Late last year, my wife and I had to have a chain link fence put in to keep our dogs in. That in itself is not a big deal, but the day before the crew came to put in the fence it rained. Because of the rain they bought a bucket of quick rock (?) and that was suppose to help the concrete set faster. They augured the holes and put in the post, but when they came back the next day to install the fence the concrete still had not set. Because of that, the terminal poles (the corner post) would not withstand the tension / stress that attaching the fence would put on them. So, we had to wait a few more days until the concrete hardened for them to finish the install.
Though it had rained the day before, the ground was basically dry when they came so it was not suppose to be a problem for the concrete to set so they did not use the quick rock. It turns out though that the concrete was getting moisture from the ground around it so it did not set up as quickly as they thought it would.
For most people a event like that is just another day, but in my sick mind I immediately thought about how this related to us and God and that thought became the post that you will read below.
Noticing how the concrete did not set because of the moisture in the ground around it made me realize how we humans act in a similar way many times. Follow me for a bit and see if you do not agree. We personally may be dry ground. That dry ground means we have the potential to be strong, firm, develop completely and withstand a lot of tension, but many times the ground around us keeps us from hardened to our full potential. In other words we have the potential to become strong enough to handle what comes, but we never develop that potential because of what is around us / what is in our life.
Sometimes that surrounding ground is our family, our job, our circumstances, our friends, or any number of things, i.e. things that we are likely not going to be able to get away from completely. Understand, this is not a excuse to not develop though, this is a mere acknowledgment that we may not be surrounded by the ideal circumstances to develop. Just because our situation is not ideal does not mean that we have any less call or are any less responsible to full development though. You see, the issue of our development does not really lie with them (those around us and our surroundings), it lies with us. We are the ones with the potential, we are the ones with the strength, we are the ones with the call from God on our lives, we are the ones that are there to change the environment. Our circumstances do not provide us with a excuse for lack of development. What they do provide us with though is a ample area to effect with the changes that occur in our life. You see in the end we are the foreign object in the area, not them.
Follow me for a second and you will see my point. Christians, and the Christian lifestyle, are like the concrete in the story above. It is the concrete in the ground that is the invader, not the water that is already there, and it is the job of the invader to overcome the surroundings, not weaken to them. So, since the thing that it is native is there it is the job of that invader to change the surrounds, not the other way around.
Since we are planted where we are going to be within the world (i.e. we can not change our family and certain parts of our life) and we only have a finite ability to actually change our surroundings, we really only have two options. The first option is to give up / conform / remain weak forever - which is really not a option for a Christian. The second option is to not give up, not change, reach our potential (i.e. harden and grow strong) and transform the ground around us by completing the tasks assigned to us. The path of Christ and His followers is the later.
It is important to note the example of the fence guys in the original story at this point. They did not dig up the dirt around the holes and put in more concrete. They did not trench out a line from one pole/ point to another. They waited for the ground around the holes to change and then completed the job assigned. Basically the lesson here is to not change your way or means of attack, and that you do not need more then you already have. You are properly installed and prepared to accomplish all that God has for you. Your job is to continue working, regardless of your surroundings and feelings, and wait for the ground around you to change. It may take time, but the moisture in the ground can not overcome the concrete that is working properly to develop. In the end the ground around the concrete changes because it is the nature of process. If the Christian stays on course and does not change the ground / world around them will change, they will reach their full potential and the process that was begun within them by God will be completed.
I hope some where in this the lesson for you to personally stay on course and not change to suit the nature around you got through. If Christians stay focused on the future and the task God assigns them, the ground will change and we will reach our goals. The only way we fail is if we compromise and change, then we will never reach our full potential and the ground (i.e our surroundings), and it's weakness, will always impact us.
Have a great day and continue working regardless of the ground around you. If you do that, in the end you will reach your full potential and the ground around you will be different.
1John 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
1 John 4:4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
