

I know when you think of fasting you always think of food. It does not always have to be food. I knew a person who fasted television. I knew a person who fasted the radio. During the times when he was supposed to be doing those things, he spent that time in prayer. That is the key….when we are fasting we must understand that time discipling ourselves should be focused on God. A lot of times we discipline ourselves but do not focus on God. Do you want to get out of your rut, maybe fasting may be an option? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. Let’s not go insane.

Matthew 9:14-17
14Then the disciples of John came to Him, asking, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?" 15And Jesus said to them, "The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16"But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. 17"Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved."

Matthew 6:16-18
16"Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 17"But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face 18so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Questions:

(1) Do you feel like you are in a rut in your spiritual life?

(2) Describe a time you fasted, was in beneficial. If you were to fast, what would you give up to focus more on Christ?

(3) How would you focus more on Christ?