Day 18: Shorts Weather!!!
This winter has been a refreshing blast from the past. Though we did not get a white Christmas, the polar vortex showed up within the next week or so and dumped almost a foot of snow over central Ohio. School was out for an eternity, snowmen were built, and friends and family were challenged to do snow angels in beach attire. It was a wonderful respite from the normal grind of life. Today as I was getting ready, I checked the weather. I don’t do that nearly as often as I did when I was coaching, but I thought I heard a bird singing so I wanted to see what the day would be like. Low and behold and to my delight, the weather app shouted “Michael, it’s shorts weather!” Well, it didn’t really shout that, but any time that app says high of 48, that’s what it means.
Our driveway is a gravel road, so when you get a lot of snow, it really isn’t something that you can scrape or shovel well. It is flat as an Indiana freeway, so when we get snow, I’ll just take my SUV and carve out a path. Well, when we got the foot of snow at the turn of the new year, the 4 inches a few days later, then some single digit temperatures, that packed snow became a sheet of impenetrable ice. So, as I was walking to the car today, in my shorts, I was still slipping and sliding on ice in some spots of the driveway. I estimate it will all be gone in time for my birthday in August. I know what you’re thinking. “Michael, what in the world does that have to do with the price of rice?!” Here is what I want you to take from this silly little story: Sometimes the circumstances in someone’s past have compacted the ice around their hearts so impenetrable, that even when revival is all around them, it will take more time for that to melt away.
Sometimes being a witness and bearing fruit for the kingdom means that we are going to have to patiently, kindly, and consistently be the warmth (light) and the melting agent (salt) over an extended period. Paul told Timothy this same thing in his second letter.
2 Timothy 4:1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
Whether it is their desire for teachings that will affirm their own passion, or because they have developed a callused heart due to past circumstances, we must be patient, kind, and warm in our witness to these people who we love, and who Jesus loves. Even though we feel the warmth of the love of Christ, and we are in our spiritual shorts weather, it may take longer for those we love.
If you have someone like this in your life, it is so important that you never give up. Remember what we learned from Galatians back on day 5:
Galatians 6: 9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
Secondly, it is vital that you pray for them daily. This will do two things. First, it will ensure that your attitude towards them always remains Christlike. If we are fervently praying for someone, we will have a tender heart towards them even if they are hard to love. Additionally, it will move the heart of God. Let me remind you what James says:
James 5: 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
Never give up, pray for them daily, and the final thing I would say is we must always be the witness that Jesus deserves. On the 14th day of the fast I remarked how delicate our witness is. When our loved ones are lost, their hearts are usually feeling the conviction from our lifestyles. Deep down, they know we have found peace in Christ, and they know they need it. For whatever reason however, they are resisting. In their resistance they will look for any relief from the conviction they can find. If we are poor witnesses for Christ, it will delay the thawing of their hearts. Never give up, pray for them every day, and be a good witness and we trust that God will melt their heart of stone.
Ezekiel 36: 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
What a wonderful day that will be. Don’t give up, pray for them every day, and be the witness God has placed you in their lives to be!
There’s a poem that turned into a song that came to mind as I was dodging ice in my shorts this morning. It was written in 1872 by an English poet named Christina Rossetti titled “In the bleak midwinter.” It starts out with a bleak and icy feel, and it ends with a warm worshipful response. I’ll leave you with it today.
In the bleak midwinter
Frosty wind made moan
Earth stood hard as iron
Water like a stone
Snow had fallen
Snow on snow, snow on snow
In the bleak midwinter, long, long ago
Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him
Nor earth sustain
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When He comes to reign
In the bleak mid-winter
A stable-place sufficed
Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ
Enough for Him whom cherubim
Worship night and day
A breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay
Enough for Him whom angels fall down before
The ox and donkey and camel
Which adore
Angels and archangels may have gathered there
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air
But only His mother in her maiden bliss
Worshiped the Beloved
With a kiss
What can I give Him
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would give a lamb
If I were a wise man, I would do my part
Yet what I can, I give Him
Give my heart
Do not give up, pray for them every day, and be the witness God put you there to be!