Learning Through Experience

Learning Through Experience

(Note:  This is the third time I've attempted to post this today.  Whenever I have issues like this, I have no doubt that the enemy is doing his best to try to prevent this from reaching out to a lost soul.)

I wrote down these thoughts quite awhile ago, but decided to sit on them until the appropriate time. I don’t ever wish to write anything that will not edify the Body of Christ or that I do not feel led by the Holy Spirit to share. I also do not wish to discourage others from sharing their own thoughts -- although they may be so different from mine. Each of us is unique, diverse, and we all look at the world from varied perspectives. We can never all agree on everything; or in some cases, anything.

Thus, I have learned that it is more expedient to observe this old proverb, “It is better to remain silent and be perceived as ignorant, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt!”

I’m not a Evangelist, I’m not a Pastor, I’m not an Intellectual -- I’m nothing more than someone who tries to encourage others to be more introspective and possibly become better people. While I endeavor each day to serve our Lord with all of my heart, I’m ashamed that I still fail to do MORE in my own life to further the Kingdom of God! I know that I have wasted so many opportunities to shine the Holy Spirit on the confused, and have been lazy in my efforts to bring knowledge about Jesus to the unsaved. For this, I have great regret and remorse for being so weak.

I’ve tried Poetry, I’ve tried Short-Stories, I’ve tried Humor, etc., to reach as many suffering people as possible and bring them some form of relief from this unrelenting world. However, I feel that I have bored, annoyed, and irritated many more individuals than I have positively impacted. So now I guess I’ll venture into Non-Fiction and assess my own deficiencies: At times I have been idle in my witness; at other times I have been argumentative because of my self-centered piousness; and worst of all, at too many forks in too many roads -- I have been callous about the future of others.

If I’ve learned anything over the years, it’s that nothing can replace EXPERIENCE. And unfortunately, experience is usually gained through our own failures, or learning from the failures of others. For those of you out there who are putting anything “on hold” at the moment because of an “imminent date”, please learn from my failures -- we should look for Jesus every day, but we should also plan as if He won’t come for many years (although it appears that He is sooooo close to returning for us now). If I had only lived by this creed the last decade, I could have spared myself a myriad of difficulties.

Although Rapturitis is a good thing, it can also lead us astray if we don’t balance our earthly and Heavenly perspectives. While following the multitude of calculations for all the “perfect timelines” for May 2009 (and past months, and past years also), and while reading about all the “apparent confirmations” validating those timelines, the tough questions that I now ask myself daily are as follows:

What am I NOT accomplishing while anxiously anticipating the “Rapture”? How many more things can I “put off”, or “put on hold” because of an imminent date (that doesn’t come) and then have to scramble to “fix” later?

How well am I “occupying” when I am only concerned with escaping this cruel world? Each day that I am still here, am I striving for the privilege to further the Kingdom when presented with the chance? Or am I squandering opportunities because the “time” is so near and a “date” is consuming my attention rather than focusing on what I should be doing for Jesus? It is so easy to be lax, so easy to wait for “THE DAY” instead of witnessing to others.

Am I missing a Divine occasion to share the “Good News” with an unsaved soul because I am more concerned about being Raptured than I am about saving someone from an eternity of torture? Am I that callous?

A person can have a truck-load of Seminary knowledge, a PHD in Eschatological Studies, intelligence beyond measure, and preach from the pulpit seven days a week. But what good is all this if that person is not currently reaching out to bring lost souls to Salvation? What good is it to “count days” instead of counting sheep?

It is not “what” you know, but “WHO” you know that matters in this life -- and into Eternity. The knowledge of Jesus as our Saviour needs to be shared as quickly, and to as many people, as possible. This is what truly counts!!!

My humbly prayer is that this touches at least the one lost soul that it was intended for.

Your pal,

Humbly