By: John Mitchell
This spiritual article starts with a confession. I’ve been proud of the fact that, even though I’m in my seventies; I’ve still been steady on my feet, strong enough to mow my own lawn, do landscaping with large stones, move furniture, and work on projects in my garage. At seventy-six I could do all those things. I did thank God for giving me the strength and ability to do all those things. But, at the same time, I was proud of “my ability” to try to be as physically capable as a thirty-year old man. What an ego. I have admitted my sin of pride, and asked God to forgive me, and to help me to repent of my pride. (1st Peter 5:5) tells us, “…Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Now at seventy-seven I walk with a cane, I have much less strength than a year ago, I have trouble with my balance, and I’m so unsteady on my feet now, that I’m considered a fall risk. God doesn’t command me to walk behind my lawn mower, back and forth across my yard until all of the grass is cut. I can be a blessing to someone else by paying them to mow my lawn. Someone else mowing my lawn, blesses me with more time to read and study God’s word. Does the loss of some of my physical abilities mean that now I’m less useful to God? My answer to my question is no. In fact, it is just the opposite. Having better physical abilities was making me less useful to God. It took me a lot of time to mow and edge a big yard, because I wasn’t thirty any more. These physical activities seem to have had a life of their own. I could buy a load of dirt to fill in the low spots in my yard to make it a little more level. And those flower beds need some new mulch, and more rocks around the borders would look nice. I could rearrange the garage again, and there’s always more projects that I would like work on. Now, it is a blessing to me, to not be physically able to do many of those things that used up so much of my time. Being able to mow my lawn didn’t bless anyone. Now, instead of mowing my lawn, I can be a blessing to others by sitting in a chair and praying for, and phoning, family and friends, near and far away in other states, about God, and His plan of salvation for us. I can write spiritual articles on my laptop computer. And I can have Bible studies with people, by texting, and emails, and the U.S. mail. There are many ways available to us, to spread the Gospel, even if we are physically impaired. So, there is no need to have a pity party about our limitations. “But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26) God has a plan for each one of us. Our disabilities are not a surprise to God. He makes a way for us to continue to be valuable servants for Him. “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there none of them.” (Psalm 139:16). There are chores that do need to be done. God does want us to be good stewards of all of the material goods that He has blessed us with, such as our house, yard, car, etc. Whether a person is retired, like myself, or gainfully employed, we need to look at how much time we are spending on the things of the world, compared to how much time are we spending on the things of God? Ask yourself, is it a chore to mow the lawn, or is it a chore to spend time with God? Do you like spending time away from God, more than you like spending time with God? If we don’t have a daily relationship with God, then how can we know God? We have to spend time with God daily, in prayer, and by reading and studying His holy inspired word to us, to be able to understand how much God loves us. We need to not just read and hear the word of God, but also do what God’s word commands us to do. (Matthew 7:20-23) tells us how important it is to know and obey God. “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness! We need to live our lives according to God’s will for us, not according to our own will for ourselves. Paul writes about this in (Romans 10:1-4). “Brethren, my hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” If we choose to disobey God, we will hear, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:23) If we choose to obey God this awaits us; “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.” (Revelation 21:7) And also from Revelation 21:4, we are told, “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” If you are not a Christian, start following God’s plan of salvation. If you are a Christian, keep faithfully following God’s plan of salvation. Regardless of what our circumstances of life are, we need to use our God given free will to obey the commandments of God, such as these three: Jesus was asked, “Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law. Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:36-40) And the last thing Jesus said to His disciples who were with Him then, which is a commandment for all of His disciples, including us, now, in this present time. “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:15-16)