At my mens small group meeting, one of the guys talked about his retired marine friend, who talks to young people about the benefits of joining the United States Marines. He talks to both men and women in the local WalMart, Home Depot, or Giant Food, not as a paid recruiter, but as marine just wanting to let them know they have an opportunity to consider the corp and a better life. That caused the group to ask the question why don't we naturally approach people about the benefits of knowing Christ?
So we began to talk about what we know about the people in Military Service and what makes some of them so passionate.
* We talked about how every solider knows the history of their service, unit, and platoon.
* How every solider or sailor goes through a common basic training. A training that teaches them skills they will need to care for their fellow solider/sailor and endure difficult situations
* How every solider/sailor then practices, in planned exercises and combat zone situation, helping each member and see how the training works in practical situations.
As we continue our training to be a Christian Ninja, (mature christian) what in our schedule is intentionally designed to help us see the fruit of God's training in practical use. When do we make time to practice serving the poor and needy. When do we make time to sit with the lonely or friendless. When do we schedule time to pray with others and look to see God's faithful response?
Check out the calendar for times I will attempt to intentionally use the skills the Holy Spirit is developing in me in practical situations. Please feel free to join in on the practice and post some of your intentional exercises...
1 comment:
I think we need to practice telling ourselves the the "benefits of knowing Christ." We (I) either think about eternity ("Get out of Hell " card), or experience ("this inner peace"), or other things that show we (I) don't get the benefits of reconciliation, peace, and freedom.
"You get the ability to repent," is not enticing to most, and He is just not going to make your life easier or more comfortable.
But, what you guys observed is that the Marines have the same problem. "You get to crawl in mud, run past the dropping point, push past the pain, and risk death for your team and a cause bigger than yourself."
So, we (I) have to first lay hold of the real benefits.
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