Quote:
Originally Posted by Papabear
The other day I was walking through a crowded public place and it seemed I saw all the faces in a way I have never seen them before. I saw them and there was a question lofting through my mind, “These, many of them seem to be very good people. They are pleasant, friendly and seem to be very good people. Would God send these good people to hell?”
The thought was like a gunshot, it left me unsettled because for me to conclude would be a very presumptuous and judgmental question for me to answer.
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On another vein, interestingly enough, last week we were working on our church building and it was funny how things we would do were always "good enough"..
A measurement was not exact, but it was good enough. I wondered then do we do things only to the point that in our perception it's "good enough"?
2Ki 13:17 And he said, "Open the window eastward," and he opened it. Then Elisha said, "Shoot," and he shot. And he said, "The LORD's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria! For you shall fight the Syrians in Aphek until you have made an end of them."
2Ki 13:18 And he said, "Take the arrows," and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, "Strike the ground with them." And he struck three times and stopped.
2Ki 13:19 Then the man of God was angry with him and said, "You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Syria only three times."
God does send good people to hell, even though according to man's standards they are good people. But how about the church? Do we settle for "good enough" when according to God's standards we can have so much more?
Are our prayers "good enough"? Is our outreach efforts "good enough"?
Are we satisfied with 3 souls getting saved in one months time as good enough when a "more excellent" way in God's way of thinking is 3000 souls in one day? Do we get just "good enough" because that is all we want and are satisfied with when we can have so much better if we'd only want it more and not be satisfied with good enough?
This story of the king and Elisha always interested me...the man of God never told the king how many times to strike the ground nor that the more he struck the ground the more he would defeat the enemies of Israel.
This tested what was in the kings heart and apparently it was apathy.
Why do we settle for mediocrity? Do we want better than "good enough"? I believe we need to pray that God put a hunger in our hearts to want to excel towards our maximum potential as a church, individually and conglomerately.
Jas 5:16 Confess faults to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The
effectual fervent prayer of a righteous one avails much.
Why do we settle for good enough? Because it's easier. We are conditioned to do things the easy way, not to expend a lot of efforts. But at the same time many people WILL expend more efforts in other areas.
Light body building, no pain no gain. The corporate work area...if you want to rise higher your work needs to be better than good enough. It has to be notable, distinguished from others.
How are we distinguished from others? Is it just our doctrine, what we say we believe? Or is it in works? Are we working like the Lord could come tomarrow? Are we working as though we really do care about souls going to hell? Do we really have a burden for the lost and a love for the Lord?
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