By Staff
A conscientious wife tried hard to please her critical husband, but failed regularly. He was the most cantankerous at breakfast. If she prepared scrambled eggs, he wanted poached; if she prepared poached eggs, he wanted scrambled. One morning the wife poached one egg and scrambled the other and placed the plate before him. Anxiously she awaited what surely this time would be his unqualified approval. He peered down at the plate and snorted, "Can't you get anything right, woman? You've scrambled the wrong one!"
Let's face it, we live primarily in a negative, pessimistic world. When you get excited about something, there are many who are ready to tell you how it can't be done. But I want to tell you that through Christ we have unlimited possibilities for the future.
In Ephesians 3:20-21, Paul writes, "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen."
Did you catch what Paul said there? He said that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. If you could think of the greatest thing that God could do in your life, Paul is saying that God wants to do even greater than that. In other words there are unlimited possibilities available to us through Christ.
When I was in sales school training to sell insurance, our company had three mottoes that we had to learn and live by in order to be successful in selling insurance. There were two that I have kept with me, even though I am not in that field anymore. The first one is: When there's nothing to lose by trying, and a great deal to gain if successful, by all means try. Friends, in Jesus we have nothing to lose. When we put our focus on Him, when we put our belief in Him, when our power is from Him and when our praise is to Him, there is nothing we can't accomplish if we try.
The second one is short and to the point. It simply says, "DO IT NOW!" Don't wait for the right time. Don't wait for a more convenient time. No one has ever been won to Christ, no encouragement has ever been given and no character has ever been built by putting it off.
It is my prayer for 2004 that we will allow God to do great things through each of us who will sell out wholeheartedly to Him. I pray that you can catch the vision of what God wants to do through you. May God's blessings be upon you and your family in the New Year.
–Rev. Joel Brister is the pastor of First Baptist Church of East Brewton.