COMMONPLACE

In a previous post Ten Tent Pegs: Creativity, (see below for link) we examined how Jabez had prayed to God.  So let’s look at this prayer from a different angle.

The whole scenario reminded me of an occasion when I went, with three female friends, to hear Alan Redpath, the well-known British evangelist. We set off from the South West of England by car, our destination the Cotswolds, where we were to stay overnight with the parents of the lady who was our driver, travelling into Birmingham by train next day.

All went well until, nearing our destination that evening, we missed a turning. By this time, a low-lying fog lay over the fields and lanes, interspersed with the brilliant light of a full moon. As we plunged in and out of the murky mist, I pointed out that we had passed the same pub three times, but from a different direction on each occasion.

“I shall know where I am when I see my big hill,” our driver remarked, with reference to Great Malvern.

Eventually, we found our way to Julie’s parents’ home where, late for dinner, she swore us to secrecy. To be lost, and to admit to it, was a price she was not prepared to pay.

The next day we went by train to hear the talk by Alan Redpath.  I remember little of it, except for one small story that particularly resonated with Julie. He spoke of the secret and reluctant commitment he had made when first confronted with the Gospel. Quite simply, he lacked the courage to tell his friends that he had become a believer. He was afraid of their scornful disbelief; their rejection. And so, for years, he never admitted to being a Christian. Until later, much later, following a talk similar to the one we were hearing, he was convicted of his fear and lack of commitment.

Like my friends - and me - Alan Redpath had travelled by train to hear the talk that had had such an impact on him, and he returned home in the same manner. All the way home on the train, over and over, he heard the sound of the wheels on the track repeating a single phrase: Saved soul; wasted life. Saved soul; wasted life. Saved soul; wasted life.

He knew, in that moment, that it wasn’t enough simply to be a believer in Christ. You had to be a follower. You had to take courage in both hands, and jump.

"The conversion of a soul is the miracle of a moment,” he said, years later. “But the manufacture of a saint is the task of a lifetime."

WHAT DOES FOLLOWING MEAN?

The point is that many of us go through our entire lives like this, see-sawing up and down; plunging in and out of alternate patches of fog and moonlight; passing the same landmark on several occasions from different directions; hearing those train tracks beating out the refrain: saved soul, wasted life. It is commonplace. Fear, apathy and lack of conviction all play their part. It may be that you need only to enlarge your vision. Of God. And of what He can do through you. To see Him as He really is rather than the aloof figure you’ve previously imagined. To see yourself when filled with his Holy Spirit.

Study Questions

1. Have you been a secret believer in Christ for years, but never had the courage to come out of the closet to become a follower? In other words, a saved-soul-wasted-life?

2. Are you afraid that if you offered your life to God you might find that you’ve got more than you bargained for?

3. Is there something that’s been niggling you? Some task that you feel God is asking you to begin; but you’ve see-sawed up and down because you’re scared to make a commitment; scared you might not be able to follow through?

4. Have you been lost in unknown territory, plunging, one minute, in and out of moonlight that shows you the way, then fog that obscures it, in the next?

5. Is fear preventing you from accomplishing anything? Fear of being ridiculed? Fear of having got hold of the wrong end of the stick? Fear of not being able to complete what you start?

6. Could this be the inkling of a new vision, or the enlargement of an old one – but you’re just not sure where to begin?

If so, you are not alone, this is commonplace.  Could this be the moment when you cry out to God, just as Jabez did, and ask him to bless you and enlarge your vision? If so, then read on.

PREVIOUSLY:

TEN TENT PEGS 1: Courage

TEN TENT PEGS 2: A Cortege

TEN TENT PEGS 3: Conversion

TEN TENT PEGS 4: Character

TEN TENT PEGS 5: Creativity

TEN TENT PEGS: 6 Confusion & Delusion

TEN TENT PEGS: 7 Conflict

TEN TENT PEGS: 8 Care & Kindness

NEXT:

TEN TENT PEGS: 10 A Central Pole