Left Undone

“FROM THE PASTOR’S HEART” September 18, 2018

Good morning everyone,

It is important to be faithful in completing what is started. How many projects in your life are half done,
or are still in the process of being finished after several years in your life? This happens for several reasons: lack
of priority, inefficient planning and estimation of resources, poor time management, or simply giving up on it
because of frustration. These are things that are common for nearly everyone at least at one point in a lifetime.
The greatest travesties are when they are failures to follow through with the commandments of God.
The Israelites found out the cost of not following through with what God commanded. “Then the Angel
of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said: “I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of
which I swore to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you. And you shall make no
covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed My voice.
Why have you done this? Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns
in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you.’” So it was, when the Angel of the Lord spoke these words
to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voices and wept (Judges 2:1-4, NKJV, emphasis
added).

Addressing problems in life can be difficult. No one wants to make a bigger deal out of a small incident
or let something significant go without being dealt with properly. Telling the difference between the two can be
challenging. The progression of temptation to sin and compromise to the loss of integrity is a series of
small incremental steps which happen over time rather than a quick change of character. Sanctification is just
as slow a process but in the opposite direction through the power of the Holy Spirit working in the person
who has surrendered their life to Christ. The direction of a person’s life depends on their submission to the
commandments of God. Those who have the Spirit of God in them will be moving towards Him ever so slowly.
Those who do not have Christ’s Spirit living in them will be moving away from Him.

The Israelites did not complete what God had instructed them to do. It was only a small village here and
there that remained but those small details would cause them to struggle in the future. Many who have
accepted Christ find themselves reaching a spiritual plateau of sorts in life. They know much about God,
have studied His Word, been involved in missions, and active in the local congregation. Yet, many who were
active in the past are now spiritually drifting in the present. It is wonderful that so much time and energy to
obeying the Lord was done in the past, but slowing down in the present for whatever reason is to only live
partially for God and leave the things of God half done and incomplete.

The things that were once done by us are often impossible to do now. Ministries change over time due to
physical health, impairment, and the aging process. Ministry in the life of God’s people is never completed on
this earth until the moment of their last breath on this earth. Worship of God and service to the King of Kings
does not stop even then, but is transformed into service that is done in the presence of Almighty God in His
heavenly kingdom. There is always something that God has for His people to do and accomplish to reflect His
glory in this world. Are you actively serving God today in obedience, or have you left ministry undone?

Praying beyond the physical:
Father, convict my heart of things that I have left undone and ministry calls I have left unanswered.
Jesus, stir my heart to live with great passion for doing the will of the Father until my last breath in this life.
Spirit, flood my heart with the zeal for the will of the Father to drown out all my selfish desires.
Pastor Tom

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