life changing

Fresh Manna 2009© by Pastor Tim Burt

Okay, this blog is going to be unique today! It will be fun. It could be life changing. Are you ready to go on a ride? Here we go.

Two years ago, the Lord spoke something to my heart. What He had spoken I had been thinking on in reference to leadership. This past week, He brought it to my heart again but wanted me to apply this to all areas of my life.

He spoke to me from a verse written in the Message Translation from II Corinthians 8:10-11 MSG. It was one particular part of the verse that God was speaking to me that says, “Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can’t.”

These words can be life-changing. I’ll tell you why. Too often we focus on what we can’t do. You talk with a friend who is losing their house because of the economy. That problem is too big; you can’t do anything about it. Another person has lost their job. You don’t know of any jobs and so there isn’t anything you can do about it. Someone tells you they’ve been diagnosed with Leukemia and you feel horrible but what can you do? Someone comes to work distraught because their furnace went out and they need a new one. Or the transmission on their car went out and they can’t afford to replace it. You don’t have that kind of money to help them. So what can you do? Nothing? I think you get the idea.

There are so many “big” problems or things that you don’t feel that you can change or affect, so you do nothing. And yet, as we have been talking about the last few days, God has called us to do “great and mighty things.” And I have been telling you that the “great and mighty things” are most often the small things that we do accompanied by the touch of God’s love that make the greatest impact.

There is a Bible story of a person that went beyond what they couldn’t do and instead did what they could. In the Christmas story we read the verse Luke 2:7. “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.” From those words: “because there was no room for them in the inn,” has come the sub-story of an innkeeper whose place was fully occupied from people that were traveling to their own home town because of a census being taken. He was sorry but he had no place for them to stay. As we picture this we see Joseph pleading with the innkeeper because his wife is about to give birth. The innkeeper offers them the stable and Jesus is born. We really don’t know if it happened exactly like that but the point is this: the innkeeper didn’t get stuck on what he couldn’t do which was make a room available to them in the inn. Instead he found what he could do—which is to give them usage of the stable. That decision – that small gesture was a great and mighty thing that has been written on the pages of the Bible and talked about ever year ever since.

We all know the things we can’t do. The question is, “What is it that we can do?” Can you share a promise from God’s Word to a discouraged person and pray with them? Can you give someone a $5 gift card for a special coffee or better yet, bring them one to help brighten their day? Can you make a meal for someone or bring a plate of cookies? Can you just encourage someone to let them know you appreciate them? Forget what you can’t do. What can you do? As the verse says, once you’ve become committed to that kind of thinking – doing what you can rather than not doing anything, it will change your entire life. You learn to quit thinking about what you can’t do. You’ll learn to start thinking about what you can do. I can’t make their house payment but I can give them a card telling them I’m praying for them…

Okay here is where the ride begins. If this has spoken to your heart in any way today, then you’ve heard from God. So, take the ride. I challenge you. Ask the Lord to show you something simple that you CAN do for someone today. Do it for them and tell them that God spoke to your heart to do it. (He did through this message today –you just said so.) As you do what it is you can do, also tell them that Jesus loves them. I promise you it will impact their life in a good way.

“Do what you can, not what you can’t.” Make this a lifestyle and it will be great and mighty—and life-changing! You’ll begin the ride of your life!

II Corinthians 8:10-11 MSG. “… Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can’t.”

In His love,
Pastor Tim